Shefford is a town 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire is a Districts of England, local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority. It was created ...
district of
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...
, England. At the 2021 census it had a population of 7,311. It lies south-east of
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district.
Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
.
Toponymy
The name Shefford means "sheep ford", referencing the fords over 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 River Hit. The name was recorded as "Shipford" in 1229, with the modern spelling being recorded from as early as 1262.
The town gives its name to
Shefford, Quebec
Shefford () is a township municipality located in the province of Quebec. It is part of the Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality in the administrative area of Estrie. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 7,253. The township compl ...
.
History
Roman remains were discovered in Shefford in the early nineteenth century.
Shefford grew up between a pair of fords on the main road from Bedford to
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...
where it crosses the River Flit and River Hit. Another road leading west from that main road, heading towards
Ampthill
Ampthill () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It lies between Bedford, Bedfordshire, Bedford and Luton. At the 2021 census it had a population of 8,825.
Histor ...
, became the town's High Street. Both fords were later replaced by bridges; North Bridge over the Flit and South Bridge over the Hit. A market was being held at Shefford by 1225, with a formal
market charter
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
being issued in 1229. In 1312, another
Royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
granted Shefford the right to hold an annual fair. This was held at
Michaelmas
Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...
, and although at least two more fairs were established in the town at later dates, only this one, held as a street fair on October the 11th each year, remains today. By the fifteenth century the church of St Michael and All Angels had been built at the eastern end of the High Street near the junction with Southbridge Street, originally serving as a
chapel of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
to
Campton.

The
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
poet
Robert Bloomfield
Robert Bloomfield (3 December 1766 – 19 August 1823) was an English labouring-class poet, whose work is appreciated in the context of other self-educated writers, such as Stephen Duck, Mary Collier and John Clare.
Life
Robert Bloomfield ...
lived in Shefford from 1812 until his death there in 1823. One of the town's schools is named after him.
The
Ivel Navigation was extended to reach the town in 1823, with the extension also being known as the Shefford Canal. It closed to traffic in 1876 following growing competition from the railways. The
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...
opened
Shefford railway station in 1857 on its original main line to London. The route was downgraded to become the
Bedford to Hitchin branch line following the opening of a new main line in 1868. It closed to passengers in 1961 and freight in 1964.
Between 1869 and 1974 Shefford was the site of an orphanage called
St Francis' Boy's Home run by the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. It was situated on High Street next to the Catholic
St Francis of Assisi Church. The church remains in use as a place of worship. The orphanage buildings have been converted into flats.
[
During ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
an entire Jewish children's community came into being in Shefford as 500 pupils from Judith Grunfeld
Judith Grunfeld born Judith Rosenbaum (18 December 1902 – 14 May 1998) was a Hungary, Hungarian born Jewish German teacher who spent much of her life in the United Kingdom. She was a pioneer of the revolutionary Bais Yaakov girl's education movem ...
's school were billeted in and around the town. The school was moved in 1939 and remained in Shefford until 1945. This was part of " Operation Pied Piper" where schools were moved in anticipation of wartime bombing. A book was written about this time, titled "Shefford: The Story of a Jewish School Community in Evacuation, 1939-1945", telling the story of the evacuated school.
Geography
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 the River Hit run through the town. The River Flit rises as a small pool beneath Carters Hill, a few metres to the east of the M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...
and just to the east of the village of Chalton Chalton may refer to:
* Chalton, Bedfordshire, England
* Chalton, Hampshire, England
See also
* Charlton (disambiguation)
{{place name disambiguation ...
. The River Hit runs from Standalone Farm Hill to make the flow as seen in Shefford today but flows from the Baldock
Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...
area in smaller flows. The Hit and the Flit meet just a short way down the path from the Northbridge Street river bridge to form the historic Ivel Navigation. The River Ivel joins the River Great Ouse
The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...
at Tempsford
Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about east north-east of the county town of Bedford.
The village is split by the A1 Great North Road and is located just bef ...
.
Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering Shefford, at 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
(town) and unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
level: Shefford Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council
Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for Central Bedfordshire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functi ...
. The town council is based at Shefford House at 15 High Street. Central Bedfordshire Council has its main offices at Priory House in Chicksands
Chicksands is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is on the River Flit and close to its parish village of Campton and the tow ...
, immediately west of Shefford.
Shefford was historically a chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century.
Status
A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...
and township
A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
in the ancient 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of Campton. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. It remained part of the ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Campton until 1903.
