Hockliffe

Battlesden is a hamlet and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is just north of the A5, between Dunstable and Milton Keynes. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 38. Because of its low electorate, it has a parish meeting rather than a parish council. It is in the civil parish of Milton Bryan. Battlesden House was a large manor house situated in parkland, Battlesden Park, close to the hamlet. Former residents of the village include Henry Skynner & John Dunnyng, both husbandman, defending a case of trespass in Badelesden, in 1422. John Smyth, the complainant, had land in Badelesden, and stated that 100 shillings worth of damage was done to his land.

Tilsworth Castle refers to both "Warren Knoll Motte" and "Tilsworth Manor", both built in the same general area, located in the civil parish of Tilsworth, in the county of Bedfordshire, England.

Church of All Saints is a Grade I listed church in Tilsworth, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 3 February 1967.

Tilsworth is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire. It lies to the north west of Dunstable, and the Roman Watling Street (A5) forms the north east boundary of the parish of 1,200 acres (4.8 km2). The village lies on the gault clay, where springs well up just south of a gentle gravelly ridge. A large proportion of the area is still farmland. The Domesday Book calls the place "Pileworde" because of a misunderstanding of the symbol for "th", and the name probably means "Thyfel's homestead". A further alternative spelling is "Tyllesworth", in a legal record, dated 1470, mentioning Thomas Carter, a husbandman of the village.Stanbridge, a larger village, is a close neighbour to the west and some organisations, such as the Women's Institute, are combined.The medieval All Saints' Church, built of Totternhoe stone, stands in a prominent position on the hillside, and can be seen from a distance when floodlit at night. It has shared a vicar with Stanbridge since the 19th century, and the combined benefice now also includes Totternhoe. The Church House acts as a centre for many local organisations and there is an active community life in the village. The Methodist Church, faced with the need for expensive repairs, was closed in 1990 and demolished.Across the road from the church, on lower ground, is the ancient moated site of Tilsworth Manor (now a private house). The house itself has been much altered in modern times, but retains a picturesque 15th century gate tower. Tilsworth fête is held in the grounds each June. The manor was owned in the 16th century by the Fowler family. In 1600 a notorious trial followed a quarrel between Richard Fowler and his young wife. Richard was imprisoned in the Tower of London as the result of a forged letter implicating him in a plot to poison Queen Elizabeth I. His wife, her brother and her lover were convicted of the forgery.A gravestone in the churchyard, bearing a verse inscription about a "female unknown" found murdered in the nearby woods in 1821, arouses much interest.Several old farmhouses, two of them thatched, survive in Tilsworth. There are new houses and bungalows, but the village has not yet increased greatly in size. One farmhouse in the north corner of the parish was lost to Hockliffe, to which it was adjacent, in the 20th century. The "Little Chef" restaurant and Travelodge on the A5 are called "Hockliffe", though in fact they lie in Tilsworth. A public house, the Anchor, with restaurant and garden, stands next to one of the small greens, and there is a golf and conference centre. Tilsworth is part of the political ward of 'Heath and Reach' which sends a Councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor Mark Versallion.

Tebworth Marsh is a 5.6-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Tebworth in Bedfordshire. It was notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the local planning authority is Central Bedfordshire Council.This site is a base-rich marsh which has diverse plant life. It has springs along the edge of glacial gravel, and this produces wet marsh which is dominated by meadowsweet. Other habitats are neutral grassland, swamp carr woodland, mature ash woodland, a stream and hedgerows. Clipstone Brook forms its western boundary.There is access to the site by a track from Tebworth.

Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade I listed church in Stanbridge, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 3 February 1967.

Tebworth is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The settlement is close to Wingfield and Hockliffe, with the nearest town being Houghton Regis. Amenities in Tebworth include "The Queens Head" pub. Tebworth is part of the ward of 'Heath and Reach' which sends a Councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth, and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor Mark Versallion. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of Chalgrave.

Stanbridge is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire which lies 3 miles (5 km) east of Leighton Buzzard. It also borders the Bedfordshire villages of Hockliffe, Eggington, Tilsworth, Totternhoe and Billington. There was a windmill to the east of Mill Road, in the north of the village, that is marked on early Ordnance Survey maps. To the west of Mill Road, still standing, is a later windmill that has been converted to a three-story house. This has recently had a new dome fitted to its roof. St John the Baptist Parish Church is also located in the village. Stanbridge had its own railway station, until it was closed in the 1960s by Lord Beeching. This was to the south of the village, at Stanbridgeford on the Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable LNWR line. The eastern part of the old line has been utilised as a footpath to Sewell and Dunstable; the western part is now part of the Leighton Buzzard Southern Bypass. RAF Stanbridge was built on land that was in the neighbouring parish of Billington, but the town of Leighton Buzzard has now expanded over much of the base. The village has a traditional English country public house called The Five Bells. Stanbridge is part of the political ward of 'Heath and Reach' which sends a Councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth, and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor Mark Versallion.

