The Woburn Sands, Aspley Heath and Aspley Guise sections of Kellys Trade Directory of 1910:

 

WOBURN SANDS

Woburn Sands, which is on the Bucks border and on the road from Dunstable to Newport Pagnell, in an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1867, and comprises the civil parish of Aspley Heath and part of the parish of Aspley Guise. By Local Government Board Order, dated 27 the December, 1906, that part of Wavendon formerly in this parish was detached from it. The parish is in the Southern division of the county, Woburn petty sessional division, Ampthill union, Leighton Buzzard county court district, in the rural deanery of Fleete, archdeaconry of Bedford and 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 north-west from Woburn and 50 from London; it in 44 miles from London by road.  Water and sewage works are now (1910) being constructed by the Ampthill and Newport Pagnell Rural District Councils, at an estimated cost of  £20,000. The new reservoir at Bow Brickhill Heath will hold 390,000 gallons; the pumping station is in this parish. The church of St. Michael, at Aspley Heath, 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 BlumfieId 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 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. Six almshouses were erected by the late Frederick W. Down in 1902 for aged people of the parish. A Training Home for seven girls was established in 1891, in the parish of Aspley Heath, as a branch from the Girls’ Training Home at Bedford. The Daneswood Jewish Sanatorium for Consumptives was opened on June 25th, 1903, and is pleasantly situated in the parish of Aspley Heath. 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 Allnutt esq. The principal landowners are the Duke of Bedford K. G., C. Ridgway esq. and Alfred Allnutt esq. The area is 1,400 acres, including 600 acres for Aspley Heath; about 450 acres is woodland; rateable value, £6,056; the population in 1901 was 1,749, of which 1,036 are in Bucks.

Aspley Heath is a civil parish, formed by Local Government Board Order 15,338, dated 24 June, 1883. By Order 18,187, dated March 25. 1885, part of Wavendon, in Bucks, was added to it. The area is 600 acres; rateable value, £2,539; The population in 1901 was 462.

Parish Clerk, Henry Hebbes.

Post: M. O. & T. & Telephonic Express Delivery Office Woburn Sands (letters should have Beds added).- John Pikesley, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive at 4.15 a.m. & 12.10 & 4.45 p.m.; delivered at 7 a.m. & 12.35 & 5p.m. dispatched at 10.20 a.m. &. 12.20, 3, 5.45, 8 & 10 p.m.; parcel mail, 10.20 a.m. & 12.15, 3, 5.45 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, office open from 8.30 to 10 a.m.; the box is cleared at 7.25 pm

Wall Letter Boxes.- Station Road, cleared at 12.10, 1 & 7.40 p.m.; Sundays, 12.40 p.m.; Aspley Heath (near church), cleared at 10 a.m. & 1 & 7.30 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m.; Church wall, cleared at 10.5 a.m. &. 1 & 7.25 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m.; The Leys, cleared at 10 a.m. & 1.30 & 7.30 p.m.; Theydon Avenue, 12.10, 1 & 7.40 p.m.; sundays, 5.15 p.m.

Council School (mixed & infants), erected in 1868, at the cost of the 9th Duke of Bedford, for 260 children. 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 500 children; average attendance, 300; Frederick George Sharp, head master; Miss H. Cheetham, infants’ mistress. Also an Intermediate Evening school, held from September to April, & is now (1910) being attended by 72 students; Frederick George Sharp, principal

Railway Station, Frederick William Parker, station master

Carriers to: Bedford – Walter Barker, wed. & sat; Newport  Pagnell – Waller Barker,  tues. & fri; Leighlon Buzzard – Charles Gooding, tues. & fri.

