Tebworth

No entry for Tebworth found in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History entry for Chalgrave (Bedfordshire, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "There was a chapel at Tebworth attached to the church of Chalgrave, and it was the duty of Dunstable Priory to see that service was performed there three days a week, in return for 36 acres of land given to the canons for this purpose by the parishioners of Tebworth. (fn. 70) The priory neglected the obligation, and in 1277 John, called Poleyn, demanded on behalf of all the parishioners the continuation of the services or the restitution of the 36 acres of land. (fn. 71) Their claims were not acknowledged, however, and in 1286 the question was revived, when the prior stated in his defence that no chantry in Tebworth had been granted from the date of the gift of Chalgrave Church to Dunstable. (fn. 72) The parishioners carried the case into the king's court, but without any result, and there is no further mention of the chapel until 1549, when the ruined chapel and 1 acre of land were granted with the advowson of Chalgrave to William Smith and his son. (fn. 73) At the present day there is a modern brick building at Tebworth in which services are held." The Chalgrave Parish site [www.chalgravepc.org.uk/local-history/parish-history/buildings-tebworth/] [accessed 21 September 2015] informs: "Bedfordshire Historical Record Society in 1978 includes an article and list of medieval chapels in Bedfordshire. It noted that there was a chapel of ease in Tebworth run by the canons of Dunstable Priory from at least 1277. [...] The chapel is not mentioned in surviving records between 1286 and 1549. At the latter date it is described as ruined [cf. VCH entry supra] This structure was in use into the late 20th century. The latest set of parochial church council minutes currently [2014] held for the parish show that the building was still in use for ecclesiastical purposes in 1957. It was then converted into a dwelling, which survives" [cf. infra]. The newer brick chapel built in 1889 is now [2015] a private dwelling [address: Wingfield Road, Tebworth, Leighton Buzzard LU7]; nothing remains of the medieval chapel.