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Home > Leighton
Buzzard > History
| There
is great evidence of people having at least passed through what
is now Leighton Buzzard as far back as prehistoric times. Here
primitive tools and even early coins have been discovered. |
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The
Roman Road in Watling Street passed through Hockliffe almost
two thousand years ago, and earthworks in Pages Park relating
to that time were also discovered. As early as the sixth century,
people inhabited Leighton Buzzard. Anglo Saxon burial urns were
revealed during excavation work on Leighton Heath containing
cremated bones. Two brooches and a bead were also found from
the sixth century from the same place. |
| The
town of Leighton Buzzard remained unrecorded until 906, when
it was noted that the Danes made one of their peace treaties
at Tiddenfoot which rests next to the River Ouzel. |
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In
the Doomsday Survey of 1086, compiled by the Normans, The Leighton
Buzzard Manor is described as being land belonging to the Crown.
Leighton Buzzard is also mentioned as having a weekly market,
revealing that it may have been a fairly large town even then.
Henry II gave most of the Leighton Buzzard Manor to the Abbey
of Fontevrault in a town called Anjou in France. During the
13th to the 14th Century, A Priory was established at Grovebury
which had a great influence on the town during this time. In
the 1200's St. Mary's Church in Old Linslade was the centre
point of a village. In 1251, the church was given a weekly market,
and even a yearly fair. It was common at that time for pilgrims
to come to see the church's holy well, until 1299 when the Bishop
of Lincoln forbid pilgrims from visiting the well "on pain of
excommunication". |
| The
Manors of Leighton were let to many tenants during the reign
of Elizabeth 1st between 1558 and 1603. One of these was Mr
Hoddesdon, whose daughter married into the Leighs of Stoneleigh,
and it was her only son who inherited the manor. During the
civil war of 1642 - 1645 The Leighs were said to be strong supporters
of King Charles 1st. During 1644 King Charles stayed in Ascott
House in Wing, and ten thousand Roundhead soldiers came into
Leighton Buzzard. Sir Thomas Leigh's wife was forced to share
the Prebendal Mansion House with the family of the Roundhead
commander. |
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In
1645 a fire broke out in the High Street and a petition was
sent to the government asking for money to rebuild their houses.
Even so, the town continued to grow and develop throughout the
18th Century. |
| The
development of a canal and railway in the early 19th Century
was a large industrial step for Leighton Buzzard, and the town
began to grow into the prosperous commuter land it is today.
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