Thorn, Bedfordshire

Bidwell is a hamlet located within the Parish of Houghton Regis in Central Bedfordshire, England. Originally a small rural settlement, Bidwell is now a housing development area of the town. Magic Maps

Chalgrave is a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The hamlets of Tebworth and Wingfield are in the west of the parish, with the church and manor in the east. Nearby places are Toddington (to the north), Chalton (to the east), Houghton Regis (to the south), and Hockliffe (to the west). Before 1929, the parish also included part of the village of Hockliffe.Chalgrave 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.

Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Thorn and Sewell. Houghton Regis, together with its contiguous neighbours of Dunstable and Luton, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area; this is a conurbation with a population over 255,000.

The Church of All Saints, formerly The Church of St. Michael, is a medieval building and an active Anglican parish church in Houghton Regis in the English county of Bedfordshire. It is a 13th century Grade I listed building.

Houghton Regis Marl Lakes is a 20.1-hectare (50-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire. It was notified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1988.The site is a large disused chalk quarry, and it is listed by Geo-East as a "Chalk Place to Visit" due to its exposure of Totternhoe stone. It is a rare example of standing water in chalk. It is important both ornithologically and for its range of dragonflies. There are two marl lakes, one deep and one shallow, which have aquatic plants and molluscs, with fens in a waterlogged area between the lakes.The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire managed the site between 2011 and 2015. A Trust noticeboard at the northern and southern entrances to the site names it as Houghton Regis Chalk Pit. The Wildlife Trust BCN produced newsletters during their management period and these are retrievable online. Volunteers helped with tasks at various times. Youth Ranger activities, took place and these included tasks such as scrub-clearing using conservation tools and controlled bonfires. The Chalk Pit regularly appeared in Wildlife BCN's North Chilterns Chalk volunteer programme

All Saints Academy (formerly The Northfields Technology College) is a co-ed secondary school located in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. All Saints educates 11- to 16-year-olds, as well as mainly from the town of Dunstable and some surrounding villages. In addition, the school offers further education for 16- to 18-year-olds through its sixth form department.

Wingfield is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The settlement is close to Tebworth and Chalgrave, with the nearest town being Houghton Regis. Wingfield forms part of the Chalgrave civil parish, and is home to The Plough Inn public house. The Icknield Way Path passes through the village on its 110-mile journey from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. The Icknield Way Trail, a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the village. Wingfield 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.

Luton Rural District was a local authority in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It covered an area which almost surrounded but did not include the towns of Luton and Dunstable.

The Crown is a Grade II listed pub in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, England.It is a thatched pub built in the 17th century, and largely unaltered since being refitted in the 1930s. It is on the Regional Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors for East Anglia.

Dunstable North was a railway station on the London and North Western Railway's branch line from Leighton Buzzard which served Dunstable in Bedfordshire from 1848 to 1967. Originally the terminus of the London and North Western Railway's branch line from Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable became the point where the line met with the Great Northern's branch line from Luton in 1858. The station became the hub of a number of sidings connecting a variety of concerns to the line, including Waterlows, Bedfordshire County Council, Associated Portland Cement, Dunstable gasworks and a coal yard operated by the Great Northern. Against a background of falling passenger numbers and declining freight returns, the station closed to passengers in 1965 and to goods in 1967. Connections were retained with the cement works and coal yard, which became an oil depot, until 1988 and the line eventually closed in 1991. The site of the station is now occupied by offices of Central Bedfordshire Council (previously the headquarters of South Bedfordshire District Council). A section of the former line to the west of the site has become part of route 6 of the National Cycle Network.

Chalgrave Castle stood to the south of the large village of Toddington, Bedfordshire. This was a timber motte and bailey castle, constructed in two phases, built during the 11th century (around 1086). By the 13th century, it had been abandoned. The site was excavated in 1970, but has since been completely leveled. Nothing visible remains.

The Church of All Saints is a Grade I listed church in Chalgrave, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 3 February 1967. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an old structure, its consecration recorded as taking place in 1219. It features a nave, chancel, and aisles. The large square tower contains three bells. The nave has five bays. Some of the arches are Early English Period, with foliage decorated capitals, while other capitals are moulded. The register dates from the year 1539. Its fittings include two antique tombs with statues of knights in armour. The interior also features a faded wall painting featuring various saints.