Biggleswade ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the River Ivel, south-east of Bedford. Its population was 22,541 at the time of the 2021 census, an increase of 36% compared to the population of 16,551 in the 2011 census.
Evidence of settlement in the area goes back to the Neolithic period, but it is likely that the town as such was founded by Anglo-Saxons. A gold Anglo-Saxon coin was found on a footpath beside the River Ivel in 2001 (the British Museum bought the coin in 2006; at the time, it was the most expensive British coin purchased). A charter to hold a market was granted by King John in the 13th century. In 1785 a great fire devastated the town. The Great North Road passed through until a bypass was completed in 1961. Biggleswade railway station opened in 1850. From the 1930s to the late 1990s manufacturing provided a significant amount of employment. The town centre is designated a conservation area.
Geography Biggleswade lies about 40 miles (60 km) north of Central London and 20 miles (30 km) west-south-west of Cambridge. Biggleswade civil parish includes the nearby hamlet of Holme. From Biggleswade station on the East Coast Main Line trains take about 45 minutes to reach London. The A1, Britain's Great North Road, bypasses the town; its old course is numbered A6001. The B1040 road leads north to Potton and St Ives and the B659 south to Langford and Henlow.
Elevation
The town centre is about 28 m (92 ft) above sea level. The land rises to 78 m (256 ft) at the parish's southern boundary near the water tower on Topler's Hill.
Soil and geology
The area's soil is mostly free-draining and slightly acid but with a base-rich, loamy texture of sand, silt and clay particles. Fertility is high.
The underlying geology of the Ivel Valley is alluvial. The town centre stands largely on river gravel, with smaller areas of green and brown sands and sandstones and glacial gravel. Boulder clay dominates the outlying southern and eastern parts.
Landscape
Biggleswade Common is an area of grassland that extends northwards along the eastern bank of the River Ivel from the Shortmead Street bridge. It continues clockwise, crossing Potton Road at the town's eastern boundary to a section known locally as the Pastures. Its 300 acres (120 ha) make it the largest area of common land in Bedfordshire. It has loamy and sandy soils with naturally high groundwater and a peaty surface. It is run by an association of rights owners called the Fen Reeves of Biggleswade Common, as a working common grazed by horses and cattle.
There is a wind farm of ten turbines to the south of the town.Windpower. Retrieved 18 December 2018. A solar power farm is located to the north of Shortmead House.
The town and immediately surrounding land is flat but to the north are the hills of Sandy Warren. A gazetteer published in 1838 noted that the hills were covered in firs and other evergreens, "which, as viewed from the town have a pleasing effect, and harmonizes with the general verdant prospect".
River Ivel
The Environment Agency has a monitoring station at Biggleswade. The normal level of the River Ivel at Biggleswade is between and . The highest level recorded was reached on Wednesday 11 February 2009.
Governance
Biggleswade was a constituent part of and gave its name to one of the Hundreds of Bedfordshire from Anglo-Saxon times until the 19th century. From 1892 the town was governed by a Local Board, which became Biggleswade Urban District under the Local Government Act 1894. This council met at Biggleswade Town Hall until 1926, then shared other premises in the town before acquiring Stratton House in 1952. The Urban District Council was abolished in 1974 when most of its functions were subsumed into Mid Bedfordshire District Council under the Local Government Act 1972, the remainder passing to the newly formed Biggleswade Town Council. In 2009 the District and County Councils were replaced by the Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority.
Biggleswade Town Council's responsibilities include car parks, allotment gardens, cemeteries (Drove Road and Stratton Way), play and recreation areas and the Orchard Community Centre. Planning applications referred from Central Bedfordshire Council are considered and objections can be raised.
Biggleswade is divided into three electoral wards: Ivel for the north, Holme for the south-west and Stratton for the south-east. Voters elect five councillors per ward, for four-year terms. They in turn elect annually a Town Mayor.
Town Council funds come from a precept agreed with Central Bedfordshire Council. Council meetings since 2006 have been held in a council chamber in the former magistrates' court in Saffron Road.
Central Bedfordshire Council is responsible for Biggleswade's social care homes, public library (Chestnut Avenue), roads, refuse, Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre (managed on its behalf by SLL), non-academy schools, social services and planning. Five shire councillors are elected to serve a four-year term for the Biggleswade East (two members) and Biggleswade West (three members) wards.
Biggleswade was a UK parliamentary constituency from 1885 to 1918. The town was then in Mid Bedfordshire until 1997 and North East Bedfordshire until 2024. Now in North Bedfordshire, its elected member is Richard Fuller of the Conservative Party.
History The area around Biggleswade is thought to have been inhabited from about 10,000 BC. Arrowheads believed to be from this time have been found. Sherds of late Neolithic pottery from a single Peterborough ware Mortlake bowl were found in a pit excavated south of Biggleswade Hospital. A Neolithic cursus and five associated ring ditches south of Furzenhall Farm show as crop markings on aerial images.
Archaeological excavations in 2001 discovered a late Bronze Age pit to the north of the water tower on Topler's Hill. Iron Age pottery and a bead together with charred cereal grains of wheat and barley have been found in pits to the north of the town.
