Elstow
General History
Victoria County History of Bedfordshire

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Part 30 Redbournestoke Hundred

The parish of Elstow lies to the south of Bedford, the village being rather more than a mile from the town. There are 1,617 acres in the parish, of which, roughly speaking, two-thirds are arable land and the remaining third permanent grass. The main line of the Midland Railway Company passes through the parish, and at a point near the north-western border it is crossed at right angles by the Bedford branch of the London and North Western Railway.

Elstow is best known to fame as the birthplace of John Bunyan. He was born in 1628 in a cottage on the eastern border of the parish, close by the little hamlet of Harrowden in the parish of Eastcotts. The family of Bunyan appear to have been long resident in the neighbourhood. A William Bunyan (Buniun) held property in Wilhamstead (the adjoining parish) in 1199, but the first mention of the family in Elstow that has been found occurs in 1541. The family were early of some importance, but their fortunes declined, and Thomas Bunyan, the father of John, was a tinker in none too prosperous circumstances. John Bunyan passed his early years in Elstow (his parents' cottage has long since disappeared, but place names such as Bunyan End, Further Bunyan, Bunyan Walk mark its whereabouts). On his marriage he removed to a cottage at the Bedford end of the village. This cottage is the Mecca of many pilgrimages, but it is to be feared that not much of the original structure now remains.

The village green, where Bunyan in his unregenerate days played tip-cat, does not border the road, being screened from it by a row of cottages and entered by a gate. On the western end of is there are remains, in the shape of an octagonal base and stump, of an old stone market cross. In the middle of the green is the old moot hall. It is a 16th century rectangular building of two stories, and is built of half timber and brick with a tile roof Originally on the ground floor were several shops and many of the four centred doorways in the timber frame are still to be seen. These and all other openings on this floor have been bricked up, except the entrance to a single-flight staircase which led to the rooms above. On the first floor were two rooms, a large hall to the west and a smaller room on the east, both being the full width of the building. John Bunyan is erroneously reputed to have preached here, and the upper part of the building is now used on Sunday by the Congregationalists, who rent it from Mr. S. Whitbread. The ground floor is used as a lumber store.

The church is approached from the green. On the south side of it are the ruins of a Jacobean mansion, connected with the road by an avenue of elms. Built by Thomas Hillersdon in the reign of James I (from the materials of the convent), this house was long the residence of the Hillersdon family. It was still standing in 1759, when it was described as being attached to the church and having a large window into the body of it. Now nothing remains but some ivied walls and a gateway, probably of rather later date than the house, and thought to be the work of Inigo Jones. There is a porch, consisting of a round-headed doorway, flanked on each side by two Doric pilasters, between which there is a niche over these is an entablature with a pediment. There has been an upper part, but only the bases of its pilasters remain. In the spandrels are cartouches and strap ornament, with strap ornament on the lower pedestals. On the pedestals of the upper story are grotesque heads ; over the pediment is a cartouche with the arms of Hillersdon. There are also the remains of a projecting south wing, the walling of which is all of rough rubble, formerly plastered, and containing square-headed windows with transoms. Of these ruins only the lower part is left, entirely overgrown with ivy.

Page last updated: 27th January 2014