Old Warden
Timeline
Places > Old Warden
1135: Warden Abbey was founded by Walter Espec; it was a Cistercian House. The monks cleared the surrounding woodland and planted a vineyard of ten acres. The dissolution of the Abbey occurred in 1537.
12th Century: The church tower is Norman and the nave dates from the 13th century. The chancel was rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century. There is a medieval stained glass window in the north wall of the nave which came from Warden Abbey
1787: In 1785 the first Baron Ongley left money for the building of a "burial vault for himself and family in the parish church or churchyard." In 1787 his widow applied to "make a vault in the churchyard" and the mausoleum was built. After the death of the third and last Baron Ongley the mausoleum contained the bodies of ten members of the family.
1802: Old Warden Park created by Lord Ongley but when he fell into financial difficulties the estate was purchased by Joseph Shuttleworth.
1820s: Swiss Garden laid out by the third Lord Ongley at the height of the vogue for alpine scenery, after the Second World War the garden fell into disuse with only minimal maintenance.
1838: The Plough Public House opens, the pub had closed by 1903.
1841: Long Ongley repaired the church and filled it with oak carvings from Belgium, France and Italy.
1872: Old Warden Park purchased by Joseph Shuttleworth, he demolished the old red brick house and in 1876-7 replaced the building with a Jacobean style mansion.
1875: Old Warden School opens.
1903: Reading and Recreation Room presented to the parish by Colonel F. Shuttleworth.
1940: Richard Shuttleworth, serving in the Royal Air Force killed in a night flying training exercise on the night of the 1st-2nd August. Before the war Richard Shuttleworth had built up a collection of old cars and aircraft restoring them to working order.
1944: In remembrance of her son, Dorothy Shuttleworth placed the estate into a charitable trust to be used for the purpose of agricultural and aviation education, two interests in which Richard had been especially keen.
1946: Shuttleworth College has its first student intake.
1963: The Shuttleworth Collection opens to the public
1976: Bedfordshire County Council assumes responsibility for the management and restoration of Swiss Garden.
1981: The Swiss Garden opens to the public on April 27th.
1986: Old Warden Lower School closes. The Vineyard at Warden replanted with five varieties of grapes, the first harvest was in 1990.
2002: On the 22nd May, The Duke of Edinburgh opens the Children's Jubilee Playground in Old Warden Park
Sources:
- The Newspaper Cuttings Collection in the Local Studies Library at Bedford Central Library
- Victoria County History of Bedfordshire 3 Vols. 1912.
Page last updated: 3rd February 2014