The Woburn Sands, Aspley Heath and Aspley Guise sections from Kellys Trade Directory 1903:
Woburn Sands, which is on the Bucks border and on the road from Dunstable to Newport Pagnell, is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1867, and comprising the civil parish of Aspley Heath, and parts of the parish of Aspley Guise and Wavendon, the two former being in the southern division of the county, Woburn petty sessional division, Ampthill union, Leighton Buzzard county court district, the latter in the union of Newport Pagnell, Bucks, all in the rural deanery of Fleete, archdeaconry of Bedford and the diocese of Ely. The village has a station on the Bedford and Cambridge branch of the London and North Western railway, 12 miles south-west from Bedford, 4 east from Bletchley, 2½ from Woburn and 50 from London: it is 44 miles from London by road. The church of St. Michael, in Aspley Heath parish, erected in 1868 from designs by Mr. Henry Clutton, architect, is an edifice in the French Gothic style, and 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 A.R.A., F.S.A. at a cost of £2,400, when the chancel was extended and new chancel and nave built on the north side, and transepts and vestries were also added; an oak pulpit with stone base has been presented by Mr. and Mrs. Stuart in memory of four of their children, and an oak lectern by Miss F. A. Stuart, in memory of Mrs. Nicholson. The stained east window was erected in 1889 as a memorial to Mr. W. H. Denison, for 21 years churchwarden, and there is another memorial window to Maud F. Stuart. The reredos, designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield A.R.A. was erected in 1896, as a memorial to Misses C. and E. Pain. The church affords 450 sittings. The register dates from the year 1867. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £160, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, K. G., and held since 1900 by the Rev. Douglas William Henry M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and Particular Baptist 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 800 volumes, and is used for concerts and other village purposes. A Training Home for seven girls was established in 1891, in the parish of Aspley Heath, as a branch of the Girls Training Home at Bedford. 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. Edgebury is the residence of Alfred Allnut esq. and Hardwick House of the Ven. Frederick Bathurst M.A., archdeacon of Bedford. The principal landowners are the Duke of Bedford, K. G., C. Ridgway esq. and Alfred Allnut esq. The area is 1,400 acres; the population in 1901 was 1,740, of which 1,016 are in Bucks.
By Local Government Board Order 15,338. dated 24 June, 1883, Aspley Heath was made a separate civil parish, and by Order 18,187, dated March 25, 1885, part of Wavendon, in Bucks, was added to it. The area is 600 acres; rateable value, £2,309: the population in 1901 was 462.
Parish Clerk, Henry Hebbes.
Post, M. O. & T. O., T. M. O. S. B., E. D., P. P. & A. I. O., Woburn Sands Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Beds added. – John Pikesley, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive at 4.50 a.m. & 12.15 & 4.45 p.m.; dispatched at 10.30 a.m. & 12.15, 8 & 10 p.m.; parcel mail. 10.30 a.m. & 12.15, 5.45 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, the box is cleared at 7 p.m.
Wall Letter Boxes. – near Station, cleared at 11.50 a.m. & 7.25 p.m.; Sundays, 5.15 a.m.; Aspley Heath cleared at 10a.m. & 7.25 p.m.; Sundays, 5.15 p.m.
A School Board of 5 members was formed July 25, 1885, for Aspley Heath & subsequently representatives of the contributory districts of Aspley Guise & Wavendon (Bucks) were added, the former sending two & the latter four members; Francis Smith, 4 Bedford Street, Woburn, clerk to the board, George Newling Attendance Officer.
Board School (mixed & infants), erected in 1868, at the cost of the Duke of Bedford, for 260 children. Average attendance 300. In 1889 a new infants’ school, adjoining the old buildings, was built at the cost of Francis. Duke of Bedford K. G. for 120 children. The mixed school was enlarged in 1897 at a cost of £1,110; the schools now hold 420 children. Frederick George Sharp, master; Miss H. Cheetham, infants’ mistress.
Railway Station, Thomas Atkinson, station master.
