Toddington, Gloucestershire

Description
Toddington, an old town and an extensive parish in Bedfordshire. The town stands 2 miles SW from Harlington station on the M.R., and 5 SE from Woburn. It presents an ancient appearance, is very irregularly built, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Dunstable. The parish comprises 5535 acres; population, 2087. There Is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. Straw-plait is manufactured, but not to a great extent. The manor, with most of the land, belongs to the Cooper family. The Manor House was originally the seat of Sir Paulinus Peyore, steward of Henry III., and was afterwards rebuilt in magnificent style by Baron Cheney of Toddington in the reign of Henry VIII., and from the Cheney family it passed to the Wentworths, being at one time the residence of the Earls of Cleveland and of the Earl of Strafford. Some Roman Antiquities have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net value, £600 with residence. The church is remarkable for the finely-carved frieze running round the whole length of the N transept under the battlements, as also for its three-storeyed parvise or priest's chamber, which is believed to be almost unique. These chambers are accounted for by the requirements of the chantry priests, the N and S transepts being private property still, with their own separate dedications. The church itself is dedicated to St George of England, being the only church of this dedication in Bedfordshire; the transepts to St James and St Paul respectively. There are Baptist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. Toddington, a village and a parish in Gloucestershire, 4 miles N of Winchcomb, and 4 1/4 E by S of Beckford station on the M.R. The village has a post office under Winchcomb (R.S.O.); money order office, Winchcomb; telegraph office, Stanway. The parish comprises 1828 acres; population of the civil parish, 236; of the ecclesiastical, with Stanley Pontlarge, 327. Toddington House, the seat of Lord Sudeley, is a magnificent mansion, erected in 1835 in the style of a mediaeval monastic edifice. It stands in an extensive well-timbered park. The manor belonged to Lord Sudeley's ancestors before the Conquest. There are fruit orchards of over 500 acres. The living is a vicarage, united with Stanley Pontlarge, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £30 with residence. Patron, Lord Sudeley. The church was built in 1877 by Lord Sudeley in place of a previous edifice. It is in the Early English style, and was designed by Street, and has a mortuary chapel with a monument to the first Lord Sudeley and his wife.