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General
Steppingley is an ancient settlement though its first mention in history appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was called Stepigelai. In 1167 Richard de Steppingley gave the Saxon church of St. Lawrence to Dunstable Priory. The old church of St. Lawrence partially collapsed in 1858 and the 7th Duke of Bedford arranged for his architect, Henry Clutton, to design and build a new one.
The name can mean any one of three different things all of which are Old English in origin. It is either ‘wood/clearing of Steapa’s people’ (from a personal name and leah, clearing) or perhaps ‘wood/clearing of the Steapingas’ (people of the steep place from steap and ingas) or ‘wood/clearing at Steaping’ (the steep place from steap and ing).
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Rectory
The rectory at Steppingley is said to be haunted by the ghost of a girl who objected to a window being bricked up which prevented her from seeing her lover’s grave.
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