Private Residents
Allbutt, Miss, Lingeroft
John Barker, Station Road
William Henry Bazley
Arthur Boyes, Theydon Lodge
Robert Lewis Brander, M. B., Woodfield
Burney, Miss, Eaton Lodge
Cautley, Miss, Oakley Lodge
Chapman, Mrs., Theydon Avenue
Robert A. Cheetham, Stoke Albany
Fanner, Mrs., The Terrace
Charles M. Featherstonhaugh, Prospect Villa
Charles Jacinth Bellairs Gaskoin, Greenwood Cottage
Herman Gaskoin, Mrs., Greenwood Cottage
Edward Glaisyer, Ivy Lawn
Green, Miss, The Laurels, Station Road
Green, Mrs., Avenue Lodge
Harris, Miss, Hillside
Harmer, Misses
Rev. Douglas William Henry M.A. (vicar), Vicarage
Thomas Daniel Hill Holmes, M. D.
Thomas Hudson
Irving, Miss
Hugh John Jackson, Theydon Avenue
Marshall Jackson, Miss, Elm Lodge
Lakin, Miss, Athenry
George Charles Gostelow Lockhart, J. P., The Dene
Arthur Litton McIntire, Lynwood
Edward George Miller, York Cottage
Moore, Mrs
Morrison, Mrs., Esperanza
Arthur Holme Mowbray, Hardwicke house
William Needham
Pain, Miss, Woodlands
Payne, Mrs., Glengyle
Harold George Peel, Sandy Mount
Perkins, Mrs., Wroxhill
Platt, Miss
Rawes, Mrs
Reed, Mrs. Ashleigh
Sergeant, Mrs., The Terrace
George Spreckley
Steele, Miss
Walter B. Stonebridge
Thompson, Miss
Tuck, Miss, North Holt
Tuke, Miss, Lingcroft
Wilson, Mrs., Ferndale

Hand coloured card of The Swan
From a postcard used in 1910. Swan and High Street

COMMERCIAL – Early closing day, Wednesday.
Noah Ambrose, shopkeeper
Gibson Andrews, ironmonger
George Hensman Archer, Weathercock Public House
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Cottage Garden Society (Sam J. Southwood, secretary)
Barclay & Company Ltd. bankers (sub-branch), open on monday & friday 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.; draw on head office, 54 Lombard Street E C
John Barker, horse dealer
Walter Barker, carrier
John Barton, coal & corn merchant
Ernest Frank Bathurst, chemist, High Street
William Henry Bazley, wheat dressing
Benskin’s Watford Brewery Limited (branch), brewers
Wilkie Bliss, coal merchant, Railway station
Thomas Henry Brill, dairy, Station Road
Robert Lewis Brander M. B., C. M. Aberdeen, physician & surgeon, medical officer &; public vaccinator Aspley & Woburn districts, Ampthill union & certifying factory surgeon, Woodfield
Edward Brown, dairyman
William Charles Byway, picture frame maker
A. Cattell, boot & shoe maker
Robert A. Cheetham, photographer
Agnes Mary Coleman (Miss), confectioner
E. Collins (Miss), shopkeeper
William George Cooper, cattle dealer
George Collins, tailor, High Street
Reginald Herbert Dennis, cycle maker; agent to all the best makers, Station Road
Ellen Dovey, (Mrs.), fancy repository
Erasmus George Dovey, watch & clock maker, see Emms & Dovey
John Driscoll, plasterer
Dudeney & Johnston Limited, grocer provision merchants
Charles Dudley, brick & tile manufacturer
Jane Durrant (Miss), dress maker
Eastman’s Limited, butchers
Eastwood & Co. Limited, brick works
Wilfred Edgington, fishmonger, see Wooding & Edgington
Arthur George Ellingham, hair dresser
Emms & Dovey, watch & clock makers
Annie Farmer (Mrs.), apartments
Elizabeth Foster (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Benjamin Garratt, Fir Tree family commercial hotel; cyclists & motorists specially entered for. See advertisement
Sarah Gibling (Miss), refreshment rooms see Pratt & Gibling
Henry Giles & Son, lath renders
Charles Gooding, carrier & shopkeeper
Ernest Ambrose Gregory, antique dealer
Ernest Gregory (Mrs,), dress maker
Thomas Gregory, carpenter
David Hallworth, boot & shoe maker
David Hammond, saddler & harness maker
Robert Thomas Hammond, Swan Hotel
William Harrington, draper
Charles P. Hobbs, butcher
Holmes & Smith, surgeons
Thomas Daniel Hill Holmes, M. D., C. M. Edinburgh, surgeon & medical officer No. 8 district, Newport Pagnell union (firm Holmes & Smith); & at Woburn
Sarah Ann Homans (Mrs,) greengocer
Alfred Hopkins, baker
William Henry Inwood, tailor & outfitter
Thomas Jackson, market gardener
William Jakeman, saddler
H. Jones & Co., Grocers & provision dealers
William Kent, builder
Edward Last, coach builder
London County & Westminster Bank Limited (sub-branch), open on Mondays & fridays 10.30a.m. to 1.30p.m.; draw on head office, 21 Lombard Street, London, E C
John T. Luttman, Station Hotel
James McMurtrie, house furnisher
Drew Medcalfe, fly proprietor
Edward George Miller, printer & bookbinder
Moore & Co., boot & shoe makers & milliners
National Deposit Friendly Society (Edward George Miller, secretary)
Harriet Newling (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Frederick W. Parker, station master
Fred Pikesley, cycle agent, High Street
John Pikesley, stationer, Post Office
John Pikesley, junior, news agent & assistant overseer, High Street
George Frederick Pitt, hair dresser, Station Road
George E. Popple, ironmonger
Pratt  & Gibling, refreshment rooms, Station Road
John Walter Pratt, butcher
Joseph Rice & Sons, blacksmiths
John Arthur Roberts, fishmonger
Sadd, Miss, milliner
Joseph John Scrivener, cycle maker
Henry Sear, coal merchant, Wood Street
W. H. Smith & Son, news agents
Charles Charnock Smith M. R. C. S., L. R. C. P., J. P. surgeon (firm, Holmes & Smith)
Charlotte Smith (Miss), apartments
South Bedfordshire Branch of the R. S. P. C. A. (Woburn Sands branch) (Miss M. Gaskoin, honourary secretary), Greenwood Cottage
Stonebridge & Foll, land agents
George Tansley, glass & china dealer
James William Tansley, grocer
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 draper
George Page Turney, grocer, High Street
Edward John Tyers, plumber, Wood Street
George Walter Wells, confectioner
Fred Whitlock, chimney sweeper
Charles S. Whitmee, dairyman
George Wigley & Sons, estate agents
John Williams, beer retailer
Woburn Sands Permanent Benefit Building Society (E. G. Miller, secretary)
Woburn Sands District Co-operative Society Limited  (stores)
Woburn Sands Men’s Club (J. McMurtrie, secretary)
Woburn Sands Village Institute (Edward George Miller, secretary)
Thomas Wodhams, coal & corn merchants
Wooding & Edgington, fishmongers, High Street
John York, baker
George William Young, builder

