Billington, Bedfordshire

Billington (the name probably means hill with a sharp ridge) is a civil parish in Bedfordshire about three miles south of Leighton Buzzard. There are two settlements: Little Billington (a hamlet in the west of the parish) and one that is now called Great Billington (straddling the busy A4146).

The centre of Great Billington is Billington Hill, on top of which is the small parish church. An Iron Age fort and settlement once occupied this site. The church was originally a small mediaeval chapel, however in the late 1860s it was enlarged to a church, and a rectory built next to it to house the first incumbent. This was when Billington was first recorded as a parish in its own right. The bell turret of the church (it has no tower) came to the church second hand, from the church at nearby Linslade, which too was being enlarged at the time. The interior of the church is very simple, a small stained glass window, in the west wall commemorates Edward Bradshaw the first rector.

The village once had a common, where the peasants cultivated their own strips of land, the name 'common' still survives as a field name. It was enclosed at the time of the enclosures, and is today part of a local farm

The village contains some half timbered thatched cottages, in the area around the summit of the hill, and also some old farmhouses and cottages. One of the thatched cottages on top of the hill, has the dubious honour of having featured on countless chocolate boxes and biscuit tins. One of the most attractive houses in the village is 'Walkers Farm', a brick and timber house dating from the 16th century. Its once thatched roof is now tiled.

During the late 1870s and early 1880 large areas of the village were bought by Arthur Macnamara who built at this time the manor house, and transformed the village into a typical Victorian estate village. The village school, halfway up the hill was built at this time also. It closed as a school in the 1950s.

In the early 20th century a point-to-point course was built on the estate, people came from all over England to attend the race meeting held there. Edward VIII when Prince of Wales was a frequent competitor at the races, on one occasion breaking his collar bone in a fall from a horse The races discontinued after World War II.

At one time Great Billington had two public houses and a post office, however, today all are closed and converted to houses. In spite of this lack of amenities the village has a thriving community based on the church, and the village hall with its adjacent green and tennis courts.

Use of the name Great Billington
Mapmakers, from Thomas Jefferys in 1765 to the Ordnance Survey in 2006, have consistently written the word "Billington" next to the settlement by the church and the words "Little Billington" next to the hamlet of that name.

In the 1990s, there was a campaign by villagers to use the name "Great Billington", with a claim that it was always used historically. This is not the case in most books on local history and place-names, but there are examples of earlier use in a will dated 1543, Kelly's Directory ("comprising Great and Little Billington"), the Victoria County History ("hamlets of Great and Little Billington"), and the Royal Mail Postcode Directory (either "Great" or "Little" in the official postal addresses). As a result of the campaign, the county council unveiled a new "Great Billington" village sign on 20 June 1997, and some of the road signs at entrances to the settlement now use the name.

"Great Billington" has been used as the name of the whole civil parish, but the parish council now uses the name "Billington" again. The ecclesiastical parish is called "Billington".