Samuel Ongley, Esq., of Old Warden, Bedford was a linen draper from Cornhill, London. His income was said to be £10,000 per annum and he died 25th August, 1726 leaving an heir to his Kent estates. Samuel Ongley was also M.P. for Maidstone, Kent. The estate descended to his great-nephew, Robert Henry Ongley, of Old Warden, who was M.P. for Bedford, 1754-61, and for the County of Bedford 1761-80 and July, 1784-5, and was created Lord Ongley in the Peerage of Ireland, 1776.
Samuel Ongley was a very rich man for this period and was part of the Fourth Parliament of Great Britain (1714-5). The estate (bought in 1690)with the name today of Old Warden Park, had been founded on riches largely acquired through investment in the famous "South Sea Company", where Sir Samuel Ongley, was astute enough to sell out before the "bubble" burst. The family was later elevated to the peerage.
Many of the structures in the park today and especially in the church were gifts from Sir Samuel Ongley. As Sir Samuel was knighted by Queen Anne in 1713, and on the basis too of building style, he seems the most likely candidate to have built the foursquare, quatrefoil folly known as Queen Anne’s Summerhouse that sits atop the former warren. Today it is a derelict shell whose solidity is deceptive.
Old Warden lies in Bedfordshire. It is just to the west of Shuttleworth, and is a representation of a "rustic" village in the Swiss style popular in the Victorian age, when it was built in the 1830's. It was the creation of Robert, the third Lord Ongley, who had inherited Old Warden Park. Amongst his other achievements was the building of the "Swiss Garden", reputed to be dedicated to a former mistress. This garden is now a tourist attraction together with the Shuttleworth aviation collection and bird of prey centre.
Robert's building works had brought the family into severe financial difficulties, and in 1872, the estate was sold to Joseph Shuttleworth, a partner in a Lincolnshire iron foundry. The present Mansion, was built in 1876, in a neo-Jacobean style. The estate was kept going by Dorothy C Shuttleworth, and today houses Shuttleworth College and the Shuttleworth Collection.
The 3rd Lord Ongley also built the model village of Old Warden adjacent to the estate, a chocolate box selection of delectable cottages for which there was a fashion at the time. Their residents were even required to wear cloaks in the same red as the front doors. Lord Ongley also created The Swiss Garden on the Estate, a late Regency essay in the picturesque style. Restored in the 1970s by Bedfordshire County Council, it is a magical place in any season.
The focus of this waymark is on Sir Samuel Ongley but also on his family as they are all entombed together in the mausoleum. There is a fine statue of Sir Samuel inside the church and much exquisite decor.