Brills Dairy Cart
Brill’s Dairy cart, Woburn Sands

 

ASPLEY HEATH

Private Residents
Alfred Allnutt, Edgebury
Arthur Thomas Bailey, Forest Hurst
Alfred H. Beeching, The Mount
Rev. Hugh Basil Brown, Th. Assoc. K. C. L. (curate of St. Michael’s), Montrose
Crewdson, Miss, Homewood
Edward Hart, Glenside
Hubert Rymer Hinge, Fairview
Rev. Francis Fitzgerald Hort M. A. The Knoll
Rev. Edward Francis Miller M. A. The Knoll
Miller, Miss, Velindre
Palmer, Miss
Alfred William Pettit, Croyland
Arthur Charles Plater, Silverbirch
Spinney, Mrs. Melbury
Percy Malcolm Stewart J. P., Aspley Heath House
Summerley, Miss
Turney, Miss, The Limes
Rev. Henry George Watts M. A., The Wilderness
Wilkinson, Miss, Hillside
Woods, Miss, Firdale

Commercial
Susannah Baker (Miss), apartments, Montrose Villa
Edward Brown, dairyman
William Frank Cremack, butcher
Daneswood Jewish Sanatorium for Consumptives (Miss Rose Jacob, honourary secretary; Miss Helen M. Brown, matron)
William George Griggs, assistant land agent to Edward Hurt esq., Thornbank
David Henman, decorator, Woodside
Alwyn Edward A. Hudson, decorator
Knoll Preparatory School for Boys (Rev. Edward Francis Miller M. A. & the Rev. Francis Fitzgerald Hort M. A. proprietors), The Knoll
Hannah Esther Mann (Mrs.), apartments
Harry Seabrook, beer retailer
George Edward Simmons, gardener to Edward Hart esq., The Laurels
John Paul Summerley, joiner
Training Home for Girls (Miss Mary Sharp Gatt, matron)
Fred Tyres, apartments, Southwood
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, clerestoried 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, and rural dean of Fleete. 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 Lodge is the residence of J. Gregory White esq. M.D.;, the Red House of John Burton Barrow esq., M.A., J.P.; Aspley House, the residence of Mrs Villiers Downes, 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. The Rookery, the residence of Miss V. Studley Westoby, occupies a high position, with charming views. Oaklands, the residence of Mrs Dymond commands a lovely view of Woburn and its park. The Duke of Bedford, K.G., F. Moody esq. who is lord of the manor, Mrs Villiers Downes, Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare bart. of Stourhead, Bath, John Gregory White M.D., Mrs Selina Ellis, Stanley Harris esq., J.P. 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 1,896 acres of land and 3 of water; rateable value £6,641; the population in 1901 was; civil 1,261; 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. Office. (letters should have Beds added) Sydney James Chisnall, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Bletchley at 4.27 a.m. and 12.35 and 5.10 p.m.; dispatched 10.5 & 11.55 a.m. & 4.25, 7.50 & 10.20 p.m.; Sundays at 8.30 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 11.45 a.m. & 7.20 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.

