Stotfold Church

Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 2024

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the parish church for Stotfold and nearby Fairfield. The church is in the Archdeaconry of Bedford under the Diocese of St Albans. Until 1837 it was in the Diocese of Lincoln, but by this date the Archdeaconry of Bedford was incorporated into the Diocese of Ely. In 1914 the Archdeaconry became part of the Diocese of St. Albans which was founded in 1887.

The church was granted to Chicksands Priory by Simon de Beauchamp, founder of the Priory.

The registers begin in 1589, the first book containing baptisms, marriages and burials to 1702; the second continues the baptisms and burials to 1772, and the marriages to 1754; the third has marriages from 1754 to 1812, and the fourth baptisms and burials 1773 to 1812.

It was Grade II* listed on 31st October 1966.

Advowson

The advowson of Stotfold is mentioned in the Victoria County History, Vol. II, 1908. It states that the advowson and rectory of Stotfold belonged to the priory of Chicksands. At the Dissolution the value of the rectory was estimated at £12, and together with the advowson it was granted in 1547 to Trinty College, Cambridge, to which both still belong.

Ecclesiastical Census

On Sunday 30th March 1851 a census of all churches, chapels and preaching-houses of every denomination was undertaken in England and Wales. The local results were published by Bedfordshire Historical Records Society in 1975 as Volume 54, edited by D. W. Bushby. The return for Stotfold church noted the following pieces of information:

• The church had 499 sittings (253 free, 246 other)
• The general congregation had been 85 in the morning, 125 in the afternoon.
• Sunday scholars had been 77 in the morning, 72 in the afternoon