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Leighton Buzzard and Linslade have always been a little special
and are steeped in history; here are just a few of the little secrets
that encourage our very welcome tourist trade…
We ship sand to Saudi!…
once upon a time, over 100 million years ago, Leighton Buzzard was
underwater. The powerful motion of the current created unique silica
sand whose properties now deliver world leading water filtration.
Uncover the full story… experience the Sands of Time Trail.
Why people settled here…
Water again is the answer. People saw a beautiful “Lestone”
(saxon term for clearing in the woods) near to a ford which crossed
the River Ouzel and thought “mmm this’ll do nicely”.
It first became famous for the peace treaty signed at Yttingaford
(Tiddenfoot) between Saxons and Danes back in 906.
What did the Romans ever do for us?...
Well, they paved one of our more famous British roads - the great
“Watling Street” which ran close to Leighton Buzzard,
(we later applied tarmac and renamed it the A5).
 If
“Lestone” is now “Leighton” what about the
“Buzzard”?... Well it seems that we
were not the only “clearing in the woods” and to differentiate,
a rather immodest clergyman “Theobald de Busar” lent
his name to the town. After many pronunciation evolutions “Lestone
de Busar” became pronounced “Leighton Buzzard”.
The French Connection…
our links with France are many and include our appearance in William
the Conqueror’s Doomsday Book of 1086 but the most significant
is that Plantagenate King Henry II (at a time when we owned a lot
of France) decided to give Leighton to the French! ..to the French
Abbey of Fontevrault to be precise - since then we may have lost
all of our French lands but thankfully we pinched Leighton back
for England.
The Royal Connection… a
sister Abbey, the Royal Manor of Leighton Buzzard was established
in Grovebury (unfortunately no longer in existence). It was owned
and largely farmed by the royal household. Royalty not only stayed
here but used it as the location to sign  State
Papers. It comprised a huge 47 hides and more recently was used
as hunting grounds for King Edward VII.
Pilgrim’s progress and Church
graffiti… During the 15th Century many Pilgrims
used Leighton Buzzard as a staging post; many latter day “Banksy’s”
took the liberty of leaving Graffiti in our church! These now famous
engravings are on display to the public at All Saints Church.
Royal Espionage and Intrigue…
with Royalty often comes intrigue! Christopher Hoddeston
(buried at All Saints Church in Leighton Buzzard) was dispatched
by Elizabeth I to the Russian Court of Ivan the Terrible as a spy
- not quite the promotion he had in mind…but his family remained
Lords of the Manor for 250 years.
The Parliamentary Connections…
the beautiful stained glass windows at Westminster Abbey are built
from Leighton Buzzard sand!
…and Westminster Abbey, surely
not!... Yep, our famous blacksmith, Tom of Leighton
designed and built the famous iron gate.
A famous author… Mary
Norton (of The Borrowers and Bedknobs and Broomsticks fame) was
brought up in the beautiful Cedars House in the town centre.
Famous gestures and memorials…
first are the Alms Houses on North Street provided
for eight widows in 1630 by Alexander Wilkes (grandfather of the
great John Wilkes). Second, the imposing and record breaking granite
memorial for the fallen in World War I which proudly stands in front
of All Saints Church. This is the largest piece of granite ever
extracted in the UK - a fitting memorial for their sacrifice. Third,
the Tesco building has sympathetically maintained the design integrity
of the original Morgan Car Factory which was turned over to building
more than 250 of the famous Vickers Vimy Bomber planes for World
War I.
 The
Graffiti in All Saints Church:
Local legend has it that it depicts the old mid-lent story of Simon
and Nellie and their cake. The story goes, that it was Mothering
Sunday, and Simon and Nellie wanted to bake a special cake for their
children, but being very poor they could only use a piece of dough
and the remains of the Christmas pudding. They then wrapped the
pudding in the dough, but an argument ensued as to whether it should
be "baked" or "boiled". Consequently, as shown
in the scratching, Nellie raised a wooden spoon to make her point,
and Simon was poised to throw the dough at Nellie. In the end they
decided to boil the cake first, and then to bake it afterwards.
Thus was evolved the Sim-Nell cake!
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