Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in the civil parish of Leighton–Linslade, in the Central Bedfordshire district, in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills.
It is northwest of Central London and linked to the capital by the Grand Union Canal and the West Coast Main Line. The built-up area extends on either side of the River Ouzel (here about wide) to include its historically separate neighbour Linslade, and is administered by Leighton-Linslade Town Council.
History Foundation and development
It is unclear when the town was initially founded, although some historians believe that there may have been settlement in the area from as early as 571. There are a number of theories concerning the derivation of the town's name: ‘Leighton’ came from Old English Lēah-tūn, meaning 'farm in a clearing in the woods', and one version of the addition of ‘Buzzard’ was that it was added by the Dean of Lincoln, in whose diocese the town lay in the 12th century, from Beau-desert. Another version is that having two communities called ‘Leighton’ and seeking some means of differentiating them the Dean added the name of his local Prebendary or representative to that of the town. At that time it was Theobald de Busar and so over the years the town became known as Leighton Buzzard. The other Leighton became Leighton Bromswold. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Leighton Buzzard and Linslade were both called Leestone. A further variation may be seen in a legal record of 1424, where "William Dagenale of Leytun Busherd, Beds" appears as a defendant.
Leighton Buzzard developed into a thriving market town supported by good road, canal and, later, rail links to the agricultural hinterland and London. The town's market charter was granted in 1086 and is still active today. The High Street has numerous historical buildings, more than 70 of which are listed. They include the notable Bank Building on the Market Square (now home to Barclays Bank), designed by the eminent architect Alfred Waterhouse, designer of London's Natural History Museum, London. They also include the Old Town Hall, later used as a fire station and now as a restaurant.
Relationship to Linslade The Grand Junction Canal opened in 1800. It skirted the western edge of the town, but lay just over the parish and county boundary (the River Ouzel), being in the neighbouring parish of Linslade in Buckinghamshire. The London and Birmingham Railway was built in the 1830s and passed just over half a mile west of the centre of Leighton Buzzard; Leighton railway station opened with the line in 1838. Although named after Leighton Buzzard, the station (like the canal) was actually in the parish of Linslade. When built, the station was in open countryside, with Linslade village lying north of the station at what is now known as Old Linslade. New development was subsequently laid out between the station and the canal, known initially as Chelsea or New Linslade, before assuming the name Linslade.
Linslade has always had Leighton Buzzard postal addresses, forming part of the Leighton Buzzard post town. Linslade remained administratively separate from Leighton Buzzard until 1965, when it was transferred from Buckinghamshire to Bedfordshire, and the urban districts of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade merged into a single Leighton-Linslade Urban District. The Office for National Statistics uses the name Leighton Buzzard for the whole built-up area, including Linslade.
Rothschild family The town has had a long association with the Rothschild family, since Lionel de Rothschild bought neighbouring farmlands to the west of the town in 1873. Over time the farm developed into the Ascott House estate located less than from the town. In the late 19th century, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild used the now demolished Leighton House and its stabling, on the High Street, as a hunting box. The family still maintain links with the town through their ownership of Southcourt Stud in Southcote.
Non-conformism The town has a strong history of dissenters and is home to one of the oldest Friends meeting houses in the region. Established in the 18th century, local Quakers continue to meet in the Meeting House on North Street.
Poor law union After the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Leighton Buzzard became the centre of a poor law union that consisted of 15 surrounding parishes with the union workhouse (still standing) being sited in Grovebury Road.
Leighton Buzzard Isolation Hospital In 1847, additional land was obtained adjacent to the workhouse on which to build an isolation hospital. It had twenty beds over three wards, one each for patients with Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Typhoid. Jane Sarah Downer was appointed Nurse-Matron of the Isolation Hospital in 1899, and worked there until at least 1911.Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons’? A study of Eva Lückes’s influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)Jane Sarah Downer, RG13/1507, 14; The General Record Office, The England and Wales census 1901 for Grove, Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire; The National Archives, Kew [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 21 January 2018]Jane Downer, RG14/8971, 26; The General Record Office, The England and Wales Census 1911 for Grove, Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire; The National Archives, Kew [Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed on 27 October 2017] Downer had trained under Eva Luckes at The London Hospital between 1895 and 1897,Jane Sarah Downer, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/5, 74; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London and then worked on the Private Nursing Staff for one year,Jane Sarah Downer, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1/207; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London before her appointment as Matron in Leighton Buzzard.
