Town History
All Saints Church
The 13th century edifice of All Saints Church is the second church to stand on this site. The most striking part of the church as you approach it is the spire, which juts upward to a height of 190 feet. The sundials are from the 16th century, though the gargoyles cavorting about the exterior were added in mid-Victorian times.
Before entering the church, spare a glance for the west door. The wood of the door is modern, but the fanciful iron braces are original 13th century, created by Thomas of Leighton, who was also responsible for the screen at the tomb of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Cathedral.
In the interior, the eagle lecturn is worth noting; it dates to the original building of the church in the 13th century, and is one of the earliest of this common lecturn motif in England.
All Saints was badly damaged by a fire in 1985, but has been sympathetically restored, and the 15th century nave roof, with its carved wooden angels, has been returned to its former glory. The roof was the gift of Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk, who owned Leighton manor from 1465-75.
All Saints is the starting point for the annual Wilkes Walk, a curious procession of the church choir, clergy, and churchwardens across town to the alms houses in North Street. Here a short service is held, and 10 shillings dispensed to the inhabitants of the alms houses, after the will of Edward Wilkes, 17th century benefactor of the houses, is read.
Following the orders of Wilke's son, a member of the choir is up-ended, presumably to ensure that people pay attention and remember the ceremony and his father's generosity! Then buns and lemonade are dispensed to the choir. Details and ceremony dates from the All Saints web site.
The Barron Knights
The Barron Knights, a British humorous pop group were formed in 1959 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire as The Knights of the Round Table. They became the Barron Knights on 5th October 1960.
Doomsday Survey
In the Doomsday Survey of 1086, compiled by the Normans, The Leighton Buzzard Manor is described as being land belonging to the Crown. Leighton Buzzard is also mentioned as having a weekly market, revealing that it may have been a fairly large town even then. Henry II gave most of the Leighton Buzzard Manor to the Abbey of Fontevrault in a town called Anjou in France. During the 13th to the 14th Century, A Priory was established at Grovebury which had a great influence on the town during this time. In the 1200's St. Mary's Church in Old Linslade was the centre point of a village. In 1251, the church was given a weekly market, and even a yearly fair. It was common at that time for pilgrims to come to see the church's holy well, until 1299 when the Bishop of Lincoln forbid pilgrims from visiting the well "on pain of excommunication".
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal travels through Leighton Buzzard on its way from Birmingham to London. The Grand Union Canal Walk follows the banks of the canal, which was once one of the busiest waterways in the country.
Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery of 1963, one of the most infamous robberies in British history, took place just outside Leighton Buzzard.
On 8th August 1963 at 03:03 at Sears Crossing, two miles south of Leighton Buzzard Station, a fifteen strong gang held up a Royal Mail train making its way from Glasgow to London. They looted a total of £2.3 million in used bank notes (approx. £40 million in today's money).
The gang were dressed in overalls and used false signals to stop the train and boarded claiming to be railway workers. They broke into the sorting coach and rapidly transferred 120 sacks of money onto a lorry waiting under the crossing.
They laid low at a hideout in Leatherslade, Oxfordshire playing monopoly and drinking tea. After they became aware the police were closing in on them they scattered. The police rounded them up and used fingerprints from the teacups and monopoly pieces to convict them.
The gang was tried in Aylesbury and all received sentences of between 20 and 30 years.
High Street Fire
In 1645 a fire broke out in the High Street and a petition was sent to the government asking for money to rebuild their houses. Even so, the town continued to grow and develop throughout the 18th Century.
Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo, a British pop band was originally founded in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, in 1979, as a four-piece avant-garde instrumental group, called Art Nouveau, with Nick Beggs on bass guitar, Steve Askew on lead guitar, Stuart Croxford Neale on keyboards, and Jez Strode (born Jeremy) on drums. Art Nouveau released a track called "The Fear Machine". The single sold a few hundred copies, and was played on the John Peel show, but the band could not get a record deal.
In 1981, they advertised for, and auditioned, lead singers, and finally chose Christopher Hamill. He made his profile, and therefore that of the band, catchier by using an anagram of his surname for his stage name, becoming Limahl, matched with his typical double colour hairdo (blond on top and black on sides). The name of the group was then changed to the also catchier Kajagoogoo: writing out the phonetics of a baby's first sounds gave them 'GagaGooGoo' - with a little bit of an alteration, it became 'Kajagoogoo'
After Kaja (ex Kajagoogoo) split up in 1986, Steve Askew set up a band called the Smalltown Elephants, he created the music concept, image and direction for the band and co-wrote all material.
Steve lives in Leighton Buzzard with his wife Anna Conti, a stained glass artist. He has his own mixing studio and also teaches the guitar. He recently appeared in a KajaGooGoo reunion on VH-1's "Bands Reunited" in October 2003.
Mary Norton, author of The Borrowers
Mary Norton, children's author, was born on December 10th 1903. Norton was the daughter of a physician, and was raised in a Georgian house at the end of the High Street in Leighton Buzzard. The house now consists of part of Leighton Middle School, known within the school as The Old House, and was reportedly the setting of her novel The Borrowers.
Mary Bassett
Mary Bassett, a teacher and supporter of teaching handicapped children, was born in Leighton Buzzard in 1853. She was affected herself by a minor disability which caused her to limp. She began by teaching leatherworking and wood carving to disabled children at a small school.
She founded the Leighton Buzzard Handicraft School in Temperance Hall, Lake Street (this building is known today as Lecton House). The schools she worked with became world famous for their handicrafting and were commissioned for numerous projects, including some work for Queen Victoria and the reredos inside All Saints Church.
To honour her memory, in 1949 her name was given to the Mary Bassett Lower School.
Name of the town
Little is known about the early history of Leighton Buzzard. The first mention of the name is from 1086, when it was called "Lestone", from the Saxon term for woodland. Over the intervening years "Leighton" has been subject to over 60 different spellings, depending on the fancy of the writer.
The second part of the name, "Buzzard", is comparatively stable, having been spelled a paltry 40 different ways over the years! Buzzard was presumably added to the town name in memory of Theobold de Busar, a cathedral officer in the town.
Narrow-gauge Railway
The Leighton Buzzard Railway is one of the most popular narrow-gauge railways in the country, and the top visitor attraction in Leighton Buzzard. The line was first built in 1919 to carry sand, but since 1968 has operated steam-driven round-trip passenger services between Pages Parks and Stonehenge Works, a journey of just over an hour. The railway maintains the largest collection of narrow-gauge locomotives in Britain.
Vickers Vimy Bomber
Reginald Kirshaw Pierson, chief designer of Vickers Limited (Aviation Department) in Leighton Buzzard, designed a twin engined biplane bomber, the Vickers F.B.27 to meet a requirement for a night bomber capable of attacking targets in Germany. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, setting several notable records in long-distance flights in the interwar period, the most celebrated of which was the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by Alcock and Brown in June 1919.