Carriers to:- Bedford – Thomas Clarke, wed. & sat Newport Pagnell -Thomas Clarke, tues. & fri.
Woburn Sands
Private Residents
Allnutt, Miss, Lyncroft
Ven. Frederick Bathurst, M. A., Hardwick House
William Bazley, Harefield Cottage
Bermingham, Mrs., Athenry
Bosworth, Miss, Theydon Avenue
Bright, Mrs., Claremont
Burney, Miss., Eaton Lodge
Cautley, Miss., Oakley Lodge
James P. Chapman
Dippie, Mrs
Farmer, Mrs., The Terrace
Charles M. Featherstonhaugh, Prospect Villa
Freeman, Mrs. Toynton
Robert French
Garrett, Miss, Ivy Lawn
Charles Goosey, Lime Villas
Gore, Mrs., Aspley Hill
J. Wright Grant M.B., Woodfield
Green, Miss, Station Road
Harbert, Miss
Harmer, Misses
Rev. Douglas William Henry, M. A. (vicar), Vicarage
Thomas Daniel Hill Holmes, M. D.
Horton, Mrs., Ferndale
James Hudson
Hugh John Jackson, Theydon Avenue
Jackson, Miss
George Lees, Dunsprings
Loke, Miss
Harry Mallam, The Dene
Edward George Miller, Holmdale
Rev. John Holdsworth Morgan, L. L. D., Hillside
Moore, Mrs
Morrison, Mrs., Esperanza
Mumley, Mrs., Stoke Albany
William Needham
Newman, Mrs.
Pain, Misses, Woodlands
Payne, Mrs. Glengyle
Pearce, Miss, Fair View
Rev. Geoffrey Pearce A. R. C. (curate)
Platt, Miss
Rawes, Mrs
Reed, Mrs., Sandy Mount
Roberts, Mrs.
Joseph Sergeant, The Terrace
George Spreckley
Steele, Miss
Strange, Miss
Sutton, Miss, Stoke Albany
Rev. Henry A. Swansborough (Wesleyan Methodist)
Trear, Mrs., Hardwick Road
Tuke, Miss, Lincroft
Vallance, Mrs, The Terrace
Whickman, Mrs
Wilkin, Miss
Commercial (Early closing day, Wednesday)
William Adkins, carter
Frederick Andrew, baker
Gibson Andrews, ironmonger
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Cottage Garden Society (E. G. Miller, secretary)
William Bane, draper
Barclay & Co. Limited bankers (sub-branch), open on friday 11a.m. to 2 p.m.; draw-on head office, 54 Lombard Street E.C.
Benskins Watford Brewery Limited (branch), (Joseph A. Redrup, branch manager) brewers & wine & spirit merchants & brewers at Dunstable; Head office, Watford
George Henry Bizzell, butcher & fishmonger
Edward Boyes, draper & clothier
Edward Brown, dairyman
William Charles Byway, picture frame maker
James Page Chapman, attendance officer for Aspley Guise school board
Alfred Chappell, baker
Robert A. Cheetham, photographer
Thomas Clarke, carrier
John W. Coley, Swan family & commercial hotel cyclists & motorists specially catered for
William George Cooper, cattle dealer
George Day, boot & shoe maker
William Day, shopkeeper
George Dolton, builder
Ellen Dovey (Mrs.), stationer & fancy repository
John Driscoll, plasterer
Charles Dudley, brick & tile manufacturer
Jane Durrant (Miss), dress maker
Arthur George Ellingham hair dresser
Joseph Elliott, draper & clothier
Joshua Emms, watch k clock maker & jeweller &c
Annie Farmer, (Mrs.) apartments
William Faulkner, butcher
Fletton & Co. brick works (John Brown, manager)
Benjamin Garrett, Fir Tree Public House
Arthur Henry & Thomas Giles, joiners
John Giles, steam sawyer
John Giles, junior, lath render
