Chicksands is a village in the

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 ...

district of

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 ...

, England, and part of the

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 ...

Campton and Chicksands Campton and Chicksands is a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its main settlements are Campton and Chicksands Chicksands is a village in the Central Bedfordshire district of ...

, whose population in 2007 was estimated to be 2,510. By the 2011 census the figure was accurately placed at being 1,699. The village is on the

River Flit The River Flit is a short river in Bedfordshire, England. Its name is not ancient, but rather a back formation from Flitton which originally meant that the river was spelt with as ''Flitt'' rather than ''Flit''. Course The river rises as a sma ...

and close to its parish village of Campton and the town of Shefford. Chicksands is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

the entry reads: ''Chichesana/e: William de Cairon from Bishop of Lincoln; Three freemen and Walter from Azelina, Ralph Tailbois' wife (it is of her dowry). Mill.'' Chicksands was the site of

RAF Chicksands Ministry of Defence Chicksands or more simply MoD Chicksands is a UK Ministry of Defence station located 7.7 miles (12.4 km) south east of Bedford, Bedfordshire and 11.6 miles (18.7 km) north east of Luton, Bedfordshire. Now the location of ...

, an RAF station during

World War II 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 ...

. The station was used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

from 1950 to 1995. It was the location for its first huge

FLR-9 The AN/FLR-9 is a type of very large circular "Wullenweber" antenna array, built at eight locations during the cold war for HF/DF direction finding of high priority targets. The worldwide network, known collectively as "Iron Horse", could locate H ...

direction finding antenna from 1963 to 1995. The antenna was known as the 'Elephant Cage' and was dismantled before the USAF left in 1995. It is now home to the

Joint Intelligence Training Group The Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG) is the location of the headquarters of both the Defence College of Intelligence and the British Army Intelligence Corps. It is located at Chicksands, Bedfordshire, approximately north of London. T ...

(JITG) and the Headquarters of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

's Intelligence Corps.

Chicksands Priory Chicksands Priory is a former monastic house at Chicksands in Bedfordshire. History The Gilbertine priory of Chicksands was founded about 1152 by Rohese, Countess of Essex, and her second husband Payn de Beauchamp, Baron of Bedford. Payn and R ...

, a monastic house built in 1150, is located within the grounds of the Joint Intelligence Training Group. It is open to the public, by appointment only, on the 1st & 3rd Sunday afternoons, April–October. Mid Bedfordshire District Council moved to a new office building on a part of the former

sportsfield, adjacent to the A507, having previously been based in offices at

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...

and

Biggleswade Biggleswade ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the River Ivel, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bedford. Its population was 16,551 in the 2011 United Kingdom census, and its es ...

. The new office, named Priory House, was officially opened by

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

on 17 November 2006 accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

. The offices are now home to

Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils ...

References

External links

Campton & Chicksands

Chicksands Offices
– Mid Beds District Council

Friends of Chicksands Prioy Website
{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District