Billington, Bedfordshire

The River Ouzel , also known as the River Lovat, is a river in England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows 20 miles (32 km) north to join the Ouse at Newport Pagnell. It is usually called the River Ouzel, except near Newport Pagnell where both names are used. The name Lovat was recorded (in the form 'Lovente') in the thirteenth century, a map of 1724 marks the river as "Lowsel R", and a map surveyed in 1765 shows it as 'Ouzel River'. The modern Ordnance Survey uses only the name Ouzel, except north of Willen Lake where it is marked as 'River Ouzel or Lovat'.

RAF Stanbridge (originally RAF Leighton Buzzard) was a non-flying RAF station situated on the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England and located 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west of the village of Stanbridge, Bedfordshire. For the majority of its life the station operated as a communications station. In its latter years it had a logistics and supply role. The station closed in 2013 and declared surplus to military requirements by the Ministry of Defence. The site was sold to property developers and all station buildings were demolished so it could be redeveloped for residential use.

Page's Park railway station is a railway station serving the southern area of Leighton Buzzard. Page's Park is the terminus of the heritage Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway. At present the station consists of two platforms, an engine shed and a station building housing the booking office, shop and community room. The locomotive shed can be viewed by the public on certain days and a footpath leads from the platform to the yard so the public can view locos being prepared.

Slapton is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located between the Grand Union Canal and the boundary with Bedfordshire, about 3 mi (5 km) south of Leighton Buzzard and 3 mi (5 km) west of Edlesborough.

The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge track and is just under 3 miles (4.8 km) long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north of the town. In the late 1960s the quarries switched to road transport and the railway was taken over by volunteers, who now run the line as a heritage railway.

Grovebury Priory, also known as La Grave or Grava was a priory in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England. It was established in 1164 and disestablished in 1414.

Leedon is a former hamlet in Bedfordshire, England, which is now part of Leighton Buzzard town. Originally, Leedon was a small rural settlement and was part of the Eggington civil parish. However, the expansion of Leighton Buzzard eastwards led to Leedon being encompassed in the wider Leighton-Linslade urban area. Today, Leedon represents the eastern part of Leighton Buzzard town. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of Leighton-Linslade

Leighton Town Football Club are an English football club located in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. They were established in 1885. The club plays home games at Bell Close and currently play in the Southern League Division One Central.

Grove is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Slapton, Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the border with Bedfordshire, just to the north of Mentmore. It is the size of some hamlets, but it is distinct as a village because it had its own parish church. The place name is fairly self-explanatory, as it means 'grove', or a copse of trees. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Grova, and was considered a separate village even then. In 1961 the parish had a population of 12. On 1 April 1982 the parish was abolished and merged with Slapton.In medieval times there was an abbey or priory of nuns in the parish, founded in 1169 by Henry II and attached to Fontevrault Abbey in France. Following the wars with France it was given to the dean and Canons of Windsor. The remains of this abbey were fully excavated in the late 1960s just before they were lost forever in connection with the sand-quarrying industry of Leighton Buzzard. It has been suggested that before this Grove may once have been an important place of worship in even more ancient times, thus leading to its establishment as a separate parish. The parish church was dedicated to St. Michael, the dragon slayer. There was also in addition to the priory, a house of Cistercian monks, subordinate to Woburn Abbey. Immediately adjoining Grove was the lost hamlet known as South Waddon, today this remains only as the name of a nearby farm; however earth workings in the area suggest a substantial settlement if not fortifications. Grove Church was converted into a small private house in the late 1970s. The area that has become the sitting room of the house has the macabre feature of a Medieval human skeleton buried under a glass panel. The skull is surrounded in turn by the skeletons of small birds, thought to have been put there to ward off evil spirits. Part of the churchyard containing the newest graves was retained by the church authorities, following their controversial decision to sell the church. It remains today but is closed for further burials. A large farmhouse dominating the village, was during the early 1960s turned into a Victorian gothic mansion complete with clock tower when it was the property of the Shand-Kydd family. The house overlooks and indeed is a landmark for the boats on The Grand Union Canal which actually flows through the centre of the village. A former lock-keeper's cottage at nearby Grove Lock was in 2001 converted into a public house and restaurant.

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.

The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford, thus shortening the journey. In 1927 the canal was bought by the Regent's Canal Company and, since 1 January 1929, has formed the southern half of the Grand Union Main Line from London to Birmingham. The canal is now much used by leisure traffic. Isambard Kingdom Brunel's last major undertaking was the compact Three Bridges, London, on the canal. Work began in 1856, and was completed in 1859. The three bridges are an overlapping arrangement allowing the routes of the Grand Junction Canal, Great Western and Brentford Railway, and Windmill Lane to cross.

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).