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ASPLEY-GUISE, a parish in the hundred of MANSHEAD, county of BEDFORD, 2¼ miles (N. by W.) from Woburn, containing 848 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, consolidated, in 1796, with the vicarage of Husborn-Crawley, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £15.16.10½. The church, dedicated to St. Botolph, contains several ancient and interesting monuments. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A market on Friday, and a fair on the festival of St. Botolph, were granted to be held here in 1267; but they have been long discontinued. A small portion of this parish lies in the county of Buckingham.
[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]
The 1851 Census Index for Aspley Guise can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 4, Book 4 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
The church of St. Botolph is an elegant building in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, with organ chamber and vestry on the north, and a small chapel on the south, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles and an embattled western tower .with crocketed pinnacles and containing a clock and 6 bells: the south aisle was added and the whole fabric greatly enlarged and restored through the exertions and almost at the sole expense, as well as under the superintendence, of the Rev. John Vaux Moore, formerly rector: the windows, twenty-eight in number, are stained: there is a memorial window in the vestry to E.R.H. the Prince Consort, placed in 1862, and three memorial windows in the south aisle to the Moore family: in the north aisle is an altar tomb, with fine brass effigy, of a knight in plate armour, worn over a hauberk, to one of the Guise family, circ. 1490, from whom the village derives its adjunct; there is also an ancient slab, from which a floriated cross and marginal inscription are lost, but at the foot are figures in brass of a priest kneeling and St. John the Baptist standing, c. 1410, and there is a tomb with life-sized effigy in stone to Sir - de Tyrington, 1400; another marble monument is to the Rev. J. V. Moore: this pulpit is richly carved in oak, representing the principal incidents in the life, of 0ur Lord: the church was restored in 1853, and in 1884 the upper portion of the tower was rebuilt at a cost of £150, and the peaI of 4 bells increased to 6.: the organ was enlarged in 1897; at a cost of £350 : in 1890 the church was entirely restored, an organ chamber, vestries and chapel erected, and the interior reseated at a total cost of £2,200: there are sittings for 325 persons : the burying-ground has been increased by the addition of an acre, situated on the opposite side of the road, the gift ,of the Rev. H. R. Moody, late lord of the manor. The register dates from the year 1563.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The parish record transcripts for St Botolph are available on microfiche for the period 1563-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Genweb Bedfordshire contains a descriptive page about Aspley Guise.
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[Last updated 16 March 2003 Martin Edwards]