Cravens Directory – Aspley Guise 1863

Aspley Guise, a parish village, is 3 miles north-west of Woburn, and 7 miles west of Ampthill, in the union of Woburn, diocese of Ely, and hundred of Manshead. The church is dedicated to St. Peter, and the Rev. John Vaux Moore, M.A., is rector, being in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, It comprises a nave, chancel, and a square embattled tower, and is a neat edifice. Beautiful new windows of stained glass, by those eminent artists Bailey and O’Connor, have been put in, at the expense of the present incumbent. This parish anciently belonged to the Guise or Gyse family, and John Guise, Esq., in 1540, exchanged with Henry VIII, his manor of Aspley for lands in Gloucestershire. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel here. There are two schools – a National and British. About 150 years since, there was an excellent classical school, of very considerable celebrity, but some years ago it gradually fell off, and the building is now made into shops. The population amounted in 1851, to 1302, being an increase of 163 since the previous census. Number of acres, 1950. A market was formerly held here on Fridays; and a fair at St. Botolph’s tide was granted to one of the Guises in 1267.
The beautiful village of Aspley Guise, appropriately styled “The Gem of Bedfordshire,” possesses a climate whose salubrity, if known, would gain for it the patronage of invalids gene­rally and consumptive patients in particular. This peculiarity of climate very much resembles that of the Undercliffe, Isle of Wight, and may be ascribed to its soil, which is of a sandy nature, acting as a percolator in the wet season (for, after long continued rain, all signs of it immediately disappear, and the surface of the ground becomes firm and dry), and in hot wea­ther possessing the twofold property, – first, of absorbing the heat by day, and secondly, of radiating it back again by night, thus diminishing those sudden transitions of temperature so extremely prejudicial to consumptive and other invalids. If proof be needed respecting Aspley and its climate, meteorological observations made on the spot may be quoted, in conjunction with the lengthened longevity of consumptive patients in this district when compared with other localities.

Gentry.

Mrs. Mary Atterbury
Mrs. Mary Ann Bird
Miss Maria Gorder
Mr. John Foster
Mr. William How, farmer
Mr. William Francis Kerr, Aspley Cottage
Rev. George William Mahon, M.A.
Rev. John Vaux Moore, M.A., rector
Miss Ann Osborn
Rev. Richard Pain, D.C.L.
Mr. Thomas Parker
Mrs. Elizabeth Percival
Mr. John Robinson
Mrs. Lucy Shepperd
Mr. Charles Hervey Smith, Aspley House
Colonel Hervey Smith, Aspley House
Mrs. Mary Smith
Mrs. Sarah Smith
Mrs. Mary Wiffen
Mr. Benjamin Wiffen

Trades.
John Thomas Assbee, victualler, “Bell”
Robert Bailey, victualler, “Weathercock,” and farmer, Woburn Sands
William Beesley, wheelwright
John Billington, carrier
William Bird, butcher
James Brandon, beer retailer and coal dealer
Kitty Britten, beer retailer
George Banyan, plumber, painter, and glazier
James Barton, beer retailer and poulterer
George Carver, painter and glazier
Joseph Cave, shopkeeper
Samuel Chibnall, bricklayer and plasterer, Woburn Lane
Thomas Clay, police constable
George Cook, victualler, “Swan,” and shop­keeper
Joseph Cook, shopkeeper
Robert Cruit, parish clerk and sexton
Richard Deverell, victualler, “Swan,” and farmer, Woburn Sands
Douglas Summers, farmer, Hayfield farm
Henry Durrant, corn miller and farmer, Aspley mill
Annie Ellen, National schoolmistress
Charles Ellen, National schoolmaster, Woburn Lane
William Ellis, shoeing and jobbing smith
Joseph Flude, tailor
Thomas Fryer, baker
William Gilbert, Aspley Hall farm
George Goodman, shopkeeper
William and Henry Green, linen drapers and grocers
William Handscomb, nurseryman
John Hewlett, carpenter and joiner
William Hirdle, carpenter and builder, Woburn Lane
George Hobbs, saddler and harness maker
William Holmes, farmer
Henry Howe, cattle dealer, Woburn Lane
Frederick Jackson, carpenter and builder, Woburn Lane
John Large, boot and shoemaker
Edward Bead, shoeing smith
George Robinson, boot and shoemaker
Thomas Rutley, carpenter, Woburn Lane
John Samwell, saddler and harness maker
John Shemeld, postmaster

John Smith, baker
Abraham Page Turney, grocer and cheese­monger
William Warr, farmer, Manor farm
George Whitman, tailor and hatter
Edwin Williams, surgeon dentist
James Williams, M.D., surgeon
Grace Wood, British schoolmistress
John Wood, British schoolmaster
Dennis Waterman Woodin, boot and shoe­maker
Richard Waterman Woodin, beer retailer
Robert Wright, thrasher of corn by steam, and registrar of marriages for Woburn district
William Yardley, butcher

Post Office.
John Shemeld, postmaster. Letters arrive Woburn, 8am; depart, 6pm

Places of Worship.
St. Peter’s Church. Rev. John Vaux Moore, rector. Service, 11am, and 6.30pm
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Circuit preachers. Service, 2 and 6pm, Thurs, 7pm

Schools.
British – John Wood, master. Grace Wood, mistress. Number of boys, 70; girls, 30
National, Woburn Lane – Charles Ellen, master. Ellen Annie, mistress. Number of boys, 90; girls, 50

Carriers.
Bedford – John Billington, Sat, 8 am
Leighton Buzzard – John Billington, Tues 8 am

 

Page last updated Jan. 2019.