Totternhoe Stone Pit

Totternhoe nature reserve is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN). The 31-hectare (77-acre) site is in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire, and it includes parts of three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Totternhoe Knolls is a biological SSSI owned by Central Bedfordshire Council and leased to the National Trust. Most of it is managed jointly by the National Trust and the WTBCN, excluding Totternhoe Castle, the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle which is part of the SSSI but not of WTBCN's nature reserve. Totternhoe nature reserve also includes the geological SSSI, Totternhoe Stone Pit, which is not open to the public, and other areas owned by WTBCN, including part of Totternhoe Chalk Quarry, another biological SSSI.Much of the site is former quarries for Totternhoe stone, a durable chalk which was used in building Westminster Abbey. This has left steeply sloping spoil heaps now grasslands which are rich in flowers, including many species of orchids, such as Cowslips, which are the favourite food of the caterpillars of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly. The site is also the best place in Bedfordshire to see the scarce small blue butterfly.The site has a National Trust car park off Castle Hill Road. There is also access to Totternhoe Chalk Quarry by a footpath from Sewell Cutting in Houghton Regis.

The Cross Keys is a Grade II listed pub in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, England It is a 17th-century thatched building and the first floor is timber-framed.

Totternhoe Castle was a Norman castle in Totternhoe. Bedfordshire. Only earthworks survive. It is a Scheduled Monument, and part of Totternhoe Knolls Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Totternhoe is a village and civil parish in the Manshead hundred of the county of Bedfordshire, England.

Totternhoe Chalk Quarry is a 13.4-hectare (33-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. Part of it lies in Totternhoe nature reserve, which is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The site is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.The site is a disused medieval quarry for Totternhoe stone, a durable chalk which was used for buildings including Westminster Abbey. The steeply sloping spoil heaps have developed into grasslands which have a wide variety of flowers, including orchids. Grass chalkland is a habitat under threat, and the site has a number of rare plant species, including great pignut. It also has butterflies such as the chalkhill blue and the nationally rare Duke of Burgundy.There is access from a footpath between Sewell Cutting and Totternhoe and from Totternhoe Knolls, which is also part of Totternhoe nature reserve.

Totternhoe Knolls is a 13.1-hectare (32-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. It is also a local nature reserve, and part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site is owned by Central Bedfordshire Council and leased to the National Trust. Most of the site is maintained jointly by the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN), and is part of the WTBCN Totternhoe nature reserve, which also includes Totternhoe Chalk Quarry and Totternhoe Stone Pit. The SSSI also includes Totternhoe Castle, the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle which is a Scheduled monument. Part of the site was formerly a quarry where Totternhoe Stone, a strong type of chalk that was used in Westminster Abbey, was mined. This part is now grassland with a rich variety of plant species, including some that are now rare; these are characteristic species of chalk downland and include kidney vetch, horseshoe vetch, large thyme, squinancywort, autumn gentian, clustered bellflower, sainfoin and dwarf thistle. Orchids that grow here include common spotted orchid, Herminium monorchis Musk orchid, Orchis anthropophora Man orchid, bee orchid and twayblade . There are a wide variety of invertebrates, including butterflies such as the common blue, the chalkhill blue, and the scarce small blue and Duke of Burgundy fritillary.Totternhoe Castle was probably built in the late eleventh century. Only the earthworks survive, with a mound five metres tall and 40 metres wide. It is unusual in having three baileys.There is access from the National Trust car park off Castle Hill Road.

Stanbridgeford railway station on the London and North Western Railway's branch line to Dunstable served the Bedfordshire villages of Stanbridge, Totternhoe, Eaton Bray and Tilsworth from 1849 to 1964. Once popular with visitors to the nearby Totternhoe Knolls and ramblers, the station closed against a background of falling passenger numbers and declining freight returns. The station building has survived into private ownership, but a section of the alignment to the east and west of the site has been taken into the A505 Leighton Southern Bypass. National Cycle Network route 6 runs to the east over the bypass as far as the outskirts of Dunstable.

The Church of St Giles is a Grade I listed church in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 3 February 1967. The church was built using stone from local quarries and has a fine exterior. Flint flushwork decoration is used in the gable of the chancel. Building began in the 14th century and was not completed until the 16th.

Totternhoe Roman villa is on Church Farm, Church Road, in Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, England. No sign of it is now visible, as it has been filled in and grassed over.The villa was excavated by the Manshead Archaeological Society under the direction of C. L. Matthews in the 1950s. It was a Roman courtyard house, 200x240 feet, with at least 14 rooms, with mosaics, hypocausts and painted wall plaster. Pottery was mainly late 4th century, but there was also some from the 2nd century. 5-6th century Saxon potsherds were also found, suggesting occupation after the villa was abandoned. Finds from the site can be seen in the Roman gallery of Stockwood Discovery Centre.

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.

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

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.