Slip End is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created in 2009. Formation Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedford ...

, England. The village is located very near to

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

. As well as the village of Slip End, the parish contains the hamlets of

Lower Woodside Lower Woodside is a hamlet in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The settlement lies north of Aley Green and south-west of Woodside. Lower Woodside forms part of the wider Slip End civil parish, and is close to the coun ...

Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia *Woodside, South Australia, a town *Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada *Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighborho ...

and

Pepperstock Pepperstock is a small village located in Central Bedfordshire, England. The village itself mostly consists of residential caravan parks. However, Pepperstock displays an interesting range of vernacular buildings, most notably in the form of 16th ...

. In 2001 it had a population of 1,976, reducing to 1,831 at the 2011 Census. The name of Slip End possibly has a connection with brickworks. '' Slip'' is an old English word for

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

and ''End'' is a common part of place names in Bedfordshire and not unknown in other counties. ''End'' refers to small settlements outside larger villages. It is, therefore, possible that Slip End was named in the early 19th century because of the small number of houses built near the new brickworks in an area not previously developed with the older settlements of Woodside and Pepperstock to either side. Nearby Markyate has a ''Slype Lane'' which may or not be connected. Another plausible explanation is that 'the slip' in fact is a very deep deposit of clay, situated between the stratas of chalk which form the bedrock of Central Bedfordshire. The southerly extremity of the slip terminates at the appropriately named Slip End.

History

The school in Slip End was located towards the Pepperstock end of Front Street and Summer Street, and is now the site of a small development of flats and houses called ''Old School Walk''. It was a

board school School boards were public bodies in England and Wales between 1870 and 1902, which established and administered elementary schools. School boards were created in boroughs and parishes under the Elementary Education Act 1870 following campaigni ...

established as after the Education Act 1870 providing education to all. The school catered for the whole age range in two sections – juniors and infants – and in 1947 it was extended to 15‑year‑olds. A century after its foundation, the school moved to its present site on Rossway which previously had been clay pits for local brick production. The school is now a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, and caters for ages to 11 years. The parish was created in 2001 by splitting that of Caddington and Slip End. The

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, whic ...

runs adjacent to the village and was officially inaugurated from Slip End. This is celebrated by a large concrete slab on the bridge next to the village with the inscription:Image of slab
/ref> :::

Local amenities

The village hall, built circa 1901, has parking for 40 cars and an entertainment licence for 100 for dancing or up to 200 for a meeting. The Peter Edwards Hall and Playing Fields are situated at the Luton end of the village, next to the church. Facilities include tennis courts and a football pitch. There are two pubs in the village, "The Rising Sun" on Front Street and the "Frog and Rhubarb" on Church Road.

References

External links

Parish CouncilSlip End Village websiteSlip End pages
at the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service {{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Brickworks in the United Kingdom Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District