Woburn Sands

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.015
longitude= -0.649
official_name= Woburn Sands
population =
unitary_england= Milton Keynes
lieutenancy_england= Buckinghamshire
shire_district= Buckinghamshire
shire_county = Buckinghamshire
region= South East England
post_town= MILTON KEYNES
postcode_district = MK17
postcode_area= MK
dial_code= 01908
os_grid_reference= SP927360
constituency_westminster= North East Milton Keynes
constituency_westminster1= Mid Bedfordshire
london_distance=

Woburn Sands is a settlement that is mainly in the Borough of Milton Keynes, England, and is located to the south-east of Milton Keynes itself, near Wavendon. The county boundary between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire runs through [http://www.mkweb.co.uk/mkmap/home.asp?X_Coord=492727&Y_Coord=235836&Xpt=0&Ypt=0&z=1&Scale=3] , the town so that the smaller part of the town, including its primary school, is in Bedfordshire.

In ancient times Woburn Sands was a hamlet in the parish of Wavendon, forming a separate civil parish in 1907. Under the Local Government Act 1972 the parish council has adopted the status of a town in its own right. It has separated from Wavendon which is just to the north of the Marston Vale Line.

The village name was originally Hogsty End, one of Wavendon's four 'ends' (along with Church End, Cross End and Lower End) but by Victorian times, this un-picturesque name had fallen out of favour, and Woburn Sands had taken over as the accepted name. There is a local story that a schoolmaster was unable to attract business to his "Hogsty End Academy", and was one of the first to promote the use of the new name, but in fact it had been in use before this. The modern place name is related to nearby Woburn in Bedfordshire, and to the sandy local soil resulting from its proximity to the Greensand Ridge, an escarpment of Greensand.

The town had a reputation as a health spa because of the micro-climate, and people would come from far and wide to "take the airs". Several convalescent homes were built locally.

Modern Woburn Sands contains many amenities, details of which are available on a local [http://www.woburnsands.co.uk/ Woburn Sands] website. It is also a reasonably well-known (but under-publicised) mountain biking destination, with car-parks at the top of Church Street.

Woburn Sands railway station, which serves the village, is located on the Bletchley-Bedford Marston Vale Line but the service is currently only hourly in both directions, and that only from about 7:00 am until 7:00 pm. A reasonably fast (35 mins. to 1 hour) mainline service is available from Milton Keynes Central to London Euston. Alternatively, the First Capital Connect service from Flitwick runs to King's Cross.

Although its population is small for a town (2,246 according to the 2001 census), many inhabitants refer to it as a town, and the civil parish council has officially declared it a town. Its population and consequently its housing stock continue to grow and it may coalesce with Milton Keynes as the latter expands to meet it (though Milton Keynes Partnership denies this in its expansion plans for Milton Keynes).

External links

* [http://www.woburnsands.co.uk/wstc.htm Woburn Sands Town Council]
* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=492600&Y=235600&width=700&height=400 Overview aerial photograph of Woburn Sands and Aspley Guise from Multimap]
* [http://www.mkweb.co.uk/_system/_System/_private/MyMap/MKMap/aerialviewoutput.asp?X_Coord=492734&Y_Coord=236160 High resolution aerial photograph of the High Street from MKWEB] ( [http://www.mkweb.co.uk] )
* [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/wsc Woburn Sands local history site]
* [http://www.woburncrankers.com/ WoburnCrankers.com - Local mountain biking group]
* [http://www.cyclonembc.com Cyclone Mountain Bike Club - MTB around local forest trails]