Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard is a town in Bedfordshire, England near the Chiltern Hills and lying between Luton and Milton Keynes. It adjoins Linslade and the name Leighton Linslade is sometimes used to refer to the combination of the two towns; parts of this article also apply to Linslade as well as Leedon.

For local government purposes, the town is part of the Central Bedfordshire district and is administered jointly with Linslade as the civil parish of Leighton-Linslade.

History
There are a number of theories concerning the derivation of the town's name, but the most likely is that "Leighton" came from Old English language Lēah-tūn, meaning 'farm in a clearing in the woods'. The "Buzzard" was added by the Dean of Lincoln, in whose diocese the town lay in the 12th century. Having two communities called "Leighton" and seeking some means of differentiating them, he added the name of his local Prebendary or representative to that of the town. At that time it was a Theobald de Busar and so over the years the town became known as Leighton Buzzard. The other Leighton became Leighton Bromswold.

Leighton Buzzard is also famous as the Grand Union Canal was opened there. More recently, Leighton Buzzard station was the location for part of the film Robbery, which is based on the so-called "Great Train Robbery" (1963), while the actual robbery took place just outside the town, at Bridego bridge, Ledburn. In the Domesday Book, Leighton Buzzard and Linslade were both called Leestone.

Amenities
Leighton Buzzard contains All Saints Church, an Early English parish church dating from 1277. The church has a 190 ft spire and has been described as the cathedral of South Bedfordshire. The church was damaged by fire in the 1980s, but has since undergone restoration.

The town is also known for the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, a narrow gauge heritage railway.

The town has a combined library and theatre (called the Library Theatre) where both live events and film screenings are regularly held.

Stockgrove Country Park is in nearby Heath and Reach.

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.

A network of historic tunnels exists under the High Street; these are believed to date from medieval times. The tunnels have not been investigated, but one is easily accessible from the cellarage of Wilkinson Estate Agents at the top of Market Square. The cellar, probably an ice house, extends under the road by some 16 feet and is in very good condition. The tunnel is sealed for safety reasons. It goes in a southerly direction towards the former Market Tavern (now Bell) public house some 100 yards and legend has it that other tunnels from the church and other public houses link up under the street in network that covers some 500 yards.

Sport
Leighton Buzzard is represented by the sporting teams of Leighton Town F.C. who play football in the Southern League Division One Midlands Also at the Bell Close Site are Leighton Buzzard Tennis Club who have been a part of the town since the 1930s. Leighton Buzzard R.F.C. play rugby union in Midlands 2 East (South) and the Ladies rugby team play in NC South East North 2. Leighton Buzzard Golf Club was established in 1905 and there is also an active running club, Leighton Buzzard Athletics Club. Established in 2011 Leighton Buzzard Road Cycling Club is a cycling club for riders of all abilities. Their race team LBRCC-Solgar compete in local, as well as national, cycling events.

Climate
Leighton Buzzard experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.

Lower schools

 * Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way
 * Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive
 * Greenleas School - Derwent Road
 * Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road
 * Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road
 * Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road
 * Linslade Lower School
 * Mary Bassett Lower School - Bassett Road
 * Pulford VA C Of E Lower School - Pulford Road
 * St George's Lower School - East Street
 * St Leonard's (Heath & Reach) V A Lower School
 * Stanbridge Lower School
 * Southcott Lower School - Bideford Green

Middle schools

 * Brooklands Middle School - a school near the south east edge of the town.
 * Gilbert Inglefield Academy - next door to Vandyke Upper School.
 * Leighton Middle School - in the centre of the town, Mary Norton, who wrote the 'Borrowers' books, lived there in her childhood.
 * Linslade Middle School - Situated over the road from Cedars.

Upper schools

 * Cedars Upper School - Located on the west edge of town, adjoined to Tiddenfoot leisure centre. Cedars was once a grammar school.
 * Vandyke Upper School - Situated on the east edge of town, on Vandyke Road. As of late 2006, the school has been undergoing a £2.5 million refurbishment.

Other schools

 * Oak Bank School - located on Sandy Lane

Further education
Central Bedfordshire College has a campus near the town centre of Leighton Buzzard called The Learning Warehouse. The college provides a range of full-time and part-time courses for the local community. The college also operates a Learning Shop in the town, which offers basic IT courses.

