The Woburn Sands, Aspley Heath and Aspley Guise section from Kellys Trade Directory of 1890:
WOBURN SANDS is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1867, comprising Aspley Heath and parts of the parish of Aspley Guise and Wavendon. The two former are in the Southern division of the county, petty, sessional division and union of Woburn, county court district of Leighton Buzzard, and county of Beds, and the latter (Wavendon) in the union of Newport Pagnell, and county of Bucks. The village has a station on the Bedford and Cambridge branch of the London and North Western railway, 12 miles south-west from Bedford and 4 miles east from Bletchley and 2½ northwest from Woburn: it is 44 miles from London by road and 50 by rail: it is in the rural deanery of Fleete, archdeanery of Bedford and diocese of Ely.
The church of St. Michael, at Aspley Heath, is a building of stone, in the French Gothic style, erected in 1868 from designs by Mr Henry Clutton, architect: it originally consisted of chancel, nave of five bays and a small circular western bell, turret: in 1889 it was enlarged from designs by Sir Arthur Blomfield ARA at a cost of £2,400; the chancel was extended eastward, and new north choir and north nave, transepts and vestries were added the organ was removed to an organ loft and enlarged by the addition of a new stop; and a new heating apparatus provided: it is proposed to add a transept on the south side of the chancel at some future time: there are sittings for 450 persons. The register dates from the year 1867. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £150 in the gift of the Duke of Bedford K. G. and held since 1884 by the Rev. Edward Henry Mosse M. A., of Christ’s College, Cambridge. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and Particular Baptists chapels, and a Friends’ meeting house.
The Village Institute built in 1874, at a cost of about £800 stands near the centre of the parish; it has a library of upwards of 660 volumes, and is used for concerts and other village purposes. The parish is particularly salubrious being situated on the lower greensand formation which here is a reddish-brown sand, and partly covered by pine woods. The principal landowners are the Duke of Bedford K. G., C. Ridgway esq. and Alfred Allnutt, esq, The area 1,400 acres, including 577 acres for Aspley Heath; the rateable value of which is £1,645; about 450 acres is woodland; the population in 1881 was 1,077, but it is now very much increased.
Parish Clerk, Charles Beasley.
Post, M. O. & T. O., S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Woburn Sands – John Pikesley, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Woburn at 6.40 a.m. & from Bletchley direct at 11.50 am. & 4.45 p.m.; dispatched at 12.30 & 7.55 p.m. to Bletchley direct & 6. p.m. to Woburn; & on sundays at 12 noon
WALL LETTER Box, Station road, cleared at 11.40 am. 4.30 & 7.40 p.m.; sundays 12 noon
WALL LETTER Box, Aspley Heath, cleared at 11.20 a.m. 4.10 & 7.25 p.m. ; sundays 11.45 a.m
INSURANCE AGENTS:-
Commercial Union, E. G. Miller, Cheapside
County Fire, G. Loke,
Northern, E. A. Taylor
Rock Life, W. Needham
A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1885 for Aspley Heath & subsequently representatives of the contributory districts of Aspley Guise & Wavendon (Bucks) were added each place sending two members; James Francis Smith clerk to the board; Robert Harrison, attendance officer Board School (mixed & infants), erected in 1868, at the cost of the Duke of Bedford, for 240 children; average attendance, 220. In 1889 a new infant school, adjoining the old buildings, was built at the cost of the Duke of Bedford KG to hold 100 children; Frederick George Sharp, master; Miss Hancock, infants’ mistress
Railway Station, John Sail Barratt, station master
Carriers to:- BEDFORD – Thomas Clarke, sat, NEWPORT PAGNELL – Thomas Clarke, tues. & fri, LEIGHTON BUZZARD – Joseph Rice, tues.
