Eyeworth is a village and civil parish located in east 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....

, England

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...

, around 5 miles north east of Biggleswade

Biggleswade

Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is well served by transport routes, being close to the A1 road between London and the North, as well as having a railway station on the main rail link North from London .-Geography:Located about 40...

.

It is now part of the parish of Sutton

Sutton, Bedfordshire

Sutton, Bedfordshire, is a small village and civil parish located to the south of Potton, England. Sutton falls under the postal town of Sandy and is also near the market town of Biggleswade.- History :...

 and Eyeworth which had a combined population of 385 in 2001, of which 86 were estimated to be part of Eyeworth itself.

Despite its small size Eyeworth is mentioned in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

. The majority of the houses are Victorian, though the seventeenth century Church Farm still remains.

The widow of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

, née Alice Barnham

Alice Barnham

Alice Barnham, Viscountess St Albans was the wife of English scientific philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon.-Family:She was born 14 May 1592, to Benedict Barnham and his wife Dorothea, née Smith. Benedict Barnham was a London merchant, who held the positions of Alderman, Sheriff of London ,...

, lived in Eyeworth following his death, and she died there in 1650. There were a number of minor skirmishes in the parish during the Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

 and it is reputed that Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 visited the village and damaged some of the church's icons.

All Saints Church

The village is home to a medieval church dedicated to All Saints whose current building dates back to the fourteenth century and is partly constructed from Totternhoe stone. The church's fifteenth century spire was destroyed by lightning in 1967 and after the subsequent theft of the lead from its roof was replaced by a much smaller modern turret.

The interior houses a number of medieval brasses and monuments to Sir Edmund Anderson

Edmund Anderson

Sir Edmund Anderson , Chief Justice of the Common Pleas under Elizabeth I, sat as judge at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots.-Life:The Anderson family originated in Scotland and then came to Northumberland...

 (d.1605), founder of the Anderson line who were lords of the manor, and who was also a judge during the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots.