Bletsoe
[From Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831.]
BLETSOE, a parish in the hundred of WILLEY, county of BEDFORD, 6½ miles (N.N.W.) from Bedford, containing 383 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £17. Lord St. John was patron in 1818. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. The river Ouse runs through the parish, in which are the remains of an ancient castle, formerly belonging to Lord Bolingbroke, part of which has been destroyed for the materials. Here is a mineral spring, but the water is seldom used medicinally.