Private Residents
James Aikenhead, Sydney Cottage
Armstrong, Mrs
John Attack
Baker, Mrs
Edward Barnard
John Barr
Rev. Canon James Tufton Bartlet M. A. [curate]
James Warner Barton
George Richie Bermingham, Athenry
Blackwood, Mrs
Boston, Miss, Woodside Cottage
Rev. Joshua Cautley BA, Hillside
Thomas Clark, Belle Vue
Davis, Mrs.
William Henry Denison, Hardwick
Frederick William Down, Haydon House
Henry Down, Woodfield
Down, Mrs., Haydon House
George Freeman, Wroxhill
Garratt, Miss, Ivy Lawn
John Giles
John Green, The Laurels
Alfred Halstead, Glengyle
Harbert, Miss
Hayward, Mrs., Harefield Cottage
Henderson, Mrs., Westbury Leigh
Holcroft, Mrs.
Robert Jackson
James Lloyd, Ferndale
George Loke
Loke Miss
Macdonald, Mrs
James Ward Maxwell, Montrose Villa
Edward George Miller, Holmdale
Moore, Mrs.
Rev. Edward Henry Mosse, M. A. [vicar]
Mumford, Mrs.
Newman, Mrs.
Pain, Mrs., Woodlands
Platt, Miss, Russell Villa
William Platt, The Shrubbery
Rev. Samuel Rathmell [Wesleyan]
Roberts, Mrs.
Edward Roe
Rogers, Mrs., Prospect Villa
Smith, Mrs., Trelawn
George Staniford, Fair View
Steele, Miss
Charles Pole Stuart J.P. Sandy Mount House
Summerley, Mrs.
Rev. Alfred Sutcliffe [Primitive Methodists]
Swabey, Mrs., Woodcote
Trowbridge, Miss
Whitbread, Mrs., Rose Cottage
Wilkinson, Miss
John Willis
Commercial
William Adkins, carter
Samuel Almer, skin dealer
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Cottage Garden Society (E. G. Miller, secretary)
Avenue Brick & Tile & General Building Works (Jabez Whiting, proprietor), brick & tile manufacturer, builder, contractor & undertaker. [Has advert in directory]
Robert Bailey, Weathercock Public House & farmer
George Henry Bizzell, bookseller & photographer
Edward Boyes, draper & clothier
Edward Brown, dairyman
George William Bull, butcher
Ann Maria Burgess (Mrs.), shopkeeper & coffee tavern
John Byway, straw hat manufacturer
William Charles Byway, picture frame maker
Chapman & Son, news agents
Harry James Chapman, hair dresser
James Page Chapman, attendance officer for Aspley Guise school board
Thomas Chisnall, plumber & glazier
Thomas Clarke, carrier
John Collins, baker
William George Cooper, cattle dealer
Catherine Corby (Mrs.), milliner
George Frederick Corby, insurance agent
George Day, boot & shoe maker
Eliza Dilby, (Mrs.), Swan Hotel
George Dolton, builder
Samuel Dolton, wheelwright
Henry Down & Co. proprietors of the ‘Farmers’ Friend’ for Prevention of Smut in Wheat; of ‘Melville’s Veterinary Preparations; & at Woburn. [Had adverts in Directory]
Henry & F. W. Down, maltsters & corn merchants; & at Woburn
John Driscoll, plasterer
James Dudley, brick & tile manufacturer
Jane Durrant (Miss), dress maker
Joseph Elliott, draper & clothier
George Elmore, skin dealer
Joshua Emms, watch & clock maker & jeweller & co
Annie Farmer (Mrs.), lodging house
Francis Farr, stone mason
Charles Featherstonhaugh, rope maker
James Foster, shopkeeper
Charles Freemen, confectioner & upholsterer
John Giles, junior, lath render
Henry Deacon Godfrey, dentist & chemist
John & Fred Goodall, timber merchants
Samuel Hack, shopkeeper
David Hallworth, boot & shoe maker
David Hammond, saddler & harness maker
Robert Harrison, attendance officer for Aspley Heath school board
Alfred Hopkins, baker
Alwyn Edward A. Hudson, plumber. & decorator
John Thomas Hudson, butcher
Frederick Hutton, builder
Henry Inwood, tailor & outfitter
Mary Ann Inwood (Mrs.), lodging house
Thomas Jackson, market gardener
Marrianne Kent (Miss), draper & milliner
George Kilsby, beer retailer
Eliza King (Mrs.), dress maker
George Loke, land agent &c
John T. Luttmen, Station Hotel & post house
William Mabley, lath render
