Hockliffe is a 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

on the crossroads of the

A5 road A5 Road may refer to: ;Africa *A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan * A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Francistown ;Americas * Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada * County Route A5 (California) or Bowm ...

which lies upon the course of the Roman road known as

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...

and the A4012 and B5704 roads. It is about four miles east of

Leighton Buzzard Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is northwes ...

. Nearby places are

Heath and Reach Heath and Reach is an English village and civil parish near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is north of Leighton Buzzard and south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire. Nearby places are Leighton-Linslade, ...

Eggington Egginton – or Eggington as it is now known – is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about three miles east of Leighton Buzzard. Apart from the village itse ...

, Stanbridge,

Battlesden Battlesden is a hamlet and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is just north of the A5, between Dunstable and Milton Keynes. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 38. Because of its ...

Toddington Toddington could be *Toddington, Bedfordshire **Toddington services, M1 motorway *Toddington, Gloucestershire **Toddington railway station Toddington railway station serves the village of Toddington in Gloucestershire, England. Since 1984 it h ...

, Tebworth and Tilsworth. Hockliffe is in

ward which sends a councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. The ward includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth and Wingrave. The ward was created in 2011 and has since been represented by Councillor ark Versallion

Clipstone Brook

There was a term applied from the 18th century which was "as straight as Hockley Brook" because of the meandering bends of the said brook. The correct name of the brook is the

Clipstone Brook The River Ouzel , also known as the River Lovat, is a river in England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows north to join the Ouse at Newport Pagnell. It is usually called the ''River Ouzel'' ...

. The first field (though in the parish of

Chalgrave Chalgrave is a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The hamlets of Tebworth and Wingfield are in the west of the parish, with the church and manor in the east. Nearby places are Toddington (to the north) ...

) is still known by locals as the Old Ride, due to the original crossing of the brook of the original Woburn Road the later road being constructed in the 19th century through to the second

road turning near to the village of

Milton Bryan Milton Bryan is a village and civil parish located in Central Bedfordshire (the spelling Milton Bryant was previously common and is still recognised by postal services). It lies just off the A4012 road, near to its junction with the A5 at Hockl ...

. The new Woburn Road is about a 100 yards to the west from the said crossing and is now used by farm vehicles over a newer bridge. The second field was known as Horseshoe Corner as the brook was shaped like a horseshoe before it was straightened out by a farmer after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Recently there have been regular sightings of the invasive

signal crayfish The signal crayfish (''Pacifastacus leniusculus'') is a North American species of crayfish. It was introduced to Europe in the 1960s to supplement the North European ''Astacus astacus'' fisheries, which were being damaged by crayfish plague, but ...

, ''Pacifastacus leniusculus'', in the brook. It was noted in the local newspaper, ''The Leighton Buzzard Observer'', that one was found inside a toy lobster during a clear out of a section of the brook near

in 2009.

Hockliffe Radio Station

During the

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

military intelligence wireless transmission station was situated just outside Hockliffe. The station was constructed by the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

in 1942 exclusively for

Czech intelligence The Security Information Service (BIS) ( cs, Bezpečnostní informační služba), is the primary domestic national intelligence agency of the Czech Republic. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence ...

services. The station was used to contact Czech embassies in such countries as

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Eleven men operated the station until June 1945, when they were able to return to their country.

Notable people

During the 18th century Dr. William Dodd became rector of Hockliffe; he was later convicted of forgery and hanged at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

.
The Chronicles of Newgate
', Crimes and Criminals part 1, ed. Arthur George Frederick Griffiths Hockliffe is the birthplace of

Arthur Henry Neumann Arthur Henry Neumann (12 June 1850 – 29 May 1907) was an English explorer, hunter, soldier, farmer and travel writer famous for his exploits in Equatorial East Africa. In 1898 he published ''Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa''.A H Neum ...

(1850–1907), a British explorer, hunter, soldier and travel writer, famous for his exploits in Equatorial

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

at the end of the 19th century. In 1898, he published ''Elephant Hunting In East Equatorial Africa'' that contained descriptions of his childhood in Hockliffe.A H Neumann, ''Elephant Hunting In East Equatorial Africa'', London, Rowland Ward, 1897

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District

Clipstone Brook

Hockliffe Radio Station

Notable people

References

Further reading

External links