Infrastructure


Leighton Buzzard is close to the M1 motorway and A5 road, and is served by London Midland and Southern services on the West Coast Main Line railway at Leighton Buzzard railway station (in Linslade). The Grand Union Canal runs through the town, alongside the River Ouzel.

Industry
The town is, or has at one time, been the home to various industries including B/E Aerospace (Aircraft Interiors), Polyformes, Lipton Tea which has now closed down, Gossard clothing, Lancer Boss (forklifts, etc.).

The town has a sizeable sand quarrying industry.

The first and only TXE1 telephone exchange was developed by the General Post Office and went into service in 1968. To meet the growing demand it was added to by two TXE2 exchanges and a TXE6 exchange on the night of 18 August 1971. A third TXE2 was added later but everything was replaced by a TXE4 exchange around 1977. Some of the TXE2 equipment was used to provide a new TXE2 at West Mersea Island in Essex. The large building, built on the site of the former Lake House, that housed all these TXE exchanges and the current digital exchange can be found in Lake Street.

Countrywide and Connells/Sequence, the UK's two largest estate agents' chains, both have their head offices in the town, as does the UK branch of Tupperware.

Expansion
In the west, Linslade has merged with Southcott. Leighton Buzzard is expanding eastwards: 2500-4500 homes including 35% affordable housing are planned for east Leighton Buzzard for the Luton/Dunstable/Houghton Regis growth area and 900 homes including 35% affordable housing are being considered west of Linslade. Leighton Buzzard now encompasses RAF Stanbridge and the former hamlet of Leedon.

The population of Leighton-Linslade was originally recorded in the 2001 census as 32,417. Part of Billington parish was transferred in 2003 to Leighton-Linslade, and the revised census result including this area was 32,753. The population is estimated to have reached 37,000 in 2009 and is forecast to rise to 39,900 by 2012.

The town is expanding southwards, with the development of sites in Southern Leighton Buzzard through the Southern Leighton Buzzard Development Brief.

Twin towns
Leighton Buzzard was twinned with Coulommiers in 1958. The twinning was renewed in 1982. It was also twinned with Titisee-Neustadt in 1991.

Notable people

 * Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898) lived in Leighton House in the High Street (demolished in 1959 for the Co-op furniture store but now the site occupied by Wilkinsons) before building and moving to Waddesdon Manor. Children's writer *Mary Norton (1903–1992) was raised in The Cedars on High Street and poet Philip O'Connor (1916–1998) was born in the town.
 * Louise Dearman (born 1979), who played Glinda in the West End Production of Wicked, was brought up in Leighton Buzzard, attending Linslade Middle School and Cedars Upper School.
 * Other famous residents of the town and nearby villages include Kriss Akabusi, Steve Askew, Nick Beggs, Frank Bruno, Alastair Cook, Darren Gough and Bob Monkhouse.
 * Double Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin was brought up in the town and attended Vandyke Upper School
 * The 1960s band The Barron Knights formed in Leighton Buzzard, as did the 1980s pop group Kajagoogoo, who had an international hit with 'Too Shy'.

In popular culture
Pop group Kajagoogoo originate from Leighton Buzzard.

Pop group Modern Romance started life as punk band The Leyton Buzzards, though they originated from Leyton in London rather than Bedfordshire.

The town is also infamous for being dumped into Room 101 by comedy duo Mel Giedroyc & Sue Perkins.

One of the local quarries was used in the Hamunaptra scene in The Mummy Returns and more recently a scene for The Da Vinci Code.

In addition, the town and surrounding area is referenced in Mary Norton's popular series, The Borrowers. It is mentioned in Saki's short story "The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope".

A 'Leighton Beau-desart in Bedfordshire' is mentioned in Chapter 4 of The Storm by Daniel Defoe.

In the signature tune to a March 2014 episode of BBC Radio's "Thanks a lot, Milton Jones" it is revealed that, amongst many other achievements, Milton "worked out 200 anagrams of Leighton Buzzard".

Recent events

 * For the Leighton Buzzard slavery case (found by police raid on Sunday 11 September 2011) see Leighton Buzzard slavery case.