J. Wright Grant, M. B., C. M. surgeon & physician, medical officer & public vaccinator Aspley & Woburn districts, Ampthill union, Woodfield
David Hallworth, boot & shoe maker
David Hammond, saddler & harness maker
George Harris, seedsman and florist
John Harris, coach builder
Holmes & Lane, news agents & refreshment rooms
Thomas Daniel Hill Holmes, M. D., C. M. surgeon, & medical officer, No. 8 district, Newport Pagnell union, see Lucas & Holmes
William John Horton, chemist
Alwyn Edward A. Hudson, plumber & decorator
Alwyn J. Hudson, (Mrs.) draper
William Henry Inwood, tailor & outfitter
Thomas Jackson, market gardener
William Kent, builder
Edward Last, coach builder
London & County Banking Co. Limited (sub-branch), open on fridays 10.30a.m. to 1.30 p.m.; draw on head office, 21 Lombard Street, London E C
Lucas & Holmes, surgeons; & at Woburn
John T. Luttman, Station Hotel
James McMurtrie, cabinet maker
Edward George Miller, printer & bookbinder
Moore & Co., boot & shoe and milliner
National Deposit Friendly Society (Edward George Miller, secretary)
John Negus, grocer & provision dealer, agent for W. & A. Gilbey Limited, wine & spirit merchant
Anne Newling (Mrs.), shopkeeper
P. Phipps & Co. Limited (George Staniford, branch manager), brewers & wine & spirit merchants
John Pikesley, stationer, Post Office
Colour Sergeant. A. Plater, drill instructor, K. Company, 3rd Volunteer Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, The Leys
George E. Popple, ironmonger
John Walter Pratt, butcher
Joseph Rice, blacksmith & horse & trap proprietor
Frederick Jacob Roberts, Weathercock Public House
George Sanders, boot and shoe maker
Henry Saunders, plumber
Eilza Scrivener, (Mrs), apartments
Charlotte Smith (Miss), dress maker
William Smith, carter
James W. Steers, butcher
Edward Alfred Stevens, hair dresser
George Tansley, grocer & glass & china dealer
Mary Ann Thompson, (Miss), apartments
Annie Tomlin, (Mrs.), apartments
Thomas Tompkins, coal, corn, seed & forage merchant, Railway station; & at Woburn & Railway station, Ridgmont
William Brown Toogood, general & milliner
Watkin Brothers, Brick & tile manufacturers
Richard E. Whitlock, chimney sweeper
William Whitlock, chimney sweeper
Maria Wickman (Mrs.) apartments
Frederick Wingrave, grocer & wine & ale merchant
Woburn Sands Permanent Building Society (E. G. Miller, secretary)
Woburn Sands Recreation Club (J. McMurtrie, secretary)
Woburn Sands Village Institute and Reading Room (Edward George Miller, secretary)
Thomas Wodhams, coal & corn merchant
George Woodhams, beer retailer
George William Young, builder
Aspley Heath
Private Residents
Alfred Allnutt, Edgbury
Baker, Miss
Bevan, Mrs. Pine View
William Bradshaw, Alderman’s Place
Charles Cramner, The Mount
Crewdson, Miss, Holmwood
Cross, Mrs, Laperriere
William Charles Cross
Hugh Frazer L. L. D.
John Giles, Alpha Cottage
Rev. Francis Fitzgerald Hort, M. A., The Knoll
John Kemp, Glenside
Macworth, Mrs.
Charles Mann
Rev. Edward Francis Miller, M. A., The Knoll
Miller, Mrs.
James Milne
Mouat, Mrs.
