Bletsoe Village
Surprisingly, fewer people live in the village today than in 1600, but the two buildings which dominated the village then can still be seen today.
The present church is at the top of the village, built on the site of an earlier building in the 13th century and restored in the 19th century. It is an irregular cruciform shape with a central tower with a clock containing a peal of bells. Visitors take some time to work out why it is so much smaller inside than out! There is a chapel devoted to the St John family and an alabaster tomb dating from the end of the 16th century showing Lord and Lady St John and their nine children.
Just across the lane, Bletsoe castle is not the turreted building many expect to see. Originally a motte and bailey castle, the only indication of the previous imposing building and grounds is the remains of the moat and the steep mounds thrown up for defence. Of the many notable occupants of the castle, the best known is Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. In the present garden is a 16th century bridge, probably built over what was left of the moat at the entrance to a large Elizabethan manor house. Today, though large, the house is much smaller than the original building, having had the top storey removed. It stands proudly at the top of the village overlooking farmland not much changed over the centuries.
There are views from the castle towards North End, where Gilbert's Cottage, Northend Farm and the farm cottages were built all at about the same time as the castle. There are other even older dwellings in the village, those in Old Way, Top Row and Pixie Cottage in particular.
A secret passage is said to run from castle and church to The Cottage and thence to the Falcon Inn and the river, but most present day village dwellers go down to that hostelry by the footpath as it still exits. In the 1830s the poet Edward Fitzgerald used to stay at the Falcon and said it was 'the cleanest, the sweetest, the civilest, the quietest, the liveliest . . .' sounds like he was under the influence whilst writing that one.
Further information as to earlier residents of Bletsoe came to light when the new rectory, now The Grange, was being built in the 1930s. Among the finds were 2nd and 3rd century coins and a beautiful silver spoon with a delicately curved handle, as well as a quantity of skeletons.
The Second World War brought unexpected visitors to stay in this quiet village. American servicemen arrived and nightly the sound of bombers setting off for Europe from surrounding airfields was heard. These transatlantic visitors do return with their families from time to time to see the village they once knew and find it not altered too much .
Postwar house building changed Bletsoe. Expansion of the airfield swallowed Whitwick End, while new houses were built at Bourne End. In the village some old cottages and one of the terraced rows disappeared to be replaced by new properties lining one side of The Avenue and by a splendid village hall, the focus of much village life today.
