Bedfordshire 
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PAVENHAM is a pretty village and parish, bounded on the south and east by the river Ouse, 2 miles north from the Oakley station on the main line of the Midland railway, and 6 north-west from Bedford, in the Northern division of the county, Sharnbrook petty sessional division, hundred of Willey, union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of Felmersham, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely.
The soil is clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,345 acres of land and 25 of water; rateable value, £4,317; the population in 1891 was 387.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The 1851 Census Index for Pavenham can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 1, Book 2 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Church of England
The church of St. Peter, standing on rising ground immediately at the back of Pavenham Bury, is a small edifice of stone of the Early English and Decorated periods, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, north aisle, continued eastwards to the same length as the chancel, south transept with porch on its western side, vestry m the angle formed by the tower and aisle, and a Decorated western tower with short octagonal broach spire, relieved by two tiers of dormers, and containing 5 bells and a clock: the form of the church, widening towards the east, is peculiar, and the transept again widens southward: in the transept are two Decorated canopied niches and a piscina: the chancel aisle or chapel also has canopied sedilia in the north wall: the church was fitted with fine old hood work about 1848, at the cost of the late Thomas Abbott Green esq. Then of Pavenham Bury; the chancel was restored in 1869, at the expense of of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the chapel at the expense of the late Joseph Tucker esq. Of Pavenham Bury, and the parish; there are memorials to J. Franklin esq. 1748; Lucretia, wife of William Newell, 1779 and others; here was also buried in 1508 Sir Thomas Hubrahum kt.: there are also memorials to several of the Alston family: there are 280 sittings. The register dates from the year 1560, and contains entries of the Percy family from 1581 to 1592.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Non-conformist
The Wesleyan chapel here was built in 1859.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England
The parish record transcripts for St. Peter are available on microfiche for the period 1560-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Pillow lace is made here to a small extent; there is also mat and brisket making and rush plaiting. The matmaking business was brought from London, at the time of the great Plague, by the Hipwell family, members of which had left Pavenham for the metropolis at a much earlier date, and matting was made in Pavenham for the Houses of Parliament even during the present century. Pavenham Bury, the seat of Mrs. Burton-Alexander, stands on an eminence facing the south. Mrs. Burton-Alexander and the Misses Hilton are the principal landowners.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England School (mixed), built by the late Joseph Tucker esq. in 1853, with master's house, for 130 children; average attendance, 85 ; William Wilson B.E.I.S. master; Miss Mary S. Wilson, Infants' mistress ; in 1877 a clock was placed in the school tower, at a cost of about £100, by Mrs. Tucker, as a memorial to her husband, Joseph Tucker esq. J.P. ; the school is entirely supported by Mrs. Burton- Alexander.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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[Last updated 16 March 2003 Martin Edwards]