Pavenham, Bedfordshire

Description
Pavenham, a pretty village and a parish in Bedfordshire. The village stands on the river Ouse, 2 miles NW of Oakley station on the M.R., and 6 NW of Bedford. It has a post and money order office under Bedford; telegraph office, Milton Ernest. The parish comprises 1345 acres of land and 25 of water; population, 387. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. Pavenham Bury is an old mansion standing upon an eminence facing the S. It was greatly altered and improved in 1842. The industries include mat and basket making, rush plaiting, and the making of pillow lace. The rush plaiting was brought into the village by the Hepwell family, who had migrated to London. Some of their descendants returned, when flying from the Great Plague, and established an industry that has since supported hundreds of people. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross value, £204 with residence. The church, which stands on rising-ground at the back of Pavenham Bury, is a small building of stone of the Early English and Decorated periods, and consists of chancel, nave, N aisle, S transept, vestry, and a western tower with short octagonal broach spire. It contains some fine oak carvings, and some ancient tombs and memorials. There are a Wesleyau chapel and a reading-room in the village. There is an ancient custom of bestrewing the church with grass every " Feast Sunday." This is done by the parish clerk, who, though he now receives a guinea instead, has the privilege of taking as much grass as he can cut and carry away between sunrise and sunset from a certain meadow on a certain day.