Shefford Hardwick was an extra-parochial area
In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...
north-west of Shefford. Such extra-parochial areas were made civil parishes in 1858. The parish of Shefford Hardwick was subsequently abolished in 1933 and absorbed into Shefford, which also gained territory from the neighbouring parishes of Southill, Clifton, Meppershall
Meppershall is a hilltop village in Bedfordshire near Shefford, Bedfordshire, Shefford, Campton, Bedfordshire, Campton, Shillington, Bedfordshire, Shillington, Stondon and surrounded by farmland.
History
The village and the manor house are ment ...
and Campton at the same time.
Facilities
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...
and Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...
supermarkets are in the town centre and a Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
store is attached to the Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...
Petrol Station on the outskirts. There are many public houses, the Banks and Taylor micro brewery
Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
(est. 1982) and Chinese, Indian and Turkish takeaways and restaurants, and a fish and chip shop. Shefford has two petrol stations, two car dealers, and two pharmacies. There are three estate agents, a newsagent, a convenience store, a charity shop, an angling centre, a bakery, a tea room, a wine bar, a Post Office with sorting facilities and an ironmonger/building supply centre.
Community institutions include a fire station, bowls club, sports club, Memorial Hall and Community Hall. A public library is on High Street.
There are four Churches - Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic. Several schools and nurseries, and a large medical practice.
The town has a scout group
A Scout group is a local organization used in some Scout organizations that groups a Scout troop or unit with other age programs, separate gender-based Scout troops and/or multiple Scout troops.
A Scout group that groups Scouts with programs fo ...
, Guiding Groups and a local Army Cadet Force
The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...
hut at Chicksands
Chicksands is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is on the River Flit and close to its parish village of Campton and the tow ...
on the Army Intelligence Corps base, which is part of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire ACF, in 4 Company.
Transport
Shefford railway station was on the Bedford–Hitchin line
The Bedford–Hitchin line was a branch of the Midland Railway which served stations at Cardington, Southill, Shefford and Henlow Camp in Bedfordshire, England. It opened in 1857, but was largely made redundant as a through-route to London by ...
but closed to passengers in 1961 and to freight in 1964; its goods yard is now the site of an industrial estate
An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...
. Current public transport provision consists of hourly buses 9A and 9B between Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district.
Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
and Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...
, operated by Stagecoach East
Stagecoach East is a bus operator providing local and regional services across the East of England, operating in the counties of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered and regis ...
and promoted by Intalink.
Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East
BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire (including the City of Milton Keynes). It is headquartered in The Forum ...
and ITV Anglia
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
. Television signals are received from the Sandy Heath
Sandy Heath transmitting station is a television and radio broadcasting station in England, located between Sandy, Bedfordshire and Potton near the B1042. It is owned by Arqiva, formerly NTL Broadcast. It was built in 1965, originally broadcas ...
TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable.
According ...
on 95.5 FM, Heart East
Heart East was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to the East of England from studios in Milton Keynes.
The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four Heart station ...
on 96.9 FM, and Bedford Radio, a community based radio station which broadcast online. The town is served by the local newspapers, ''Bedford Today'' (formerly Times & Citizen
The ''Times & Citizen'' is a free local newspaper published on Thursdays in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The newspaper is distributed all over the Borough of Bedford and much of Mid Bedfordshire. Current circulation is around 31,000.
History
...
) and ''The Biggleswade Chronicle''.
Education
Shefford is served by secondary school Samuel Whitbread Academy
Samuel Whitbread Academy is an Upper School and Sixth Form with Academy status serving the rural communities around the small market town of Shefford in Central Bedfordshire. Its school campus includes a nursery school and facilities for adul ...
, middle school Robert Bloomfield Academy, Shefford Lower School, Shefford Nursery, BEST nursery and Acorn Pre-School & The Mighty Oaks.
Sport and leisure
Shefford has a non-League football
Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...
club, Shefford Town & Campton F.C. and boys and girls football teams at Shefford Saints Juniors FC. Both clubs play home matches at Shefford Sports Club on Hitchin Road. Wales and West Ham footballer, Jack Collison
Jack David Collison (born 2 October 1988) is a Welsh football manager and former player who was the head coach of Huntsville City in MLS Next Pro from 2023 to 2024.
Collison began his career with Peterborough United's youth system in 1998, be ...
played for Shefford Saints and grew up in Shefford.
A modern, concrete skatepark is at Lovelace Meadow.
References
External links
Shefford Town Council website
Shefford pages at the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
{{authority control
Market towns in Bedfordshire
Towns in Bedfordshire
Civil parishes in Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire District