[From Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831.]

WILDEN, a parish in the hundred of BARFORD, county ofBEDFORD, 5¼ miles (N.E. by N.) from Bedford, containing 447 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king£s books at £18.7.1., and in the patronage of the Duke of Bedford. The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. John and Thomas Rolle, in 1624, bequeathed land, now producing an annual income of £30, for teaching poor children.


[Post Office Directory - Bedfordshire - 1864]

WILDEN is a scattered parish, situated in a pleasant vale, 6 miles from Bedford on the north, 8 south-west from St. Neots, and 9 south from Kimbolton, in the hundred of Barford, union, county court district and archdeaconry of Bedford, rural deanerv of Eaton, and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Nicholas is a very neat structure, of Gothic architecture, with chancel, and square tower containing 5 bells; there are some good monuments in the Interior. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of Mrs. Eliza Chalk, annual value £400, with residence; the Rev. Richard Gregory Chalk, M.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, is the incumbent. The Independents have a small chapel. There is a school, in the hands of trustees, for the education of the poor, the endowment of which is £47 per annum. Mrs. Chalk is lady of the manor. The charities are £6 per annum for widows; also £20 per annum left for the repairs of the church. The population in 1861 was 501; the acreage is 2,200 : rateable value, £2,720.


St Nicholas Church, Wilden

LIST OF RECTORS

Nicholas de Breaut

1222

Peter Ridel

1237

Simon de Pabenham

1246

Robert de Bueles

1264

Malcolm de Harlye

1273

Simon de Pavenham

1298

John de Pabenham

1321

Edmund de Pavenham

1343

Robert Braybrok

1361

Robert de Eston

1362

William de Lokyngton

1373

John Amy

1375

John Seward

1412

Thomas Gyles

1416

Thomas Bylman

1421

Richard Elstowe

1456

Thomas Mychel

1456

William Brande

1472

Richard Kirkby

1505

John Phillips

1571

Walter Atkins

1577

Richard Worsley

1579

Francis Dillingham

1600

Jasper Fisher

1624

Thomas Watson

1643

Thomas Rolt

1657

John Nodes

1695

Robert Paradine

1718

Thomas Holme

1742

William Fisher

1747

Robert Holt Butcher

1774

Edward Emily

1779

Samuel Kent

1781

William Morris

1784

William Morris

1806

John Vaux Moore

1822

William Shove Chalk

1835

Richard Gregory Chalk

1849

Edward W. Jones

1899

Robert Davies

1905

John R. Pullan

1907

Reginald Paddick

1927

Albert L. Panchaud

1931

Richard C. Chalk

1941

Signey W. Golding

1946

William R. Peverley

1954

Leonard B. Impson

1962

David Lewthwaite

1975

Lawrence Griffith

1980

John Heffer

1988

Robin Rogers

1992