Stagsden
Timeline
Places > Stagsden
13th Century: The oldest parts of Saint Leonard's church date from this century when the church apparently consisted of a chancel, nave and west tower. The south aisle and porch were added in the 14th century.
1812: Stagsden Enclosure Act.
1875: Village Hall built.
1876: The Stagsden Child Murder. On the 20th March the dead body of a baby was found by a gamekeeper in Stagsden Plantation. The mother Lucy Lowe was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
1896: Reading Room opened.
1932: The church bells rehung by John Taylor of Loughborough.
1965: Stagsden Bird Garden opens to the public.
1983: Stagsden Lower School closes in July.
1991: Work starts on the Stagsden Bypass in May.
1992: Stagsden Bypass opens on Saturday 4th April at a cost of 3.7 million.
1994: Stagsden Bird Garden closes. (Bedford Citizen 24th March)
Sources:
- Newspaper articles in the Bedford Central Local Studies Collection.
- Victoria County History of Bedfordshire 3 Vols 1912.
- PEVSNER, N The buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough, 1968
- PICKFORD, Christopher Bedfordshire Churches in the 19th Century Vol.79 Bedfordshire Historical Society 2000.
Page last updated: 4th February 2014