Colmworth is a village and civil parish in the north of the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

. It is situated around 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Bedford

Bedford

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...

. The parish includes the hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Duck's Cross

Duck's Cross

Duck's Cross is a hamlet located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement forms part of the Colmworth civil parish, though Duck's Cross is located nearer to the villages of Wilden, and Colesden....

. Other nearby places are Little Staughton

Little Staughton

Little Staughton is a small village and civil parish located in the north of Bedfordshire. The parish is part of the Stodden Hundred...

, Wilden

Wilden, Bedfordshire

Wilden is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The village is the location of St Nicholas Church and Wilden Lower School, both of which are operated by the Church of England. There is also a pub in Wilden called the Victoria Arms which is currently...

, Renhold

Renhold

Renhold is a village and civil parish located on the river Ouse, in the hundred of Barford, in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It is just to the north of Bedford...

, Staploe

Staploe

Staploe is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.Staploe was originally a hamlet of Eaton Socon. Under the Local Government Act 1958, Eaton Socon was merged with the neighbouring town of St Neots in Cambridgeshire...

, Bolnhurst

Bolnhurst

Bolnhurst is a village in the Bedford district of Bedfordshire, England, about eight miles north of Bedford itself, and eight miles west of St Neots...

 and Ravensden

Ravensden

Ravensden is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The parish borders the town of Bedford, with Mowsbury Park and farmland acting as a buffer between the two settlements. The village hosts Ravensden Lower School, and a pub called The Horse and Jockey, as...

.

The church is dedicated to St.Denis. It was built between 1426 and 1430 by Sir Gerard Braybrook. It is dedicated to the patron saint of France in honour of his French wife, Eleanor.
To the left of the altar is an alabaster and black marble monument to Sir William Dyer erected in 1641 by his wife, Catherine, Lady Dyer. It has the following inscription:

My dearest dust, could not thy hasty day

Afford thy drowsy patience leave to stay

One hour longer, so that we might either

Have sat up or gone to bed together?

But since thy finished labour hath possessed

Thy weary limbs with early rest,

Enjoy it sweetly, and thy widow bride

Shall soon repose her by thy slumbering side,

Whose business now is only to prepare

My nightly dress and call to prayer.

Mine eyes wax heavy, and the day grows old,

The dew falls thick, my blood grows cold,

Draw, draw the closed curtains and make room,

My dear, my dearest dust, I come, I come."

Colmworth forms part of the borough of Bedford

Bedford (borough)

Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains a single urban area, the 69th largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and...

.

External links

• Colmworth pages at the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
  Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
  The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service is a county record office, holding archival material associated with Bedfordshire and Luton. Established in 1913 by George Herbert Fowler as the Bedfordshire Record Office, it was the first county record office in England. It is located in...
  
  
• GENUKI page