Bedfordshire 
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STAGSDEN, a parish in the hundred of WILLEY, county of BEDFORD, 5½ miles (W. by S.) from Bedford, containing 542 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the kings's books at £8, endowed with £200 royal bounty. Lord Hampden was patron in 1811. The church is dedicated to St. Leonard.
[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]
STAGSDEN (formerly called STACHEDENE and STAGGISDEN) is a pleasant village and parish, on the main road from Bedford to Newport Pagnell and Wolverton, and is one of the villages, on the borders of Bucks, 3 miles west-south-west from Bedford stations, on the Midland and London and North Western railways, and 8 north-east from Newport Pagnell, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Willey, Bedford petty sessional division, union and county court district, rural deanery of Bedford, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely.
The soil is strong, stiff and cold day; subsoil, blue clay and chalkstone. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, peas and beans, with some roots. The area is 3,418 acres; rateable value, £2,636; the population in 1891 was 470.
WEST END is a mile south from the village; Up End, about a mile west; North End, a mile and a quarter north-west; and Bury and Wick Ends are a mile and a quarter north-east of the church.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The 1851 Census Index for Stagsden 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. Leonard, situated on an eminence near the centre of the village, is an ancient edifice of stone, erected in the Transitional period between the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, and consists of chancel, nave of five bays, with clerestory, north transept or chapel, south aisle, porch and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells: on the north side of the church are the remains of a rood-loft and an arched recess: in the south aisle are several arches : the chancel retains a piscina : there is a monumental brass to the Cocke family, dating from 1617. The register dates from the year 1670.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Non-conformist
Here is a Congregational chapel; the Bunyan Meeting, Bedford, have freehold land here of 72 acres.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England
The parish record transcripts for St. Leonard, are available on microfiche for the period 1670-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
A reading room was opened in 1896 and is supported by voluntary subscriptions. Pillow lace is made in the village, in which there is a chalybeate spring. Nearby the whole of the land in this parish was purchased in 1873 by the Crown, which also owns the manorial rights.
[Extracts from Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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[Last updated 16 March 2003 Martin Edwards]