Toddington
Timeline
Places > Toddington
1218: Toddington's first market and fair granted by Henry III to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke
1222: The Church of St. George of England consecrated
1349: The rector of Toddington, Geoffrey de Sewenestre dies of the Black Death, he is followed by two other rectors before the end of the year
1405: Stocks erected on the Village Green for the punishment of delinquents
1443: Hospital of St. John the Baptist founded by John Broughton for a warden and three old men (on land to the rear of Conger Hill)
1563: Queen Elizabeth I visits Lord Cheney at Toddington Manor
1667: Toddington manor passes to Henrietta, Baroness Wentworth who has a scandalous love affair with the Duke of Monmouth. Monmouth abandons his Duchess and comes to live with Henrietta. In 1685 he made an abortive attempt on the throne and was executed, Henrietta died 'of a broken heart'
1720: Wentworth House built for Thomas, Earl of Stafford, in 1754 it became the hunting lodge of Toddington Manor
1745: Most of the Elizabethan manor house pulled down except for a corner block (now Toddington Manor) by the Earl of Strafford
1821: A workhouse built on the southern end of the High Street
1832: A subscription raised to buy a fire engine. The fire engine remained in service for over a hundred years! Eighteen firemen were recruited "each man was to receive his proper number, which shall be placed on the front of his hat"
1840: The Gentleman's Magazine records a very curious bronze elephant (believed to be Roman in date) being found at Lodge Farm
1846: Toddington gets its first Post Office
1853: Mains gas installed in the village
1854: Two day schools set up in the village. A Church of England School and a Wesleyan School
1855: The Pump is presented to the village by Mr W. Dodge Cooper, the Lord of the Manor
1857: Toddington cemetery opened
1904: A fire burns down the old Griffin public house. It was replaced by the existing Griffin public house
1884: Toddington Baptist Church built
1907: A miniature rifle range built on Leighton Road
1923: The first council houses built in Dunstable Road
1938: The Town Hall and Village Green purchased by the Parish Council
1944: Mains water supply scheme completed for village
1976: A huge gale causes the battlements from the nave roof to crash through the north and south aisles of the church
1987: Toddington Town Hall sold to a Luton Company for 47,500 to be turned into offices
1990: An extension to Toddington cemetery consecrated by the Bishop of Bedford, Rt. Rev. David Farmbrough
1993: Toddington Village Hall opened in Leighton Road
1999: St. George’s Church given a 265,000 lottery grant to repair the tower
1999: Toddington Rovers play their final game on 1st May, winding up the club after 105 years
2010: Toddington Town Band is 100 years old this year.
Sources:
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Newspaper cuttings in the collection at Bedford Central Library
- Toddington, its annals and people by Joseph Hight Blundell (1925)
Page last updated: 4th February 2014