Potsgrove
Timeline

Places > Potsgrove

14th Century: Church built during the early part of this century, possibly between 1320 and 1350 and replaced a Norman church on the same site.

1862: The Mission Church of St. John built and dedicated on the 2nd October. By the beginning of the 20th century the church was falling into disuse and is last mentioned in 1906.

1880: Church thoroughly restored and transformed under John Sedding, including a new roof, new bell turret, extensive stonework repairs and a new lynch gate at a cost of 1,450. The church was re-opened on the 24th October by the Bishop of Ely.

1889: New Rectory was built alongside the church.

1898: New village school opened, the school closed in 1916.

1939-45: During The Second World War there was a propaganda radio station at Potsgrove transmitting to occupied Europe.

1966: The church closed because the building was unsafe.

1972: The church handed over to the Churches Conservation Trust in October. The C.C.T. secured the structure and completed the repairs necessary to enable the building to be preserved.

Sources:

• The Newspaper Cuttings Collection in the Local Studies Library at Bedford Central Library
• Victoria County History of Bedfordshire 3 Vols. 1912.
• Pickford, C.  Bedfordshire Churches in the 19th Century Part 2 Parishes H to R  Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Vol. 77 1998.
• Taylor, John  Bletchley Park's Secret Sisters : psychological warfare in World War 2.  2005.

Page last updated: 3rd February 2014