Husborne Crawley
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Husborne Crawley is a small village and
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 ...
in Bedfordshire, England, located close to Junction 13 of the
M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...
. The village touches the borders of the
Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...
estate on one side, and the village of
Aspley Guise Aspley Guise is a village and civil parish in the west of Central Bedfordshire, England. In addition to the village of Aspley Guise itself, the civil parish also includes part of the town of Woburn Sands, the rest of which is in the City of Milt ...
on the other. The meaning of the Husborne element of the towns name is "warrior stream" and the Crawley element means "crow clearing". It appears as Hussheburn Crawele, in 1421.


Village

In the 1870s Crawley-Husborne was described as "a parish in Woburn district, Beds; on the Bedford and Bletchley railway, ¾ mile SW of Ridgmount r. station, and 1¾ NNE of Woburn." St. James' Church which is located on School Lane, is the parish church of St. Mary, with work on the church being dated as early as the 13th century. The church has a tower with three bays, western tower with six chiming bells and clock face, and has been subject to various changes throughout its history, with one of the most substantial changes occurring at around the 15th century. It has a nineteenth-century
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
in its own grounds, known as Crawley Park. The Crawley Park estate is privately owned, and features some preserved and listed wooden-framed medieval cottages. The village also has The White Horse
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, which is described as "A substantial corner pub on the main road through the village, it consists of a single U-shape room wrapped around a central bar counter along with some outside picnic benches". Other amenities in the village include Husborne Crawley
Lower School Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educa ...
which was built by The Duke of Bedford in 1867, and was set up to ensure that the poorer families who worked on the estates, could have educated children. Husborne Crawley also has a
village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...
, called "The Reading Room", which is used by the community for meetings, social gatherings and parties.


History

The parish is first mentioned in a document of 969 setting out the boundaries of
Aspley Guise Aspley Guise is a village and civil parish in the west of Central Bedfordshire, England. In addition to the village of Aspley Guise itself, the civil parish also includes part of the town of Woburn Sands, the rest of which is in the City of Milt ...
, by its original name of Hysseburnan. Within the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
which was commissioned by
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
(1066–1087), found that the parish of Husborne Crawley was divided into two manors. The parish was still considered two areas in the Middle Ages, one called Crawley and the other Husborne Crawley, the first was considered to be in the south part of the parish and the other to be the northern part. The parish of covers an area of 1,610½ acres, with a large portion (863 acres) of it being open grassland and also a large amount of arable land (414 acres).


Population

Husborne Crawley has a population of 237 according to the 2011 census. Increasing from a population of 217 according to the 2001 census. From the graph, the total population has changed large amounts for a small parish, decreasing more recently possibly due to people moving closer to larger local areas such as
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
, Leighton-Linslade or
Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fou ...
as they are the larger settlements in the area. There are some gaps in the information as none was available, however clearly there has been a general decrease until very recently where the population has increased again. The changes have not been large enough and are more gradual to be from an event that might alter populations rapidly.


Economy

The population and their occupations have changed vastly over time, as land use has changed and as the demographic of the population has changed also. From the occupations shown in the graph of 1881, they were mostly employed in agriculture and manufacturing, with very few of the occupants having jobs with professional titles, or working in offices or commercial companies. The population as of 2011 had occupations that are more professional, office workers, and managers. The occupations that require manual labour still exist but are often more skilled trades or machine operators. Throughout the history of the parish its main industry has been agriculture, yields crops of wheat, barley and beans come from the areas very rich soil base.


Transport

The
M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...
is Husborne Crawley's main transport infrastructure, and is about one mile north-east on the Bedford Road heading eastbound from a roundabout due north of the village, accessible via the roundabout system at junction 13. Here, the Bedford Road also goes north to meet the A421 at a roundabout, which goes north-west to reach
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
, and north-east to reach
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 ...
, the centres of which are about away, and away respectively. Husborne Crawley is served by
Ridgmont railway station Ridgmont is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is located beside junction 13 of the M1 motorway, and close to Milton Keynes and Woburn Abbey. The 2001 census states the total population to be 418,London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...
trains serve the station, which also acts as a transport route for workers at an
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
warehouse which is located on the other side of the M1. There are 7 local bus services that run from Husborne Crawley, the largest operator is
Centrebus Centrebus Limited, trading as Centrebus, is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Centrebus hold a 51% shareholding in High Peak Buses a ...
which operates three of the seven main services.


Geology

The geology of Husborne Crawley is made up of greensand sandstone, although there are areas of mudstone layered within the sandstone which is part of the
Oxford Clay Formation 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 ...
. The soil is therefore mostly sandy and partially clay, with some smaller areas of mixed soil including; sand, alluvium, gravel, clay and silt.


References


External links


Husborne Crawley pages
at the
Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service is a county record office, holding archival material associated with Bedfordshire and Luton. Established in 1913 by George Herbert Fowler (1861-1940) as the Bedfordshire Record Office, it w ...
{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District