CLAPHAM, a parish forming, with the parishes of
Milton-Ernest and Oakley, a detached portion of the
hundred of STODDEN, county of BEDFORD, 2 miles
(N. W. by N.) from Bedford, containing 204 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's
books at £5. 13. 4., endowed with £600 private benefaction,
and £600 royal bounty, and in the patronage of
the Earl of Ashburnham. The church, dedicated to St.
Thomas & Becket, is a very ancient structure, with a
Norman, or Saxon, tower remarkable for the simplicity
and rudeness of its architecture. Clapham was
formerly a chapelry in the parish of Oakley; the inhabitants
still bury there. Here are charitable donations,
producing £20 per annum, for the purpose of
apprenticing boys.