Elstow is a village and civil parish
in the English
county of Bedfordshire. John Bunyan, was born in the hamlet of Harrowden
which, although not in the parish of Elstow, stands
just a mile east of the actual village.
History
Countess Judith, niece of
William the Conqueror founded a
nunnery in Elstow in the year 1078. The Elstow nuns came from
wealthy families and each came with an endowment of money and/or
lands.
So,
by 1538 Elstow
Abbey
was valued as being the eighth richest Benedictine nunnery in England. On 26
August 1539, the
Abbess was forced to
surrender the Abbey, the manor of Elstow and all the Abbey's other
lands and estates throughout England, to
King Henry VIII, as part of his
Dissolution of the
Monasteries. So significant was the Abbey at Elstow that, even
after the dissollution, the building was being considered for
elevation to
cathedral status, but this
never transpired.
The
Saunderson
Tractor and Implement Co. was founded in Elstow in 1890: it was
one of the biggest tractor makers by the time of the
First World War. From an undisclosed date
the firm continued as the Bedford Plough and Engineering Co.
Further reading
Elstow today
The
village and most of the populated part of Elstow parish are located
inside Bedford
's southern
bypass, with the hamlet of Harrowden lying just to the south-east
of that road.A large part of the population of the parish
nowadays is not located in the old Elstow village itself, but in a
large housing development called Abbeyfields, which was built in
first few years of the 21st century and is effectively a suburb of
Bedford
.The
old village is now virtually surrounded by modern development and,
as a
conservation area, is a
little oasis of calm, with some beautiful, well-preserved, medieval
buildings and tranquil village green.Elstow village green is an
ideal place for a summer picnic, perhaps combined with a visit to
the historic
Moot Hall and the 11th
century Abbey church.
Elstow Moot Hall
Elstow
Moot Hall (or The Green House, as
it was formerly known) stands in isolation on Elstow
village green. It was built in the 15th
century partly to serveas a market-house, with four shops on the
ground floor. The building was extended, probably in the late 15th
century, adding two more shop bays and two rooms suitable for
living in - these were probably used to accommodate important
visitors to the nearby Abbey.For many years, it was thought that
the downstairs shop bays were used between annual village fairs for
storing the stalls and other equipment in connection with those
fairs. However, recent investigations have
indicated that these six downstairs shop bays were probably used as
permanant shops throughout the whole year.The main upper room of
this
Tudor timber-framed building was
probably originally used as the Abbess' court. It was certainly
used after the dissolution as a
manor
court - where people who had committed local misdemeanors and
petty crimes would be dealt with. Disputes arising from the fairs
would also be heard and settled here. It was probably also used
through most of its history as a village meeting place - hence the
present name -
Moot (meaning 'meeting')
Hall.Throughout much of the 19th century, the upper room was used
every Sunday both as a school and, in the evening, by the Elstow
congregation of the Bunyan Meeting Church, as a place of
worship.
Moot Hall was restored to its
original
medieval form by
Bedfordshire County Council in
1950. It is now cared for by
Bedford Borough Council, which
operates it as a
museum illustrating 17th
century English life, with exhibitions of antique furniture and
information relating to
John
Bunyan.
References
External links
Wikis
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