Wilden, Bedfordshire

Human settlement in England
  • Bedford
Ceremonial county
  • Bedfordshire
Region
  • East
CountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townBEDFORDPostcode districtMK44Dialling code01234PoliceBedfordshireFireBedfordshire and LutonAmbulanceEast of England UK Parliament
  • North East Bedfordshire
List of places
UK
England
Bedfordshire
52°11′00″N 0°23′50″W / 52.1833°N 0.39723°W / 52.1833; -0.39723

Wilden is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The population of 399 in the 2011 Census was estimated at 392 in 2019.[2]

Heritage

John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales describes Wilden as it was in 1870–1872:

"WILDEN, a parish in the district and county of Bedford; 5 miles NE of Bedford r[ailway] station. It has a post-office under Bedford. Acres, 2,160. Real property, £2,765. Pop[ulation], 501. Houses, 112. The property is subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £400.* Patron, Mrs. Chalk. The church is good; and there are an Independent chapel, an endowed school with £47 a year, and charities £26."[3]

Famous person

The scholar and Bible translator Francis Dillingham died in Wilden in 1625.[4]

Amenities

The village has a 14th–15th century Grade I listed Anglican church dedicated to St Nicholas.[5] There is a Baptist Chapel in Great Barford Road, with Sunday services held there three times a month. The chapel was probably founded in 1806, although its old Church Book has been lost.[6]

Wilden churchyard

Wilden Primary School is a Voluntary Aided Church of England school. It recently had 59 pupils, and a pre-school section for 10. It dates back to the 17th century and was rebuilt in the 19th. Additions were made in 1972, 1993, 2004 and 2013. It serves as a lower school within a group of schools called St Albans Cluster.[7][8]

There are five Grade II listed buildings in the village.[5] The single pub is called the Victoria Arms, but it is currently closed.[9] There is also a village hall available for local activities.

Wilden is served by a daytime bus service: Grant Palmer No. 27S between Bedford and Ravensden. It runs four times a day on Monday to Saturday.[10]

A photograph of Church Walk, Wilden, in about 1900, showing Village Farm, the Post Office (later known as Tudor Cottage), and St Nicholas Church

References

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  2. ^ City Population site. [1]
  3. ^ Quoted on Vision of Britain site. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. ^ Wright, Stephen, "Dillingham, Francis (d. 1625)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  5. ^ a b Church site. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. ^ Chapel site. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  7. ^ [2] Official school site. Retrieved 15 November 2018.]
  8. ^ [3] Report at the end of the 2017–18 school year.
  9. ^ Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  10. ^ Bus company site with timetable. Retrieved 20 November 2018.

External links

Media related to Wilden, Bedfordshire at Wikimedia Commons

  • Wilden Lower School
  • Wilden village hall