Funerals
The Parish Church is available for the funeral service of any parishioner, or for anyone formerly resident in the parish whose family wishes to have the service at St Mary's. Arrangements are normally made through a Funeral Director, but it is important that we are consulted before any arrangements are finalized.
The churchyards of Eaton Bray and Edlesborough are closed, which means that no new burials can take place there. (In Edlesborough churchyard it is still possible for an interment in an existing grave, provided it still has available grave-space.) Each village has its own cemetery (in Bower Lane, Eaton Bray, and attached to the churchyard in Edlesborough), maintained by the Parish Council, the Clerk of which should be consulted in arranging a burial.
One major benefit of holding a funeral service in the Parish Church is that it affords local people the opportunity to pay their last respects to a departed friend or neighbour, whereas if the service is held at one of the Crematoria (The Vale in Luton, Crownhill in Milton Keynes, and The Chilterns Crematorium in Amerhsam are the nearest), older people especially are often unable to attend. Arrangements can always be made to conduct funeral services for parishioners at these crematoria, and we should be consulted before arrangements are made and before any other cleric is asked to officiate.
There is a Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard at St Mary's, Eaton Bray, where ashes can be interred after cremation, and arrangements for this should also be made through Peter Bennett, our Churchwarden.
The dedication of the monument in the Garden of Remembrance
by the Venerable Paul Hughes, Archdeacon of Bedford
The days following the death of a loved one are a time of great distress, and they can be helped greatly if they have clear ideas of what arrangements the person who has just died would have liked to be made for their funeral. Everyone is asked to consider discussing such matters with their immediate family while they have time to do so, or to leave clear written instructions in a readily accessible place to guide the mourners through their sad duties. We are always happy to assist in making these arrangements.
Please see the Contact Us page for details of how to get in touch.
Genealogical Research
We are not usually able to help much with genealogical requests as we actually hold so few relevant records.
For security, all non-current registers are lodged with the County Archivists to which enquiries should be directed - in the case of Eaton Bray, these are in Bedford; in the case of Edlesborough, these are in Aylesbury.
These documents are becoming increasingly available on the web via the two county council and the local library sites.
- Bedfordshire
- Buckinghamshire
- Dunstable Library has transcripts of the Eaton Bray registers from inception 1559-1812
The Vicar and Churchwardens are happy to fulfil the statutory duty of searching registers still kept at the church, but would draw attention to the fact that there is a fee for this.
The registers held are:
- Baptisms from 1964
- Confirmations from 1944
- Marriages from 1968
- Burials at Eaton Bray (in the churchyard), 1857-1893 (and interment of ashes in churchyard from 1974)
- Burials at Edlesborough from 1928 (churchyard closed in 1994)
We do not hold records of burials in Eaton Bray or Edlesborough Cemeteries, which are administered by the respective Parish Councils:
Please see the Contact Us page for details of how to get in touch.
