Extra land was added to the churchyard in 1864. This is a transcript of the act of consecration for the new land. Blame Emrys Williams for all msitakes. I added some hyperlinks where appropriate. The 1864 document did not contain hyperlinks. Or if it did, they didn’t work.
[Stamped “Cambridge 9.7.64 1”] [but why does that predate the act?]
An Act of Consecration and Dedication of a piece of ground for the interment of Person dying Inhabitants of the Parish of Eversholt in the County of Bedford, according to the Liturgy and Usages of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by law established by the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Harold by Divine Permission Lord Bishop of Ely.
On Thursday the sixth day of October one thousand eight hundred and sixty four, in the forenoon of the same day, the said Right Reverend Father in God Edward Harold, by Divine Permission Lord Bishop of Ely, accompanied by the Reverend Charles Gray his Lordship’s Chaplain, and the Venerable Henry Tattam D.D., arrived at the school room in Eversholt aforesaid, where he was met by the Reverend William S Baker Rector of Eversholt, the Reverend Jacob Henry Brooke Mountain D.D. Rector of Blunham, the Reverend Thomas Tylecote Rural Dean and Rector of Marston, the Reverend Truman Tanqueray Rector of Tingrith, the Reverend Frederick Hose, Rural Dean and Rector of Dunstable, the Reverend Charles Ward, Rural Dean and Rector of Maulden, the Reverend Thomas Pearse Vicar of Westoning, The Reverend Newton Smart, Prebendary of Sarum, the undersigned Hugh Robert Evans Deputy Registrar of the said Diocese, and by the Churchwardens of the said Parish, and his Lordship, wearing his Episcopal Robes, proceeded to the Parish Church of Eversholt aforesaid, and being seated on the north side of the Altar of the said Church, the said William S Baker presented to his Lordship a petition from the Rector, Churchwardens, Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish of Eversholt, which petition his Lordship received, and delivered to the said Deputy Registrar to be read by him, and which was accordingly read by him, and was to the tenor and effect hereinafter set forth. After which, Morning Prayers with the Psalms for the day, and Lessons proper for the occasion, well read, the Prayers and Psalms being read by the said William S Baker, and Newton Smart, the first lesson, taken from the twenty third chapter of the book of Genesis, by the said Truman Tanqueray; and the second lesson taken from the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel according to St John, beginning at the thirty eighth verse, by the said Frederick Hose. The Communion Service was then read by the Lord Bishop, the epistle for the day being read by the said Thomas Tylecote, and the Gospel by Archdeacon Tatton. After which his Lordship preached a Sermon. This being ended the said Charles Gray read the Offertory, and the Bishop the Prayer for the Church Militant. The Morning Service being ended his Lordship proceeded to consecrate the said Burial Ground, according to the said petition, and going out of the said Church to the intended new Burial Ground with his Chaplain and the other Clergy, the Deputy Registrar, Churchwardens and others, and there repeating alternately the forty ninth Psalm went around the Ground, and returning to the Western Porch of the Church, his Lordship said as follows. “The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us, prosper thou the work of our hands upon us, & prosper thou our handy work.” After which the said Charles Gray, acting as Chancellor of the Diocese, with an audible voice read the Sentence of Consecration as follows. “In the Name of God Amen. whereas it hath been represented unto us Edward Harold by Divine Permission Bishop of Ely by a petition from the Rector, Churchwardens, Parishioners and Inhabitants of the Parish of Eversholt in the county of Bedford, and within our Diocese and Jurisdiction: that in consequence of the want of sufficient room for the interment of the bodies of Persons dying Inhabitants of the said Parish, two pieces of Land situate in the said Parish, adjoining the Church Yard there, containing respectively twenty three perches and three perches, were in and by a certain Deed bearing date the eighth day of April one thousand eight hundred and sixty four in which the same is the particularly described, duly conveyed by the Rector of the said parish of Eversholt and by the Trustees of the Eversholt Charity, under the authority of the several Acts of Parliament therein recited or mentioned, unto the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England and their successors for the purposes of the said acts, as and for an addition to the Church Yard or Burial Ground of the Parish Church of Eversholt aforesaid, and to be devoted when consecrated to Ecclesiastical Purposes for ever: that the said pieces or parcels of land have been properly laid out and fenced by a wooden fence, in the same manner as the rest of the Church Yard, and are set apart as a place of interment for the Dead, and the same ground is now ready to be consecrated: and humbly praying us to consecrate the said Land as and for a Burial Ground or place of interment for Persons dying Inhabitants of the said Parish of Eversholt, according to the Liturgy and Usages of the United Church of England and Ireland, and to separate the same from all profane and common uses whatsoever. Therefore We, Edward Harold, by Divine Permission, Bishop of Ely aforesaid, do by virtue of the power and authority to us comitted separate the said Ground from all profane and common uses whatsoever, and do as far as in us lies and by Law we may or can assign the same as and for an additional Burial Ground for the Corpses of Persons dying Inhabitants of the said Parish, and do by our authority Ordinary and Episcopal dedicate and consecrate the same for that purpose and do openly and publicly pronounce decree and declare the same to be so separated dedicated and consecrated for ever, and that the same ought so to remain by this our definitive Sentence or final Decree which we give and promulge by these Presents. Dated this sixth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty four. E. H. Ely.” And such Sentence being read, his Lordship signed the same, and commanded it together with the aforesaid Petition, to be registered among the Muniments of his Diocese. After which the fifth, sixth and seventh verses of the thirty ninth Psalm were sung, and his Lordship said the following Prayer. “O God who hast taught us in thy holy word that there is a difference between the spirit of a Beast that goeth downwards to the earth, and the spirit of a Man which ascendeth up to God who gave it; and likewise by the example of thy holy servants in all ages, hast taught us to assign peculiar places where the Bodies of thy Saints may rest in peace and be preserved from all indignities, whilst their souls are safely kept in the hands of their faithful Redeemer: Accept we beseech thee this charitable work of ours, in separating this portion of land to that good purpose; and give us grace that by the frequent instances of mortality which we behold, we may learn and seriously consider how frail and uncertain our condition here on earth is, and so number our days as to apply our hearts unto wisdom. That in the midst of life thinking upon death, and daily preparing ourselves for the judgement that is to follow, we may have our part in the resurrection to eternal life, with him who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.” “Amen.” The Bishop then dismissed the Congregation with his Blessing.
H R Evans
Dy Regr & Notary Public