BLUNHAM

Source unknown - probably 1974

 An agricultural village with a compact centre of twisting lanes which, in spite of modification, has kept it older identity.  Outlying Blunham has suffered from dormitory infilling but Grange Road has a pleasant "off the beaten track" character still and the twin bridges and mill on the river Ivel are genuinely rural in spite of the proximity of the Great North Road (the A1). One of the bridges is humped-back and is built with stone piers.

St James or St Edmund is a grand church, bold and uncompromising.  The west tower is of sandstone, basically Norman, but its character comes from late 16th century restoration, quite unmedieval, but particularly in the pinnacles most effective.  The treasures of the church are the fragments of Nottingham alabaster particularly the headless Virgin, swaying and attenuated in character with its period, the late 14th century, and tragic in its mutilation, and the chalice and paten of 1626, now in the bank, given by John Donne.  He was rector when he died in 1631 and Dean of St Pauls, London.

The Rectory of 1874 a grim and massive effort by Usher depends for appreciation on ones capacity to accept these crudities as real architecture.  They reflect an age, and its arrogance and assurance, but fashionable dictates apart, admiration is not easy.  Anywhere else but dominating the delightful church and the river walk to the south one might grow to love it, but not there.

The public houses of Blunham are diverse and cater for all tastes from the ardent real ale supporter to those who are not necessarily just there for the beer.  A fish and chip parlour, generally considered the doyen of the north Bedfordshire district is likely to come under new management in 1975.