Cople House

The large Cople House was built and lived in by the Barnard family who were benefactors of Cople Church. The house was later sold and in its last days was used as a hotel. A devastating fire destroyed the building in 1971.

All that remains of the original house is the stable block that has been converted into 3 homes.

The Woodlands Close housing estate now occupies this site

Documents for Cople House have been kindly supplied by Mr P Burr

Bedfordshire Woman's Land Army hostel 1943 - 50?

Extract from (and more photos on) Bedfordshire Library web site  ...

Large 3-storey country house you could not see from the road, belonging to the Barnard family (which had owned Barnards Bank in Bedford, situated opposite the entrance to the Swan Hotel, next to town bridge, on the Shire Hall side). Estate sold in June 1943 and split up. Beds War Ag decided that it needed Cople House. Miss Barnard objected but was overruled. She moved to her estate in Dorset. Accommodated up to 94 land girls.