Bedfordshire 
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BARTON in the CLAY, a parish in the hundred of FLITT, county of BEDFORD, 3¼ miles (S.) from Silsoe, containing 668 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £26.9.7., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. A school is endowed with property producing about £50 per annum, the bequest of Edward Willes, in 1807, for the instruction of forty poor children.
[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]
The 1851 Census Index for Barton in the Clay can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 7, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
The church of St. Nicholas, built in the 13th century, is an edifice of the Early English and Decorated periods, consisting of chancel with nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower faced with flints, disposed in chequers, and containing 5 bells, inside some of which is the following inscription-
"Bye yt knowne to all that does me see,
That Newcombe of Leicester made me:"the windows are chiefly Perpendicular: the fine roof of chestnut wood is of the same date, and the wall plate is enriched with the strawberry leaf ornament running along it, the roof beams and springers have eagle Supporters and figures of twelve angels in relief, each one bearing an instrument of the Passion: the chancel is in part paved with Norman tiles, and in its south wall are two piscine and three plain stalls under equilateral arches : on the wall is an inscribed brass to Sir Philipp de Lee, rector, c. 1360 : and on a stone in the chancel, under the half-effigy of a priest, is a brass inscribed to Richard Brey, rector, c. 1370 : there is a third brass to a civilian, c. 1490: over the font is a painting of "The Presentation in the Temple," the gift of a former rector: in the south aisle is a raised tomb of stone, found in 1879, at the time of the restoration, two feet below the floor, and supposed to be that of an abbot: a stained east window was erected in 1888, and a carved oak reredos added in 1889: the belfry was thoroughly restored, in 1892 at a cost of £200. There are 420 sittings. The register dates from the year 1558.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The Baptists, Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel here.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The parish record transcripts for St Peter are available on microfiche for the period 1719-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
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[Last updated 5 May 2003 Martin Edwards]