Stopsley is a suburb in the north-east of

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

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. The area is roughly bounded by the edge of Luton to the north, Vauxhall Way and Turners Road North to the south, Bradgers Hill to the west, and Cannon Lane, Stapleford Road and Brays Road to the east.

Etymology

Frederick Davis, writing in 1965 believed the name of Stopsley to come from Scrobbale, (in Saxon;) Scrapes or Scroppeslie, (in Norman;) Shrubsley, (in English.;) meaning a hill covered with scrobbes (shrubs or underwood.) Most modern etymologists consider the name to be made up of two elements 'Stopp' and 'ley'. dating between AD 750 and AD 950. The ending comes from the Old English 'leah' meaning a wood or clearing in a wood. 'Stopp' was a personal name and indicated ownership of the wood or clearing. It appears as 'Stopeslegh in Soca de Luton' in a (Latin) law record, dated 1440. Originally a hill-top village settlement, on 1 April 1896 it became 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 ...

, formed from part of the parish of Luton Rural, on 1 April 1933 most of the urbanised part of the parish of Stopsley became part of

when the boundaries were extended, with the rural areas going to Hyde and Streatley with Sharpenhoe. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1474.

Local area

The centre of Stopsley is made up of a variety of shops around a village church. From a distance the skyline is dominated by Jansel House, an office block built in 1961 which houses the Luton

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

office over a

parade of shops A shopping parade, also known as a parade of shops, suburban parade, neighbourhood parade, or just a simply a parade is a group of between five and 40 shops in one or more continuous rows, mostly being retail and serving a local customer base; in ...

at street level. One of Luton's two cemeteries, The Vale, is located nearby on the Hitchin Road.

Politics

Stopsley is part of the larger Stopsley ward which also includes Putteridge and part of Ramridge End. The ward is represented by Cllr David Wynn ( Liberal Democrats) and Cllr Richard Underwood ( Liberal Democrats). The ward forms part of the

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Luton South and the MP is

Rachel Hopkins Rachel Louise Hopkins (born 30 March 1972) is a British Labour politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Luton South and South Bedfordshire, formerly Luton South, since 2019. Hopkins was a Member of Luton Borough Council ...

( Labour Party). Lutonwardmap

Local attractions

Education

Stopsley includes the specialist

Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled sec ...

, Stopsley High School. Notable alumni include professional cricketer

Monty Panesar Mudhsuden Singh "Monty" Panesar (born 25 April 1982) is a former English international cricketer. A left-arm spinner, Panesar made his Test cricket debut in 2006 against India in Nagpur and One Day International debut for England in 2007. In ...

. In the 1960s, Stopsley Infant and Junior School pupils included

Alec Jeffreys Sir Alec John Jeffreys, (born 9 January 1950) is a British geneticist known for developing techniques for genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling which are now used worldwide in forensic science to assist police detective work and to resolve ...

, who went on to discover the DNA genetic fingerprint. He is now Professor of Genetics at Leicester University and was Knighted in 1994. Another pupil, David Renwick, created the television series 'One Foot in the Grave' and 'Jonathan Creek'. Both went on to study at Luton Grammar School and

Luton Sixth Form College Luton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college in the Barnfield, Luton, Barnfield area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. History In 1904 Luton Council acquired the Modern School, which was a mixed-sex secondary school. This school moved into ...

Gallery

Image:Stopsley War Memorial.jpg, Stopsley War Memorial Image:The Sportsman.jpg, The Sportsman Public House in Stopsley Image:Luton Convservative Club.jpg, Luton Conservative Club in Stopsley Image:St.Thomas's.jpg, Parish Church of St.Thomas in Stopsley Image:StopsleyCommon.jpg, Stopsley Common