Melchbourne, Bedfordshire

Description
Melchbourne, a village and a parish in Bedfordshire. The village stands 2 miles E of the boundary with Northamptonshire, 5 NNE of Sharnbrook station, and 6 ESE of Higham Ferrers station on the L. & N.W.R. and M.R., and was once a market-town. There is a post, money order, andi telegraph office under Sharnbrook (S.O.) The parish comprises 2638 acres; population, 165. Melchbourne Park is Lord St John's seat, was built about the time of James L or Charles I., has been modernized in the front, and stands in a fine park of about 400 acres. A preceptory of Knights Hospitallers was founded here in the time of Henry I. by Alice, Countess of Pembroke, was given by Queen Elizabeth. to the Russells, and has left some remains. The living is a, vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross value, £55 with residence. The church is a stone building in the Classic style, restored in 1779 effacing an earlier Gothic building; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porch and tower containing in the belfry a Gothic arch. There is a brass of 1377 and two monuments to the St Johns.