Slip End 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 ...

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 Bedfor ...

, 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 an ...

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

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Lower Woodside, Woodside and Pepperstock. 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 A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

. ''

Slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

'' is an old

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 par ...

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 Markyate is a village and civil parish in north-west Hertfordshire, close to the border with Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Geography The name of the village has had several former variants, including ''Markyate Street'', ''Market Street'' and ...

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 campaignin ...

established as after the

Education Act 1870 The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities with defined powers, autho ...

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 e ...

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

Caddington Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south). The western border of the parish is Watlin ...

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, which lat ...

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 The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service is a county record office, holding archival material associated with Bedfordshire and Luton. Established in 1913 by George Herbert Fowler (1861-1940) as the Bedfordshire Record Office, it wa ...

{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Brickworks in the United Kingdom Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District