Nearby Places

Nearby churches

KEYSOE

KEYSOE, a parish in the hundred of STODDEN, county of BEDFORD, 4½ miles (S.S.W.) from Kimbolton, containing 649 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king’s books at £8, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]

The 1851 Census Index for Keysoe can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 1, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Church History

Church of England

The church of St. Mary is a stone building of mixed styles, chiefly Decorated and Perpendicular and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave with north aisle, extending to length of chancel, south porch and a massive western tower with crocketed pinnacles and an octagonal spire, with three tiers of dormers, and containing a clock and 5 bells : the font is Early English, probably dating from 1200, and has the following inscription as rendered into modern French, running round the base:

"Trestui qui par ici, passerez
Pour l'ame de Warel priez
Que Dieu par sa grace
Vraie merci lui fasse: Amen."

There is also an ancient slab, inscribed in Lombardic capitals ; " AVBRE : DE : T-YE ! GIST : CY : DIEV : DE : SA : ALME : EYT : MERCY," and a coped slab carved with crosses recerclée and roses : there is a piscine on the south side of the chancel and east end of the north aisle : the east window of the chancel was filled with stained glass in 1885 representing the Crucifixon, in memory of the Rev. William Airy M.A. vicar from 1836 : the edifice was restored in 1885, and has now 270 sittings. The register dates from the year 1715.

[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Non-conformist

There are Baptist chapels at Brook End, Keysoe Row and Mill Hill.

[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Church Records

Church of England

The parish record transcripts for St Mary are available on microfiche for the period 1715-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Military History

• The BFHS Project in conjunction with Roll of Honour contains the Keysoe War Memorial transcription for WW1 and WW2 with details of the men found on it

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[Last updated 16 March 2003 Martin Edwards]