William Alfred Meadows, builder & contractor
Elizabeth Miles (Miss), lodging house
George Miller Edward, printer & stationer
Frederick Stebbing Moore, boot & shoe maker
Walter Henry Moyle, surgeon, attends at Mr. Godfrey’s, chemist, daily 4 pm
William Needham, ironmonger & importing agent
Ann Paternoster (Mrs.), grocer
P. Phipps. & Co. Limited brewers & wine & spirit merchants
John Pikesley, stationer, Post Office
William Poole, joiner & builder
Joseph Rice, blacksmith & carrier
Sarah Sharrett (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Alfred Smith, horse dealer & farmer, & brick & tile manufacturer
Charles Thomas Smith, coal merchant
Charlotte Smith (Miss), dress maker
Frederick Smith, plumber & glazier
George Smith, rag dealer
James Smith, carter
George Spreckley, tailor
Edwin Spring, builder & joiner
Frederick John Steers, butcher
Henry Summerley, cooper
George Tansley, grocer
Ernest Alfred Taylor, boot & shoemaker
Annie Tomlin (Mrs.), lodging house
Thomas Tompkins, coal, corn, seed, beer & hay & straw merchant; & at Ridgmont station & Woburn
Emma Turney (Miss), stationer & fancy repository
Charles Whitbread, lodging house
Caroline White (Miss), dress maker
Joseph Whiting, gardener
Richard E. Whitlock, chimney sweeper
William Whitlock, chimney sweeper
Maria Wickman (Mrs.), lodging house
George Willison, baker & confectioner,
Frederick Wingrave, grocer, & agent for W. & A. Gilbey, wine & spirit merchants
Woburn Sands Permanent Benefit Building Society (E. G. Miller, secretary)
Woburn Sands Village Institute & Reading Room (Edward Geo. Miller, secretary)
Thomas Wodhams, coal & corn merchant
James Wright, draper & boot dealer
George William Young, builder
ASPLEY HEATH
Private Residents
Alfred Allnutt, Edgebury
Captain Eustace Bolton Loraine Bevan, Glenside
Ernest Edward Challoner, Pine View
James Charles Cleghorn, J. P., Daneswood
Mrs. Cox, Croyland
Charles Cranmer, The Mount
Mrs. Fisher, Alderman’s Place
Miss Fraser
Barclay Hanbury
John Elliot Page, Heather Bank
Misses Warden, The Limes
Alfred Whitaker, The Knoll
Commercial
Noah Ambrose, beer retailer
Thomas James Clarke, basket maker
Robert Sim Eveleigh, accountant
Levi Giles, fullers earth pits
Aspley Guise
Aspley Guise formerly a town, is a parish and well-built village, a mile and a half from Woburn Sands station of the London and North Western railway, 52½ miles from London by rail and 44 by road, 2 north- by-west from Woburn and 12 south-west from Bedford, in the Southern division of the country, hundred of Manshead, petty sessional division and union of Woburn, county court district of Leighton Buzzard, rural deanery of Fleete, archdeanery of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The church of St Botoloph is an elegant building in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of a chancel, cleretorial nave of four bays, aisles and an embattled western tower with crocketed pinnacles and containing 6 bells and a clock; the south aisle was added and the whole fabric greatly enlarged and restored through the exertions and almost at the sole expense, as well as under the superintendence, of the Rev. J. Vaux Moore, formerly rector; there is a memorial window in the vestry to H.R.H. the Prince Consort, placed in 1862, and three memorial windows in the south side to the Moore family; in the north aisle is an altar tomb , with fine brass effigy of a knight in plate armour, worn over a hauberk, to one of the Guise family, circ. 1490, from whom the village derives its adjunct; there is also an ancient slab, from which a florinated cross and marginal inscriptions are lost, but at the foot are figures in brass of a priest kneeling