Brickhill is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

within northern

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The boundaries of Brickhill are approximately Kimbolton Road to the east, Bedford Park and the old Bedford

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

to the south, with Cemetery Hill and the Manton Heights Industrial Estate to the west. The Woodlands Park

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

(off Tyne Crescent) became part of Brickhill parish in 2015.

History

The name 'Brickhill' derives from 'Brickhill

Farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

' which occupied the land before the area was developed. 'Brickhill' may have been a reference to brick-making in the area, as the neighbourhood has a high clay content in its soils. Brick-making used to be a major industry in

(See

Stewartby Stewartby is a model village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W W ...

). The name may also derive from a compound of Brythonic and

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

origins, which is a common occurrence in this part of the country. The Brythonic breg means 'hill', and the Anglo Saxon hyll also means 'hill'. Brickhill Farm was the location of Brickhill House, a 17th-century makeover of a much older manor house. The residence was the seat of the Foster family, and it was in its heyday in the 1820s, when the famous American author,

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

, came to pay court to the daughter of the house, Emily Foster (she turned him down). The house was eventually destroyed by fire in 1946. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

momentum grew in Bedford to plan the re-development of the town from its population of 58,000 to 75,000. This required the provision of a substantial area of land for housing development. At the time, Bedfordshire County Council (who were the planning authority) attempted to pursue

Bedford Borough Council Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The town of Bedford was a borough from at least the 12th century until 1974, when the moder ...

to consider development on areas of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

sub-soil around northern Bedford, and in particular across Brickhill. There initially appeared to be great resistance to this. Traditionally buildings in Bedford had been founded on areas of River Terrace gravels, and it was thought in 1949 that the cost of the foundations excavated into the Boulder Clay/Blue

Oxford Clay The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specific ...

would add approximately £70 to the cost of constructing a house. Since no viable alternative could be found by the Borough they eventually accepted the county's proposals for development of the Brickhill area. Houses in South Brickhill were constructed from 1959. This neighbourhood became the Birds area, with all the streets named after

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s (e.g. Linnet Way,

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

Drive,

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

Road). North Brickhill was developed from 1966, and became the Rivers area, with all the streets named after

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s (e.g. Avon Drive,

Waveney Waveney may refer to: * River Waveney, a river that forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England * Waveney District, a local government district in Suffolk, England * Waveney (UK Parliament constituency) * Waveney class lifeboat, a class ...

Avenue, Tyne Crescent). 'Pilgrim Selective Secondary School' was established on Brickhill Drive in 1962. Originally a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

, it became a comprehensive

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority ...

in the early 1970s and was renamed 'Pilgrims Upper School'. The school was merged with John Howard Upper School in 1986 to form Biddenham Upper School, with the Pilgrim site closing in 1988. The old school site has since been converted to a

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typically ...

called 'The Pilgrim Centre'. Previously an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

, Brickhill was served by an urban

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

from 1993, but since 1 April 2004 it has been a

, with its own parish council. Brickhill is currently the only area of Bedford town that has its own parish council. The Charles Wells

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

called the ''Bird in Hand'' which was located on Brickhill Drive closed in 2011. Charles Wells sold the pub building to

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

who redeveloped it into a Tesco Express store. The opening of the store attracted considerable opposition from local residents and business owners. Woodlands Park is a

that was constructed from the late 2000s, and located directly to the north of Brickhill. Initially the estate was not formally part of the Brickhill parish, but was instead part of the nearby village of

Ravensden Ravensden is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The parish borders the town of Bedford, with Mowsbury Park, farmland and Freeman's Common acting as a buffer between the two settlements. The vi ...

. Woodlands Park formally became part of Brickhill parish in 2015, but remains part of

Great Barford Great Barford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, around north-east of Bedford town centre. It lies on the River Great Ouse at . It is twinned with Wöllstein, Germany. The village is bypassed by the ...

ward (which includes Ravensden) for elections to

Governance

Brickhill Parish Council is made up of 15 elected councillors with cross party representation. Brickhill also elect two borough councillors to Bedford Borough Council and another two specifically for Woodlands Park which, pending a boundary review, currently comes under Great Barford ward.

Economy

There are two parades of shops in the area at which most local businesses are located. The first is found on Brickhill Drive which has a newsagent, a

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

, a small Nisa

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

, a Lloyds Pharmacy, a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

, a garage &

car wash A car wash, or auto wash, is a facility used to clean the exterior, and in some cases the interior, of motor vehicle, cars. Car washes can be #Self-serve car wash, self-service, full-service (with attendants who wash the vehicle), or #Autom ...

, a betting shop and a barber's shop. The second shopping precinct is located on Avon Drive and consists of a small

One Stop Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

supermarket, a newsagent &

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, a fish & chip shop, a

florist Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related s ...

s, a

Coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

betting shop, a garage, a pub called ''The Tiger Moth'', and an Elderly Persons Home called 'Highfield'. Further along Brickhill Drive is The Pilgrim Centre. This small business park houses a number of offices and businesses, including the administrative headquarters of the Harpur Trust. There are a few other smaller businesses and facilities located in Brickhill, most notably a veterinary clinic, located on Linnet Way and the Charles Wells pub called ''The Pheasant'', located on Avon Drive. The Woodlands Park housing estate is currently an entirely residential development, though plans for a shop were included in the planning brief for the area. The older persons residential schemes 'Anjulita Court' and 'Ladyslaude Court' are located on Bramley Way in the area.

Education

Brickhill's School Catchment Area includes three state schools - Brickhill

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

which is on Dove Road, and Scott Primary School which is located on Hawk Drive. St Thomas More Catholic School is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located on Tyne Crescent. For secondary school education, most of Brickhill is in the catchment of Biddenham International School, the remainder is in the catchment of Mark Rutherford School. St Thomas More School does not have a catchment area as it is a Roman Catholic school. Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School is an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

located on Brickhill Drive. This school belongs to the Harpur Trust.

Religious sites

* All Nations Church (formerly Brickhill

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church) is located on Brickhill Drive * St Phillip & St James

Church, located on Severn Way * St Marks

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church, located on Calder Rise, just off Avon Drive * Noah's Ark Church hold Sunday services at Brickhill Community Centre

Community facilities

Brickhill's

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

is located at the Avon Drive shopping parade, as well as a

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

point. There is another recycling point on Brickhill Drive. There are a number of post boxes and telephone boxes throughout the area and a main bus route into Bedford town centre runs through Brickhill. Brickhill has a comparatively high number of open spaces and children's play-parks, including Waveney

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

(situated between Waveney Avenue, Linnet Way and Avon Drive). There is also a large area of allotments as well as Park Wood local nature reserve located off Brickhill Drive. In the Woodlands Park area there is also playing fields and sports changing facilities.

References

External links

Brickhill - Timeline

Brickhill
{{Areas of Bedford Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Areas of Bedford Populated places established in 1959