The “WAVENDON, with the Hamlet of WOBURN SANDS” section of the Kellys Trade Directory of 1864:

WAVENDON is a parish and village, distant one mile from Woburn Sands station, 52 miles from London by rail and 45 by road, and 5 from Newport Pagnell, in the hundred, union, county court district and rural deanery of Newport Pagnell, archdeaconry of Buckingham, and diocese of Oxford.

The church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin was entirely restored, under the direction of Mr. W. Butterfield, architect, in 1848-9, at a cost of over £4,000, raised by parish subscriptions and a donation from H. M. Hoare, Esq., liberally aided by the rector; the expense of the chancel also being entirely defrayed by the Rev. H. Burney: the components of the church are a chancel, nave with aisles, clerestory, south porch, and west tower containing 5 bells: the style of the chancel is Early Decorated; the piers and arches of the nave, the roofs, and clerestory are also fine specimens of the Early Decorated Gothic, and the upper part of the tower Perpendicular; the nave is very lofty, and the aisles were formerly side chapels, the piscinas of which still remain: the chancel is divided from the nave by a low stone screen and very elegant gates of solid brass; the floor is richly paved with Minton’s encaustic tiles; in the south wall are a double piscina of curious design, and a triple sedilia, and recessed in the opposite wall is a stone arcade, with plain semicircular arches all the painted windows are by O’Connor: The east window represents the Four Evangelists, Our Lord, with St. Peter and Sr. Paul; and in the highest compartment A Majesty, representing our Lord seated in Glory and in the act of Blessing; those in the south of the chancel The Annunciation, and the Adoration of the Magi, that in the north, aisle, The Crucifixion; and there are two memorial windows and a handsome monument to the Hoare family: there is a large sculptured font of Totternhoe stone, with a finely carved oak cover, and a fine old carved oak pulpit; the area is seated with open oak benches, with chairs in the centre.

Wavendon, rural idyll
Mrs Chance at Wavendon village pump. Postcard by R. Cheetham 1910

The living is a rectory, value £843 per annum, with residence, in the gift of Henry Arthur Hoare, Esq., and held by the Rev. Henry Burney, M. A., of Exeter College, Oxford. The new rectory house was erected by the Rev. H. Blarney, M. A., at a cost £3000; it is a handsome edifice, in the Early Gothic style, and built of the sandstone quarried in the parish. Wavendon House is the residence of Henry Arthur Hoare, Esq., J. P. The area of the parish is 2,665 acres, chiefly the properly of H. A. Hoare, Esq., and Messrs. Denison, J. Anderson, C. Ridgway, and J. Battams. The Duke of Bedford is also a proprietor to the amount of 150 acres or more, The Manor Farm is the property of Mr. J. Anderson. There is a National school, endowed with a charity for educating, clothing and apprenticing ten poor boys, and almshouses for four poor widows. There is also a county police station in the village. The population in 1861 was 879.

POST OFFICE Samuel King, receiver. Letters arrive from Woburn about 8 am; dispatched at 5 p.m. week days, & on sundays at 11.30 a.m. Fenny Stratford & Woburn are the nearest money order offices & post office savings banks.

WOBURN SANDS, one mile to the south, is a railway and telegraph station on the London and North-Western Railway, in the Leighton Buzzard county court district. In this hamlet are a Wesleyan chapel and a Friends’ meeting-house, and the National school is also used as a chapel of ease. This part of the parish is particularly salubrious, being situated on the sand hills, and in the vicinity of the beautiful Aspley plantations. Parish Clerk, John Mabley.

POST OFFICE – Thomas Hudson, receiver. Letters arrive from Woburn at 6.45a.m.; dispatched at 5.35p.m. & on sundays at 10.30a.m. Woburn is the nearest money order office & post office savings bank.

Assistant Overseer, William Harris. Public Schools: National, Wavendon, Frederick Greenfield, master. National, Woburn Sands, Miss Frances Southgate, mistress.

Wavendon Residential

Mr. George Frederick Brunton, Ivy Cottage
Rev. Henry Burney M. A. [rector], The Rectory
Henry George Denison esq. Wavendon Villa
Henry Arthur Hoare, esq. J. P. Wavendon House
Rev. Charles Mayor M. A. [curate], Manor House

Wavendon Commercial

Cranfield Lacemakers
Some lace makers of Cranfield, the predominant local industry. This postcard by Robert Cheetham, 1906

George Abercrombie, Leathern Bottle
James Anderson, landowner & farmer, Manor Farm
George Bodsworth, harness maker
Thomas Brandon, painter & glazier
John Burrell, gamekeeper to H. A. Hoare, esq
George Cardwell, farmer, Deethe Farm
William Carter, carpenter
George Chappell, farmer, Fen Farm
Charles Claridge, Plough Inn & baker
Daniel Eaton, shoe maker
William Facer, Wheatsheaf
Charles Goosey, farmer, Eagle Farm
James Harris, shoe maker
William Harris, farmer
Thomas Hawley, farmer
Thomas Higgs, Red House
George Holmes, warrener
John King, farmer & maltster
Thomas King, farmer & maltster
John Malbey, blacksmith
Thomas Pell, farmer, Park Farm
Josiah Spreckley, butcher & beer retailer
Nathaniel Sturges, farmer
George Tite, builder
Mary Ann Tomlin (Mrs.), shopkeeper
George Vaux, butcher & grocer
George Yates, tailor

Woburn Sands Residential

William Henry Denison, esq. Hardwick Cottage
Mr. Samuel Milliner

Woburn Sands Commercial

Robert Bailey, Weathercock Inn
Gregery Odell Clarke, coal merchant, office & yard
David Cook, baker
John Goodall, Swan Inn, timber merchant & farmer
Frederick Hutton, builder
Charles Inwood, tailor
Francis Lee, Fir Tree Inn
Jeremiah Perry, baker
Alfred Smith, horse dealer, farmer & licensed to let horses for hire
William Tansley, shopkeeper