and St John the Baptist standing, c.1410, and there is a tomb with life-sized effigy in stone to Sir – de Tyrington, 1400; another marble monument is to the Rev J. V. Moore; the pulpit is richly carved in oak, representing the principle incidents in the life of Our Lord; the church was restored in 1855, and in 1884 the upper portion of the tower was rebuilt at a cost of £150 and the peal of 4 bells increased to six; the burying ground has been increased by the addition of an acre, situated on the opposite side of the road, the gift of the Rev. H. R Moody, late lord of the manor: there are sittings for 290 persons. The register dates from the year 1563. The living is a rectory, tithe rent charges £16, net yearly value £200, including 86 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford K.G. and held since 1880 by the Rev. James Chadwick Maltby M.A. of Keeble College, Oxford. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. The village of Aspley contains a number of good houses, and is very beautifully situated on and below a range of sand hills, which rise to a height of about 420 feet above the level of the sea, commanding very extensive views of the surrounding country; it is much frequented as a place of residence by visitors during the summer season, who find accommodation in good and quiet lodgings. The atmosphere is dry and salubrious, and the temperature equable: there is a plentiful supply of pure, soft, spring water. Adjoining the village are large plantations of firs and evergreens, to the growth of which the soil is peculiarly adapted; some of the holly hedges are nearly thirty feet in height, and upwards of 150 years old. Avenue House, the residence of Lieut-Col. Robert Unwin J.P. is approached by an avenue of Scotch pine dating from the Battle of Culloden (1746). Avenue Lodge is the residence of John Gregory White esq., M.D. The Rookery, the residence of Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine, K.C.M.G., M.A. situated on a hill opposite the church, is an ancient structure surrounded by trees. The principle land owners are the Duke of Bedford K.G., F. Moody esq. who is lord of the manor, Miss Smith, Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare esq. of Wavendon Manor, Mrs G. W. Mahon, John Gregory White esq., M.D. Douglas Ellis esq. Henry Paul Harris esq. and the Rev. J. C. Maltby M.A. rector. The soil is sand on the hills and clay in the lower parts of the parish; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and beans. The area is 1,936 acres; rateable value £4,964; the population in 1881 was 1,445. The ecclesiastical parish of Woburn Sands has been formed partly out of this parish and partly out of Wavendon, Bucks, and will be found under a separate heading.
Sexton and verger, Thomas William Brown.
POST, M.O. & T.O, S.B. Annuity & Insurance Office – Sidney James Chisnall, postmaster. Letters arrive from Woburn at 7 a.m. and from Bletchley at 12.35 a.m. and 5.15 p.m.; box closes at 11.55 a.m. 5.40 & 7.45 p.m. & on Sundays at 10.10 a.m. Sunday, open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for sale of stamps and telegraph business.
WALL LETTER BOX, Duke Street, cleared at 5.30 p.m. week days only.
A School Board of 5 members was formed April 12 1879; Charles Gosling, Ridgmont, clerk to the board; James Page Chapman, Woburn Sands, attendance officer.
This place contributes 2 members to the Aspley Heath School Board.
Board School (mixed and infants) built about 1850, for 199 children; average attendance 110; James Mumford, master; Miss Annie Jones, infants’ mistress.
CARRIERS: Joseph Rice, from Woburn Sands to Leighton & Woburn, tues.
