Turvey, Bedfordshire

Description
Turvey, a village and a parish in Bedfordshire. The village stands on the borders of Bucks and on the river Ouse, 4 miles E from Olney, and 7 NW from Bedford. It has a station on the Bedford and Northampton branch of the M.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Bedford. The parish comprises 4011 acres, population, 882. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. The manor belongs to the Higgins family. Turvey House is a fine three-storeyed mansion in the Italian style, standing in a park of about 150 acres. Turvey Abbey is an ancient mansion standing in a park of 100 acres. Woodside House, Holmwood House, Turvey Cottage, and Picts Hill are chief residences. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net value, £259 with residence. The church is a building of stone, with traces of Saxon and Norman work, but chiefly in the Early English style with Decorated and Perpendicular additions, consisting of chancel with sacristy and organ chamber, nave, aisles, vestry, S porch, and a low embattled western tower with a short pyramidal spire. The church has a Norman font, many fine ancient tombs and memorials, chiefly to members of the Mordaunt family, and some good stained windows. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels. The charities are numerous and valuable, and they include a memorial hall and block of almshouses, erected and endowed in 1884 by Mr James Barton of London. These contain twenty sets of rooms, for either married or single persons. The Bedfordshire Reformatory has attached to it about 125 acres of land, and accommodates about seventy boys, who are maintained and instructed in agricultural pursuits.