Moggerhange
Timeline
Places > Moggerhanger
1790: The Thornton Family, owners of Moggerhanger Park, employed Sir John Soane the eminent architect and designer of The Bank of England, to design the house which was built between 1790 and 1816.
1859: Moggerhanger was originally a manor and hamlet in the parish of Blunham. In 1859 Elizabeth Dawkins of Moggerhanger House offered to build a church at Moggerhanger in memory of her husband, the foundation stone was laid on the 19th September and the church was consecrated on the 31st July 1860. Soon after the church was completed Moggerhanger became a separate ecclesiastical parish on the 30th October 1860.
1861: The Parochial School built.
1896: Moggerhanger and Chalton separated from Blunham to form an individual parish.
1919: Moggerhanger House bought by Bedfordshire County Council, it became a sanatorium for patients suffering from TB.
1929: Moggerhanger Methodist Church opened.
1938: The old school building renovated and became the village hall, opening in April.
1948: The Bedford Group Management Hospital Committee acquired Moggerhanger Park. They changed the name from the Bedford Sanatorium to Park Hospital in 1957.
1963: The old Guinea Public House demolished and the present Guinea built on the old foundations.
1976: The old village hall demolished to make way for the new hall to be built on the same foundations. The building had been in existence since 1861 serving as a parochial school 1861-1911, farmer's store 1911-1937, and village hall 1937-1976.
1977: New village hall opened on the 2nd April.
1980: St. John's Home, part of the Sue Ryder Foundation admits first patients on the 12th May. The building, which dates back to about 1865, was designed for a Governor of the Bank of England.
1987: Park Hospital closed on Christmas Eve.
1995: Park Hospital purchased by Harvest Vision, an evangelical trust, as a Christian prayer retreat and training centre.
1997: Moggerhanger House Preservation Trust set up.
1998: A grant of 3,035,500 obtained from The National Heritage Memorial Fund for restoration of Moggerhanger House, a Grade 1 listed building.
2005: After a ten year restoration programme costing 6 million Moggerhanger House opens its doors to the public. The first guided tour takes place on Saturday 28th May.
Sources:
- The Newspaper Cuttings Collection in the Local Studies Library at Bedford Central Library
- Victoria County History of Bedfordshire 3 Vols. 1912
- Brown, H.S. Moggerhanger 1777 - 1997
Page last updated: 3rd February 2014