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

Places > Ridgmont > General History

Ridgmont (or Ridgmount) is a parish, village and station on the Bedford and Bletchley branch of the North Western railway, 54 miles from London, 11 1/2 miles south-west by road from Bedford and 2 north-east from Woburn, in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Redbornstoke, petty sessional division and union of Woburn, county court district of Ampthill, rural deanery of Fleete, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The church of All Saints is an elegant edifice of Cosgrove and Stagsden stone, with dressings of Bath stone, in the Decorated style, from designs by the late Sir George Gilbert Scott R.A. and consists of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles and a fine western tower with spire containing 1 bell; the stained east and west windows were the gift of Lady Charles Bentinck; the Decorated octagonal font has canopied work around the basin, and was brought from the old church, which is now only used for the purposes of burial; the cost of the building was defrayed by the Duke of Bedford, and the fitting of the interior by the parishioners, aided by the vicar; the foundation stone was laid by the Duchess of Bedford, April 24, 1854, and the church was consecrated on All Saints Day, 1855; there are sittings for 396 persons, all free. The register dates from the year 1539. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value of 220 , with 12 acres of glebe, and residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, and held since 1891 by the Rev. James Joshua Lomax M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. The ancient church of Segenhoe is now used as a mortuary chapel. There is a Wesleyan chapel, and a Baptist chapel, with minister's residence attached, built in 1811. A wood carving class for agricultural labourers, affiliated  to the Home Arts Association at South Kensington, is carried on here under the support and superintendence of Miss Crouch of Segenhoe Manor. The charities amount to about 65 yearly, for the repairs of the church, the maintenance of the National school and the relief of the poor. The Duke of Bedford is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is part sand and part clay, subsoil, sand and clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and beans. The area is 2,248 acres; rateable value, 2,991; the population in 1891 was 658.

Parish Clerk, John Ford

Post Office - Mrs Maria Sharpe, sub-postmistress. Letters arrive from Bletchley Station via Aspley Guise at 7.10am & 6.30pm; despatched at 6.30am & 6.45 pm; & on sunday at 9.5am. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Aspley Guise. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.

A School Board of 5 members was formed March 2, 1878; Charles Gosling, clerk to the board.

Board School (formerly National) (mixed), built in 1854, for 180 children, average attendance, 130, with an infants' department, erected in 1878; Miss Carden, mistress; Miss Day, infants' mistress.

Railway Station, Frederick Wheeler, station master.

Carrier - Joseph Williamson, to Bedford, sat; Dunstable & Luton, mon; & Leighton Buzzard, tues.

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