Palmer, Miss
Arthur Charles Plater
Frederick George Sharp
Summerley, Miss
Turney, Mrs., The Limes
Wilkinson, Miss
Commercial
Noah Ambrose, beer retailer
Susannah Baker (Miss), apartments, Montrose Villa
Frederick Bowler, apartments
Edward Brown, dairyman
Charles Featherstonhaugh, rope &c maker
Louisa Freeman (Mrs.), confectioner
Thomas Hallworth, boot &c. maker
Alfred Hopkins, baker
Knoll Preparatory School for Boys (Rev. Edward Francis Miller M.A. & the Rev. Francis Fitzgerald Hort M. A. proprietors), The Knoll
George Mann, apartments
George Newling (Mrs.) grocer
Ann Paternoster, (Mrs.) shopkeeper
John Paul Summerley, joiner
Training Home for Girls (Mrs. Elizabeth Irons, matron)
Joseph Wilson, beer retailer
Aspley Guise
Aspley Guise formerly a town, is a parish and well-built village, a mile and a half from the 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, Woburn petty sessional division, Ampthill union, Leighton Buzzard county court district, 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, with organ chamber and vestry on the north, and a small chapel on the south, cleretorial nave of four bays, aisles and an embattled western tower with crocketed pinnacles and containing a clock and 6 bells; 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; all the windows, twenty-eight in number, are stained; 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 a new peal of 6 bells hung at a cost of £400; the organ was enlarged in 1897, at a cost of £350; in 1890 the church was entirely restored, an organ chamber, vestries and chapel erected, and the interior reseated at a total cost of £2,200; there are sittings for 325 persons. 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: The register dates from the year 1563. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £200, including 86 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford and held since 1880 by the Rev. James Chadwick Maltby M.A. of Keble College, Oxford. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. A new Parish Hall was erected in 1902 at a cost of about £1,700, and will hold about 250 persons; it is available for concerts and public meetings, and has a reading room and other additions for the use of the parishioners. 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 Mrs. Unwin. Avenue Lodge of the Misses Orlebor, and the Red House of John Burton-Barrow esq., J.P., M.A.; all these are approached by an avenue of Scotch pine dating from the Battle of Culloden (1746). Aspley House, the residence of Lieut-Col. C. V. S. Downes J.P. was built about 1690 from designs, it is said, of Sir Christopher Wren; nearly all the rooms are panelled throughout, and the house contains some fine portraits of the Hervey and Chernocke families. Oaklands, the residence of E. E. Dymond esq. J.P., D.L. commands a lovely view of Woburn and its park. The Holt is the residence of Stanley Harris esq. J.P.. The Duke of Bedford, K.G., F. Moody esq. who is lord of the manor, Major C. V. S. Downes, Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare bart. of Stourhead, Bath, George Annesley Derville Mahon esq John Gregory White M.D. Mrs Selina Ellis, Stanley Harris esq and the rector are chief landowners.
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 1896 acres of land and 3 of water; rateable value £6,300; the population in 1901 was; civil 1,251; ecclesiastical 1,010. 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, T.M.O., S.B., E.D., P.P. & A. & L.O. (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Beds added) Sydney James Chisnall, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Bletchley at 5 a.m. and 12.35 and 5.5 p.m.; dispatched 10.5 11.50 a.m. & 4.15, 7.45 & 10 p.m.; Sundays at 10.10 a.m. Sunday, open from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for sale of stamps & telegraph business.
Wall Letter Boxes, Duke Street & Mount Pleasant, cleared at 11.30 a.m. & 5.30 p.m. week days only.
A School Board of 5 members was formed April 12 1879; Fras. Smith, 4 Bedford street, Woburn, 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 131; George H. Taylor, master.
Conveyances – Omnibus (from Bedford Arms, Woburn) to & from Woburn Sands station, meeting all trains.
CARRIERS:
Tomkins, to Woburn, daily.
Joseph Rice, from Woburn Sands to Leighton & Woburn, tues.
Thomas Clarke, from Woburn Sands to Bedford, sat.; & to Newport Pagnell, tues and fri.