Egginton – or Eggington as it is now known – is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about three miles east of Leighton Buzzard. Apart from the village itself, the parish also includes the hamlet of Briggington on the road to Leighton Buzzard, and the hamlet of Clipstone to the north of Clipstone Brook. The hamlet of Leedon was in Eggington parish, but became part of Leighton Buzzard when the parish boundary was redrawn in the early 1980s. The village itself is relatively small – with some 190 residents living in 94 houses. It now has an Indian restaurant, a church and a village hall, formerly the village school (which closed in 1984). The Congregational chapel was pulled down in the 1970s: the village shop also closed in that era, and the old Methodist chapel was converted to a dwelling in 1988. Nearby places are Leighton Buzzard, to the west, Hockliffe, to the east and Stanbridge to the south. At the eastern end of the village is Eggington House built in 1696. In the 1960s this was the home of Sir Gilbert Inglefield (a former Lord Mayor of London), then in 1978 it became the home of Lord Slynn of Hadley, the first English judge to move from the Queen's Bench Division to the Court of Justice of the European Community in Luxembourg, where he was one of six Advocates General. It is now in the private ownership of the Garrigue family and can be hired as a venue for wedding receptions, events and conferences. The White House – a former parsonage in the village – was used to house the elderly blind who were evacuated from London for the duration of the Second World War. It was subsequently purchased by Bedfordshire County Council and became Children's Home between 1952 and 1983, since when it has become a private Care Home for the elderly. The Three Horseshoes pub was eventually taken over by Louis Appert, who ran it as a rural French restaurant. This was replaced by Lavang – an Indian restaurant – in 2007. It was then purchased by Mr B. Choudhury who extensively renovated the property in 2011, adding an extension/function room to the property.South of the village runs Eggington Brook, approximately three miles east of Leighton Buzzard. In August 2021, the brook flood defences were upgraded by ECL Civil Engineering and Dr Andy Hughes, the reservoir dam consultant, to withstand a 1 in 100,000 projected annual flood with the new embankment dam to achieve an official Dam/Reservoir status.Flood Protection is now in place for Leighton Buzzard and the surrounding area under the Reservoirs Act 1975.Eggington is part of the political ward of 'Heath and Reach' which sends a Councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor Mark Versallion.Eggington was the home village of the British comedian and gameshow host Bob Monkhouse OBE (1928–2003).

Eggington House is the manor house of the village of Eggington situated near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England. The house is regarded as a very fine example of late 17th century domestic architecture, and is a Grade II* listed building. At the time of its construction in 1696 it was completely up to date and innovative in its design - which was unusual in the provinces, where architectural styles usually lagged behind that of the larger cities. This small mansion, built for a Huguenot from Montauban in France, a Merchant taylor John Renouille who became Sheriff of Bedfordshire. The house is of red brick. The main facade is of seven bays of classical sash windows and three storeys high. The roof line is concealed by a panelled parapet decorated with urns. The interior contains a staircase with twisted balusters. The house has had a varied ownership, the Renouille family anglicised their name to Reynal moved to nearby Hockliffe Grange and let Eggington. The last of the Reynal's predeceased his wife, who remarried which caused to the property to pass to her new husband named Francis Moore. By 1840 Eggington House belonged to a family called Adams. Later, circa 1900, it belonged to a family called Hodgson who frequently entertained the suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst. During World War I the house was requisitioned by the Army. From 1950 to 1976 it was the home of Sir Gilbert Inglefield, the 1967 Lord Mayor of London, and his wife. It was then the residence of Lord Slynn of Hadley and his wife. Today, the house remains in private ownership.

Church of St Peter & All Saints is a Grade I listed church in Battlesden, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 23 January 1961.

Milton Bryan is a village and civil parish located in Central Bedfordshire (the spelling Milton Bryant was previously common and is still recognised by postal services). It lies just off the A4012 road, near to its junction with the A5 at Hockliffe. The parish includes the ancient hamlets of Potsgrove & Battlesden. The village is best known for being the birthplace of Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace, who was born in Milton Bryan as the seventh son of a farming family along with its role in the Second World War.