Woburn Sands () is a town that straddles the border between

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and

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 ...

in England, and also is part of the

Milton Keynes urban area The Milton Keynes urban area or Milton Keynes Built-up Area is a designation established by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics. Milton Keynes has no statutory boundary: the 1967 designated area only determined the area assi ...

. See map. The larger part of the town is in Woburn Sands

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 ...

, which is in the

City of Milton Keynes The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder ...

, Smaller parts of the town are in the neighbouring parishes of

Aspley Guise Aspley Guise is a village and civil parish in the west of Central Bedfordshire, England. In addition to the village of Aspley Guise itself, the civil parish also includes part of the town of Woburn Sands, the rest of which is in the City of Milto ...

and

Aspley Heath Aspley Heath is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, elevated and small in population and area, mostly covered by New Wavendon Heath and a smaller mixed eponymous woodland. It was until some t ...

(in

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 ...

). The meandering boundary between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire means the Lower and Middle Schools that serve all of the town are both in Aspley Guise CP. Bedfordshire Police and

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...

both deal with law enforcement issues in the town. At the 2011 Census, the population of the civil parish (only) was 2,916, that of the built-up area (including much of Aspley Guise) was 5,959. Woburn Sands, Aspley Guise and Aspley Heath each has its own centre but together the three settlements are a contiguous built-up area.

History

The earliest evidence of settlement is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

dating from around 500 BC, called Danesborough Camp which is located to the southwest of the present town. Later when the settlement had developed into a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

, it was part of the parish of Wavendon, becoming a separate civil parish in 1907. Under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

the parish council has adopted the status of a town in its own right. It has separated from Wavendon parish which is just to the north of the Marston Vale line. The village name was originally Hogsty End, one of Wavendon's four 'ends' (along with Church End, Cross End and Lower End) but by

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...

, this un-picturesque name had fallen out of favour, and Woburn Sands had taken over as the accepted name. The modern name is credited to a schoolmaster unable to attract business to his "Hogsty End Academy", and was one of the first to promote the use of the new name. The modern place name is related to nearby Woburn in Bedfordshire, and to the sandy local soil resulting from its proximity to the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it runs ...

, an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

Greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

that is part of the

Woburn Sands Formation The Woburn Sands Formation is a geological formation in England. Part of the Lower Greensand Group, it is the only unit of the group where it occurs, and thus is sometimes simply referred to as the 'Lower Greensand' in these areas. It was deposit ...

Transport

The town is served by

Woburn Sands railway station Woburn Sands railway station serves the town of Woburn Sands and the village of Wavendon in the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. The station is on the Marston Vale line between and , about 4 miles (6.5 km) east of Ble ...

which co-serves the south end of Wavendon. The station is on the Marston Vale line, three closely placed stops east of

Bletchley railway station Bletchley is a railway station that serves the southern parts of Milton Keynes, England (especially Bletchley itself), and the north-eastern parts of Aylesbury Vale. It is 47 miles (75 km) northwest of , about 32 miles (51 km) east of ...

, a junction station with the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. The town is situated roughly midway between Woburn and the 1967 designated area of Milton Keynes, and is close to Junction 13 of 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 ...

, about east of the town.

References

External links

Woburn Sands Town CouncilWoburn Sands local history siteThe Hogsty End Handbook local community magazineCyclone Mountain Bike Club – MTB around local forest trailsWoburn Sands Folk Festival
{{authority control Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Hill forts in Buckinghamshire Areas of Milton Keynes Towns in Buckinghamshire