William Beesley, from Woburn to Bedford, wed & sat.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS
Mrs Bacchus, Wood lane
John Barrow Burton M.A., J.P., The Red house
Robert Lewis Brander M.B., C.M., Grant cottage
Miss Burrell, The Laurels
Miss Courtney, Grasmere
Mrs. Crisp, Wood lane
Lieu-Col C. Villiers S. Downes J.P., Aspley house
Edward Ernest Dymond J.P., D.L., Oaklands
Alfred T. S. Farquharson, Pine Ridge
Maj-Gen Reginald Onslow Farmer, B.A., Grove house
Mrs. Farmer, Firdale
Miss Fitzroy, Wood lane
Cecil Grimshaw, Woodcote
Misses Hamilton, Woodside
Stanley Harris J.P., The Holt
Miss Philpot Jones, Woodville house
Miss Keens, Mentone avenue
William Large, West street
Mrs Laws, Inglewood
Mrs Macfarlane, The Shrubbery
George Annesley Derville Mahon J.P., The Mount
Lawrence Malcolm, The White cottage
Rev. James Chadwick Maltby M.A. (rector) The Rectory
Charles Minter, Caxton house
Charles John Minter, Caxton house
Henry Mordaunt, Sillwood house
Thomas Newitt
Misses Orlebar, The Avenue lodge
Mrs Roby
Col.-Sargeaunt Robert, Westridge
Miss Carter Smith, The Hoo
Miss Sparry, Hollydale
Miss Swann, Holly cottage
William Tetley, Wood lane cottage
Charles Matthew Turney, Mount Pleasant
Mrs. Unwin, Avenue house
Henry Veasey
Miss Westoby, The Rookery
Miss Westrop, Lodge
Miss White, Station road
Surtees George Wilkinson, Mentone avenue
Howard Williams, Mount Pleasant
The Misses Wing, Larchfield
COMMERCIAL
William Charles Adams, Red Lion P.H.
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Gas Light & Coke Co. Limited (George Whitman, sec)
John Atterbury, beer retailer
James Brandon Barnwell, butcher
John Billington, watch maker
Charles Bishop, Bell P.H.
Robert Lewis Brander M.B., C.M. physician & surgeon, Grant cottage
Frederick Brown, bootmaker
Thomas William Brown, boot maker
Edward Brown, farmer, Rectory farm
Sydney James Chisnall, saddler, Post office
Henry Cook, jobbing gardener
John Cook, jobbing gardener
Thomas C. Cooke, gardener to Lieut-Col. C. Villiers S. Downes J.P.
John Cooper, farmer, Hayfield farm
Mrs Charlotte Crabb, apartments, East end
Frederick Harris Day, grocer
Thomas Day, builder and undertaker
John Everett, beer retailer
Henry Fryer, cowkeeper & assistant overseer
John William Goodall, baker, confectioner & corn dealer
Mrs Martha & Jesse & Henry Gurney, farmers, Crabtree farm
Alfred James Handscomb, nurseryman
George Handscomb, nurseryman, Mount Pleasant
Mrs Eliza Harriet Handscomb, dressmaker and registry office for servants
William Harris, farmer, Malting farm
Henry Hayter, florist & gardener
Henry Hayter, beer retailer & carpenter
Miss Charlotte Higgins, apartments
Samuel Higgins, brick maker &c
Frederick Hutton, builder, Wood lane
John Kemp & Co. Ltd, printers, bookbinders and publishers
William Lane, beer retailer
Harry Lawson, Wheatsheaf P.H.
John Millard, farmer & sanitary inspector& surveyor, Woburn Rural District Council, Manor farm
Charles Minter, secretary to Powage Press Limited
John Odell, farmer, Aspley Hall farm
Joseph Perry, shopkeeper, Mount Pleasant
Frank Albert Pickering, butcher
The Powage Press Ltd printers, bookbinders and publishers
Mrs Elizabeth Rich, grocer
George Roberts, fishmonger
Charles Sinfield, builder & contractor
John Smith, plumber
Edwin Spring, joiner & undertaker
George W. Taylor, waggonette proprietor
Joseph Harper Timms, wheelwright
John Turney, grocer & draper
Mrs. Kate Usher, dressmaker
Richard Walters, blacksmith
Henry Wilkins, grocer
George Whitman, house & estate agent & licensed valuer & registrar of marriages, Woburn district
George Martin Whitman, tailor & clothier
Page last updated Mar. 2020.