About the Church
The building of St. James's Church began in the 12th Century with the nave and the chancel forming
the original Norman Church. The tower was built between the 13th and 15th Centuries. At the base of the bell tower is a board listing all the known rectors and vicars of the parish from 1231 to the present day. The Boteler family added the chapel on the south side in the 15th Century and the north aisle in the 16th Century and there is a grand marble monument in their memory in the chancel. There are some early brasses in the north aisle, one on the wall to Helen Boteler. (1639) and three on the floor (1490-1530) to the Faldo family. In 1862 James Horsford of Bedford restored and reseated the church and the wooden pews are still in use today. The choir stalls were given to the church in 1906 in memory of Carlota Drysdale Howard.
There is a 15th Century octagonal font with an oak cover from a later period. On the south side the Lady Chapel is enclosed by a 16th Century rood screen with elaborate carving. The altar here is a Jacobean communion table and its backcloth is of material used in Westminster Abbey at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. At the back of the chapel is a staircase, which leads to a small room or parvis over the porch. Visitors by request!
C. E. Mallows the eminent architect designed the lectern in copper, brass and iron and the support is a delightful Arts and Crafts style tree. His other designs include the prayer desk, altar and the oak cross over the chancel arch, which were added between 1902-1912.
The stained glass in the church is to be admired including that in the east windows by Kempe and the more modern memorial windows. The fine 20th Century windows on the east wall of the north aisle is a wonderful evocation of the life of Sir John Howard industrialist and churchwarden. To mark the start of the new millennium the village commissioned a notable stained glass windows, a tableau of village life and landscape, which was installed in 2000.
The modern vestry was added in 1974 to enable the parish to continue the work of 600 years into the future. The church is light, airy and plain as befits a small parish church that is much loved and visited.
Church Gates:
Designed in 1926 and subsequently replaced twice. Inside the gates is the base of an old stone preaching cross.
Churchyard:
The earliest burial in the churchyard which can be deciphered is that of Alice Osborne (1615). Alice was the wife of Edward Osborne of the Inner Temple, and daughter of William Boteler of Bydenham.
Clock:
The clock on the church tower was made by William Emmerton of Wootton and installed in 1787.
Bells:
Six bells were recast from a former ring of five bells by William Emmerton of Wootton in 1787. In 1896 the tenor bell was recast by the Taylor Foundry in Loughborough as it was cracked. In 1896, two treble bells were presented by Cecil Winnington Ingram in memory of his brother Charles.
Organ:
Built by Bishop and Son and installed in 1898. It was rebuilt in 1965 by Leighton Organs.
Sources:
- Biddenham, a parish history and guide by Dorothy Richards
- Pamphlets and leaflets held in Bedford Central Library local studies collection
- Bedfordshire churches in the nineteenth century, part 1, parishes A-G edited by Chris Pickford (BHRS, Vo. 73, 1994)
- The buildings of England: Bedfordshire and the county of Huntingdon and Peterborough by Nikolaus Pevsner. (penguin Books 1968)