In Roman times, a loop road known as the White Way passed through Biggleswade (possibly along the course of the present-day Drove Road), linking with Ermine Way at Godmanchester. There is evidence for a probable Romano-Celtic temple and aligned enclosures straddling a tributary of the River Ivel at the north-east corner of Biggleswade Common.
Anglo-Saxons
In the 5th century AD, Saxon invaders settled. The name Biggleswade may derive from Biceil, an Anglo-Saxon personal name, and Waed, the Saxon word for ford. Variant spellings include Bykeleswad in 1396, Bykleswade in 15th-century law records, and Bickleswade on a 17th-century ivory seal now in the British Museum.Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP40/541; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT6/R2/CP40no541a/aCP40no541afronts/IMG_0175.htm; second entry, second linePlea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/677, http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no677/aCP40no677fronts/IMG_0138.htm; 7th entry, mentioned as where William Derlynge lived.
Wells and pits dating from the early 7th century and a quantity of later Maxey ware have been excavated at Stratton.
Evidence of an Anglo-Saxon ringwork and bailey castle was discovered by aerial photography in 1954 between the A1 road and the River Ivel.
In 2001 a gold coin bearing the name Coenwulf was found at Biggleswade on a footpath beside the River Ivel. The 4.33 g (0.15 oz) mancus, worth about 30 silver pennies, is only the eighth known gold coin dating to the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period. Its inscription, "DE VICO LVNDONIAE", shows it was minted in London.EMC Number 2004.167, Early Medieval Corpus, Fitzwilliam Museum. Initially it was sold to American collector Allan Davisson for £230,000 at auction but the British Government subsequently put in place a temporary export ban in the hope of saving it for the nation. The British Museum bought the coin in February 2006 for £357,832, with the help of funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the British Museum Friends.Purchase of the Coenwulf coin in The Guardian At the time it was the most expensive British coin purchased.
Medieval times Biggleswade parish consisted of three settlements: Biggleswade, Holme and Stratton.
Biggleswade is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Bichelesuuade/Pichelsuuade: Ralph de l'Isle. 2 mills. Domesday records 27 heads of household in Stratton vill, but only 20 in Biggleswade. However, Biggleswade had overtaken Stratton by 1309.
In 1132, Henry I granted the manor of Biggleswade to Bishop Alexander the Magnificent of Lincoln, to help endow Lincoln Cathedral. A prebendal stall of Biggleswade is in the cathedral. King John (1196–1216) granted a charter to hold a market, which was confirmed by Henry III. The medieval parish Church of St Andrew contains a monumental brass of John Rudying featuring a figure of Death.Cartlidge, Neil, A debate with death : John Rudyng's Brass in St Andrew's Church, Biggleswade, Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society., 19 (2) (2015) pp. 94–100 – University of Durham
Stratton Park Moated Enclosure lies to the south of the town off Dunton Lane.
The Great Fire
On 16 June 1785 a fire started at the Crown Inn and spread rapidly through neighbouring streets, destroying nearly one-third of the town. A national appeal raised funds for 332 people who lost their homes and others who lost their livelihoods.
The Great Fire is among the historical scenes shown in a Millennium stained-glass window in St Andrew's Church.
Transport A medieval bridge carrying the Great North Road over the River Ivel at Biggleswade is first documented in the early 13th century. In 1302 Bishop Dalderby of Lincoln gave indulgences to all those contributing to the repair of the bridge, and from 1372 tolls were authorised under the pontage system. The Great North Road became a turnpike road in 1725 (from Biggleswade to Alconbury Hill) and in 1730 (from Stevenage to Biggleswade). In 1796 the medieval bridge in Shortmead Street was rebuilt with sandstone from Sandy. It had three rounded arches. A metal "Meccano"-type bridge was erected alongside in 1939. In 1948 the stone bridge was demolished and replaced with a second "Meccano" or Callender-Hamilton bridge as it was formally known. The town was bypassed by the A1 trunk road in 1961. The current bridge dates from 1999.
The River Ivel was made navigable to Biggleswade Mill in 1758 from its confluence with the River Ouse at Tempsford; and extended to Shefford in 1823. Timber and coal were transported. In 1876 the canal was abandoned by Act of Parliament.
Through the 19th century Biggleswade was a staging post for coaches. Destinations included London, Leeds, York and Boston, Lincolnshire.
The Great Northern Railway opened a station in 1850.
Eastern National operated local bus services until 1952, followed by United Counties. A bus depot in Shortmead Street until 1989 was replaced by Millers Court retirement apartments. Stagecoach took over in November 1987 and relocated its depot in Hitchin Street. Private bus operators based in Biggleswade included Charles Cook Travel (1947–1997) and Fairway Coaches (1973–1997).
Workhouses
From about 1780, Brigham House, 93 High Street, (now George Hay, Chartered Accountants) housed the parish workhouse. The premises were closed following the completion of The Union Workhouse at London Road in 1836. The Biggleswade Poor Law Union was officially formed on 14 April 1835 and covered 25 parishes. The Union workhouse ceased operation in 1930. The London Road building was renamed The Limes and provided accommodation for the aged, infirm and vagrants. It was used as an old people's home until its closure in 1969 and demolished in 1972.
Agriculture and industry