Whipsnade
General History
Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire 1894 (Extract)

Places > Whipsnade > General History

Whipsnade is a scattered parish, in a pleasant vale, 5 miles north by east from Bedford, 8 south-west from St Neots and 9 south of Kimbolton, in the northern division of the county, hundred of Barford, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of Eaton, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The church of St Nicholas is an edifice of stone, in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a tower containing 5 bells: there are four monuments, one of which, to a former rector, is dated 1643. The register dates from the year 1545.

The Rev. Norman Robert Ramsay M.A. curate of St Mary, Redcliffe, Bristol is lord of the manor: there are many freeholders, Frederick Street esq. being one of the largest.

The soil is various, clay and loam; subsoil, principally Oxford clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley. The area is 2,205 acres; rateable value, 1,971; the population in 1891 was 388.

East End, about 1 mile east, is a portion of this parish.

Parish Clerk, Robert Lovell.

Post Office - Robert Lovell, sub-postmaster.

Endowed National School, built in 1852 for 100 children; average attendance, 50; the endowment amounts to 50 a year; it is under the management of a body of trustees; Jethro Boyse, master.

Page last updated: 4th February 2014