County Bedfordshire Place Eaton Socon Church St Mary Baptism Date 11 Nov 1898 Forename Geffriy William Sex M Father Forename John Mother Forename Ada June Father Surname ADDINGTON Abode Eaton Socon Father Occupation Gentleman Notes By whom the ceremony was performed T R HORLEY Vicar
↑ The church of St. Mary the Virgin originally consisted of a chancel, nave with north and south aisles and a west-facing tower. The walls of the church were built of cobblestones with a good deal of squared ironstone in the Tower, and all were finished with embattled parapets. To the north was a vestry dating from the 15th cent., but was built at a later time than the chancel. An organ transept was added in the latter part of the 19th century. The south porch was more recent.
The church appears to have originally been built in about the beginning of the 15th century, but with the re-use of older nave arcades - the arches of which, except for those on the east bay on each side, were early 14th cent. The columns, with their capitals and bases, were of the 15th cent.
The chancel arch and those in the east bay of the arcades were in larger stones than the rest, and were probably from the 15th cent. date. The nave was probably lengthened by a bay eastwards at that time. Other evidence of older work were the south door of the nave - with an early 14th cent. head, and the 12th cent. font, built of purbeck marble. The west window of the south aisle was of the 14th cent. style and was probably a copy of an older one.
This church was unfortunately burned down in 1930, but it was immediately rebuilt and consecrated in 1932.
↑ Ribecourt British Cemetery was begun by the 6th Division in November 1917 and used at intervals until March 1918; and further burials were made in September and October 1918. There are now nearly 300, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, almost 20 are unidentified and the graves of 81 soldiers from the United Kingdom were destroyed by shell fire and are now represented by special memorials. The cemetery covers an area of 1,002 square metres and is enclosed by a low rubble wall.
