Stagsden Vicarage

The Vicarage about 1900 [Z50/107/13]

In 1926 this part of Bedfordshire was valued under the rating Valuation Act 1925; every piece of land and building was assessed to determine the rates to be paid on it. The valuer visiting the Vicarage noted [DV1/C/36/94] that it was of stone and tile construction standing in 3.367 acres. It comprised:  a boot room, kitchen, scullery, larder, pantry, drawing room (14½ feet by 15 feet), dining room (18½ feet by 15 feet) and study downstairs; upstairs were a bedroom over the drawing room (14½ feet by 15 feet), a bedroom over the dining room (14½ feet by 13 feet), another bedroom over the study, a fourth bedroom over the boot room, another over part of the kitchen, a bathroom and a wc. On the second storey were two large attics. Outside were two greenhouses (heated), a range of stone and tiled buildings comprising a stable, coach house and wood house, a wc, a coal house and a potting shed. The valuer made the following comments on the property: "Water pumped from well to top of house"; "Good house".

The Church of England sold off the vast majority of its large parsonage houses during the latter half of the twentieth century because clergy became responsible for more than one parish; because it was felt more fitting for a clergyman to live in circumstances closer to most of his flock rather than like a member of the gentry; and because the Church needed money. The Old Vicarage at Stagsden is now a private house.

The Old Vicarage December 2007