Leighton Buzzard

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.9165
longitude= -0.6617
population= 32,417 (with Linslade) [Census, 2001: Leighton-Linslade]
official_name= Leighton Buzzard
civil_parish= Leighton-Linslade
shire_district= South Bedfordshire
shire_county= Bedfordshire
region= East of England
post_town= LEIGHTON BUZZARD
postcode_district = LU7
postcode_area= LU
dial_code= 01525
os_grid_reference= SP921250
constituency_westminster= South West Bedfordshire :"Leedon" redirects here. For the record label, see Leedon Records."Leighton Buzzard is a town near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire, and is between Luton and Milton Keynes. It adjoins Linslade and the name Leighton Buzzard is sometimes used to refer to the combination of the two towns; parts of this article also apply to Linslade.

For local government purposes, the town is part of the South Bedfordshire district and is administered jointly with Linslade as the civil parish of Leighton-Linslade. [ [http://www.leightonlinslade-tc.gov.uk/ Council Website] retrieved 7 August 2007 ]

History

There are a number of theories about its name, but the most likely is that "Leighton" is an Old English language term meaning a clearing in the woods. The "Buzzard" was added by the Dean of Lincoln in whose diocese the town was in the 12th century. He had two communities called "Leighton" and to differentiate 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. As well as that Leighton Buzzard station is where the film Great Train Robbery (1963) was filmed and took place in reality. 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 190ft 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. [ [http://www.buzzrail.co.uk/ Train site] retrieved 7 August 2007 ]

The town has a combined library and theatre (called the Library Theatre) where both live events and film screenings are regularly held. [ [http://www.leightonbuzzardtheatre.co.uk/ Theatre Site] retrieved 7 August 2007]

Leighton Buzzard is represented in terms of sporting teams by Leighton Town F.C. who play football in the Southern League Division One Midlands and Leighton Buzzard R.F.C. who play Rugby Union in Midlands East Division 3. There are also both men's and women's hockey teams at Leighton Buzzard Hockey Club, the Ladies playing in Midlands Division 1.

Stockgrove Country Park is in nearby Heath and Reach.

After the Poor Law Act of 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.

chools

*Beaudesert Lower School - Appenine Way
*St. Martin Dunne School of excellence for specials in the field of hockey and bat sports - Bent Rd
*Clipstone Brook Lower - Brooklands Dr
*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Rd
*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Rd
*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Rd
*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Rd
*Linslade Lower School
*Mary Basset Lower School - Bassett Rd
*Pulford VA C Of E Lower School - Pulford Rd
*St Georges Lower School - East St
*St Leonards (Heath & Reach) V A Lower School
*Stanbridge Lower School
*Southcott Lower School - Bideford Green

*Oak Bank Special School - Sandy Lane
*Overstone Combined School - Tilsworth Rd

*Brooklands Middle School - A school near the south east edge of the town. The school has recently won the "save our school" campain and is rapidly growing in numbers.
*Gilbert Inglefield Middle School - Next door to Vandyke Upper School.
*Leighton Middle School - Is 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.
*The Cedars Upper School - Located on the west edge of town, was once a grammar school.
*Vandyke Upper School - Situated on the east edge of town. As of late 2006, the school has been undergoing a £2.5 million refurbishment.

Infrastructure

Leighton Buzzard is close to the M1 motorway and A5 road, and is served by 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.

In popular culture

The town was where the 1960s band The Barron Knights first formed, and also the 1980s pop group Kajagoogoo, who had an international hit with 'Too Shy'. Pop group Modern Romance started life as punk band The Leyton Buzzards, though they originated from London E10 rather than Bedfordshire.

Other famous residents of, or the villages close to, Leighton Buzzard include the late Bob Monkhouse, Kriss Akabusi, Dave Lee Travis, Huw Middleton, Steve Askew and Darren Gough.

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild lived at Leighton Buzzard in Leighton House before building and moving to Waddesdon Manor.

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".

Industry

The town is, or has at one time, been the home to various industries including B/E Aerospace (Aircraft Interiors), 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 latter but everything was all 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.

Culture

There are numerous amateur dramatic organisations in the town, including [http://www.lbdg.org.uk Leighton Buzzard Drama Group] , Leighton Musical Theatre Company (formerly Leighton Linslade Amateur Operatic Society), Leighton Masqueraders and Leighton Buzzard Children’s Theatre. For those interested in creative writing, there is Leighton Buzzard Writers.

In addition many amateur music groups and organisations exist in the town, including the Leighton Buzzard Music Centre (at Vandyke Upper School), the Leighton Buzzard Festival Singers and the Linsdale Singers.

Expansion

The town is expanding eastwards, and it encompasses RAF Stanbridge' and the former hamlet of Leedon. The population of Leighton-Linslade is estimated to have reached 34,370 in 2004 and is forecast to rise to 39,180 by 2009. [ [http://www.bedscc.gov.uk/BedsCC/SDimr2.nsf/Web/Thepage/Population+Estimates+and+Forecasts+2005 Bedfordshire County Council: Population Estimates and Forecasts 2005] .]

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.

References

External links

* http://www.leighton-linslade.com/
* [http://en.chainki.org/index.php?title=Leighton_Buzzard Leighton Buzzard links] in [http://www.chainki.org Chainki wiki] .