World War II During World War II, RAF Leighton Buzzard, a secret communications facility described as "the largest telephone exchange in the world", was located to the south of Stanbridge Road. Also the headquarters of No. 60 Group RAF, which controlled the air defence radar network across Britain, operated from Oxenden House (now demolished) off Plantation Road. Paul Brown and Edwin Herbert (eds.), The Secrets of Q Central: How Leighton Buzzard Shortened the Second World War. The History Press, 2015.
The Great Train Robbery The Great Train Robbery took place in 1963 at Bridego Bridge just outside Leighton Buzzard. The robbers were held at the Old Police Station on Wing Road Linslade while waiting to be seen by the local magistrate after being captured a month after the robbery.
Leighton Buzzard station was the location for part of the film Robbery, which is based on the ‘Great Train Robbery’.
Telephone exchange
The UK's first and only TXE1 electronic telephone exchange went into service here in 1968. The large building, built on the site of the former Lake House, that housed this and later exchanges, can be found in Lake Street.
Expansion The population of Leighton-Linslade was originally recorded in the 2001 census as 32,417.Office for National Statistics, 2001 Census Parish Headcounts for Leighton-Linslade. Part of Billington parish was transferred in 2003 to Leighton-Linslade, and the revised census result including this area was 32,753.Bedfordshire County Council, Urban Area Profile for Leighton Linslade . At the 2011 census, the population of the Leighton-Linslade built-up area was recorded by the Office for National Statistics as 37,469, and was estimated to have reached 43,203 in 2020.
The town is expanding southwards, with the development of sites in southern Leighton Buzzard through the Southern Leighton Buzzard Development Brief. It is also expanding eastwards, with several developments forming the Eastern Leighton Linslade Urban Extension Scheme.
Places of interest
The town is home to the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, a narrow-gauge heritage railway, one of England's longest at just under long and oldest narrow-gauge lines, with an extensive collection of locomotives and rolling stock.Train site retrieved 7 August 2007
The Grand Union Canal runs through the town, alongside the River Ouzel.
All Saints' Church, an Early English parish church dating from 1277. The church is the starting point for the annual Wilkes Walk, described as "a curious procession of the church choir, clergy, and churchwardens across town to the alms houses in North Street." The church was damaged by fire in the 1980s, but has since undergone restoration. For information on the origin of the Medieval choir stalls see Tracy 1991.
The town has a combined library and theatre (called the Library Theatre) where both live events and film screenings are regularly held.Theatre Site retrieved 7 August 2007
Rushmere Country Park and Stockgrove Country Park are in nearby Heath and Reach. The National Trust-operated country home Ascott House is located from the town in neighbouring Buckinghamshire.
Transport Leighton Buzzard is close to the M1 motorway and A5 road, and is served by London Northwestern Railway services on the West Coast Main Line railway at Leighton Buzzard railway station (in Linslade). The railway operates non-stop commuting services to Euston railway station, with the fastest journey times at 30 minutes.
The majority of Leighton Buzzard's bus services are operated by Arriva Shires & Essex. Services X2 and X3 provide a direct bus rapid transit service to Milton Keynes and via the Luton to Dunstable Busway, with an onward connection to Luton Airport Arriva also operate the X4 service through the town to Aylesbury. Z&S and Red Rose also operate bus services into Leighton Buzzard which serve local estates and surrounding villages, with local, town services operated by Centrebus.
Economy Leighton Buzzard is now home to several UK head offices for national and international firms. Connells Group, the estate agents' chains, have their head offices in the town, as do the UK operations of Tupperware and Grundfos. FTSE 250 company Rightmove had their first ever office in the town, which at the time consisted of just 25 employees. Leighton Buzzard is also home to the Vinci SA Technology Centre, where technology for London's new Crossrail stations was tested. Since 2014, the town has had its own brewery.
The town has a sizeable sand quarrying industry, with good enough quality 'building' sand to export to Egypt. The town is, or has at one time been, the home to various other industries including B/E Aerospace (Aircraft Interiors), Polyformes, Lipton Tea which has now closed down, Gossard clothing, and Lancer Boss (forklifts, etc.).
Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering Leighton Buzzard, at civil parish (town) and unitary authority level: Leighton-Linslade Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. The town council is based at the White House on Hockliffe Street.
Administrative history Leighton Buzzard was an ancient parish. The parish historically comprised five townships, being Billington, Eggington, Heath and Reach, Stanbridge and a Leighton Buzzard township covering the town itself and adjoining areas. Such townships were all reclassified as civil parishes in 1866.
In 1891 the civil parish of Leighton Buzzard was made a local government district, administered by an elected local board. Such local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894.