Thomas Clarke, from Woburn Sands to Bedford, sat.; & to Newport Pagnell, tues and fri.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS
Mrs Britton, Woodside
Miss Burrell, The Laurels
Mrs Cottingham, The Laurels
Miss Courtney, Berry Land cottage
Charles Cutler, Hollydale
Mrs Downes, The Shrubbery
Edward Ernest Dymond J.P. Oaklands
Mrs Evans, The Cottage
Mrs Farmer, Firdale
Lieut-Col Archibald Cochrane Forster, The Lindens
Miss Good
Henry Paul Harris, The Holt
Miss Henderson, Hillside cottage
Miss Jeudwine, Guise house
Mrs Joplin
John Kemp, Powage
Arthur King M.B., C.M. Westridge
Mrs G. W. Mahon, The Mount
Mrs Malcolm, The White cottage
Rev. James Chadwick Maltby M.A. (rector) The Rectory
Charles Minter
Henry Mordaunt, Sillwood house
Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell K.C.M.G., M.A., The Rookery
John Robinson, Lodge
Mrs Roby
Mrs Seabrook, Grove house
Charles Morden Smith-Trevor J.P., Aspley house
Miss Carter Smith, Aspley house
Miss E. H. Carter Smith, Aspley house
William Smith, Rectory cottage
Miss Thorpe, Mount Pleasant
Mrs Tite
Mrs Twitchell
Lieut-Col Robert Unwin J.P., Avenue house
Henry Veasey
John Gregory White M.D., Avenue lodge
Mrs Wing, Larchfield
COMMERCIAL
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Gas Light & Coke Co. Limited (George Whitman, sec)
James Brandon Barnwell, butcher
John Billington, watch maker
(Mrs) Kitty Britten, Wheatsheaf P.H.
Frederick Brown, bootmaker
Thomas William Brown, boot maker
William Josiah Brown, beer ret. & wheelwright
George Bunyan, plumber &c
Edward Chisnall, boot maker
Sydney James Chisnall, saddler, Post office
John Cook, gardener
Co-operative Stores (Frederick William Hanscomb, manager)
Samuel Daniels, greengrocer
James Day, cabinet maker
Douglas Ellis, farmer and landowner, Hayfield farm
John Everett, beer retailer
Henry Fryer, cowkeeper
John William Goodall, baker and corn dealer
(Mrs) Ann Goodman, grocer
(Mrs) Ann Green, grocer and draper
Alfred James Handscomb, nurseryman
George Handscomb, nurseryman, Mount Pleasant
Henry Hayter, florist and gardener
Miss Charit Higgins, lodging house
Samuel Higgins, brick maker &c
John Thomas Hobbs, farmer, Rectory farm
Thomas Howard, farm bailiff to H. A. Hoare esq. Wavendon, Crabtree farm
John Kemp & Co., printers, bookbinders and publishers
William John Kempster, livery stables
Arthur King M.B., C.M. surgeon & physician, & medical officer & public vaccinator, Aspley & Woburn districts, Woburn union, Westridge
John Large, shoe maker
James Meacham, beer retailer & coal merchant
John Millard, farmer, Manor farm
George Newling, Red Lion P.H. Salford ford
Joseph Perry, shopkeeper
Frank Albert Pickering, butcher
Thomas Pickering, cattle dealer, Chain house
Reading Rooms (S. J. Chisnall, manager)
Isaac Rich, grocer
Francis Scannell, Bell Hotel & posting house
Charles Sinfield, builder, contractor, plumber & house decorator, & hot water apparatus fixer
Charles Spring, builder and contractor
John Watkins Steers, butcher
Joseph Harper Timms, wheelwright & carriage builder
Turney & Sons, wholesale and retail grocers
(Mrs) Kate Usher, dress maker
Richard Walters, blacksmith
George Whitman, house & estate agent & licensed valuer & registrar of marriages, Woburn district
George Martin Whitman, tailor & clothier
Eusabius Woodhams, Anchor inn, & boot maker
Page last updated Mar. 2020.