Council School (mixed and infants) built about 1850, for 199 children; average attendance 120; George H. Taylor, master.

Conveyances – Omnibus from Aspley Guise to & from Woburn Sands station, meeting all trains.

CARRIERS:
Joseph Rice, from Woburn Sands to Leighton & Woburn, tues.
Walter Barker, from Woburn Sands to Bedford, sat.; & to Newport Pagnell, tues and fri.

PRIVATE RESIDENTS
John Burton Barrow M.A., J.P., The Red house
Frederick Bathurst, M.A., Grove house
Harry Brigden, Station road
Miss Burrell, The Laurels
Capt. Herbert Coombe, Belbroughton
Mrs. Crisp, Wood lane
Mrs Villiers Downes, Aspley house
Mrs Dymond, Oaklands
Mrs. Farmer, Firdale
Edward Fisher, Stanley villa
Miss Fitzroy, Wood lane
George Herbert Fowler, Avenue house
Rev. George Alfred Foyster, M.A., Guise house
Misses Hamilton, Woodside
Stanley Harris J.P., The Holt
Frederick William Lashery, Woodside
Miss Laws, Grasmere
Mrs Laws, Inglewood
Mrs Macfarlane, The Shrubbery
Miss Mahon, The Mount
Rev. James Chadwick Maltby M.A. (rector & rural dean) The Rectory
John Marshall Miles, Larchfield
Charles Minter, Caxton house
Harry Mordaunt, The Lodge
Mrs Orchard, The Limes
Thomas Preston, Woodside
Joseph Henry Renton, Woodcote
Bernard Russell, The Pines
Col. R. A. Sargeaunt, (late R.E.) Westridge
Miss Swain, Woodside cottage
Miss Timmins, Holly cottage
Henry Veasey F.R.C.S.
Misses Walker, Pine ridge
Henry Bernard West, Woodville
Miss V. Studley Westoby, The Rookery
Gregory White, M.D. The Avenue
Surtees George Wilkinson, Mentone avenue
Howard Williams, Mount Pleasant

COMMERCIAL
Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Gas Light & Coke Co. Limited (Henry Boon, sec)
James Brandon Barnwell, butcher
John Billington, watch maker
Charles Bishop, Bell P.H.
Edward Brown, farmer, Rectory farm
Thomas William Brown, boot maker
John Cave, dairyman
Sydney James Chisnall, saddler, Post office
John Cooper, farmer, Hayfield farm
William Coopey, beer retailer
Mrs Charlotte Crabb, apartments, Bedford road
Day & Co., grocers
Thomas Day, builder and undertaker
Albert Newman Evans, grocer
Mark Fleet, builder, Mount Pleasant
Frederick Fryer, assistant overseer
Mrs Henry Fryer, cowkeeper
John William Goodall, baker
Stanley Harris, farmer, Malting farm
John H. Hines, omnibus proprietor
Charles P. Hobbs, butcher
Edward Jerham, beer retailer
George William Kilpin, beer retailer
Andrew Lane, Red Lion P.H.
William Lane, beer retailer
William H. Line, farmer, Aspley Hall farm
John Millard, farmer
The Powage Press Limited (Charles Minter, sec.)
Mrs Elizabeth Rich, grocer
Alfred Sibley, gardener to G. H. Fowler esq., The Avenue
Charles Sinfield & Sons, builders & contractors
John Smith, plumber
Thomas Smith, farm bailiff to Thomas Waite esq., Crabtree farm
South Bedfordshire Branch of the R.S.P.C.A.) Miss V. Studley Westoby, hon. sec.), The Rookery
Frederick Spring, joiner & undertaker
John Turney, grocer & draper
Charles William Westcott, gardener to Mrs Villiers Downs
George Martin Whitman, house & estate agent; licensed valuer & private tailor

 

Page last updated Dec. 2021.