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Tempsford

Coordinates:52°10′03″N0°17′53″W/ 52.16748°N 0.29804°W/52.16748; -0.29804
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Tempsford
Church of St Peter
Tempsford is located in Bedfordshire
Tempsford
Tempsford
Location withinBedfordshire
Population564(2001)
590 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceTL164539
Civil parish
  • Tempsford
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSANDY
Postcode districtSG19
Dialling code01767
PoliceBedfordshire
FireBedfordshire and Luton
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Bedfordshire
52°10′03″N0°17′53″W/ 52.16748°N 0.29804°W/52.16748; -0.29804

Tempsfordis a village andcivil parishin theCentral Bedfordshiredistrict of the county ofBedfordshire,England, about 7 miles (11 km) east north-east of the county town ofBedford.

The village is split by theA1 Great North Roadand is located just before the junction with theA428at theBlack Cat Roundabout.To the east of the village is the site of the formerRAF Tempsfordairfield.

Geography

[edit]

Tempsford is 2.3 miles (4 km) north ofSandy,18 miles (29 km) west ofCambridgeand 46 miles (74 km) north ofCentral London.

Tempsford has two main areas bisected by the A1 road: Church End to the west and Langford End (Station Road) to the east. Tempsford Hall and park lie between the two.

The riversGreat OuseandIvelform a large part of the parish's western boundary. TheEast Coast Main Linerailway passes through the parish.

Area

The civil parish covers an area of 1,170 hectares (2,891 acres).[2]

Landscape

The village lies within the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands as designated byNatural England.[3]Central Bedfordshire Council has classified the local landscape around the village as the Great Ouse Clay Valley; a shallow, fairly wide valley of the Great Ouse and Ivel. The surrounding area is mostly arable farmland. Pastures are found alongside the rivers. Grass parkland surroundsTempsford Halland there is an area of woodland at the eastern edge of the park. Hedgerows are often gappy or lost but some hedgerow trees are present. Off the eastern bank of the Ivel at the southernmost point of the parish is a lake formed from a disused sand and gravel pit. Outlying areas to the north and east form part of the predominantly flat, Biggin Wood Clay Vale.[4][5]

Elevation

The village centre is 24 metres (79 ft) above sea level. The whole parish is low lying and flat with the highest point just over 50 metres (164 ft) at Sir John's Wood in the far north-east.[6]

Geology and soil type

The village lies mainly on first and second terraceriver gravel.Alluviumborders the Great Ouse and Ivel rivers. There are patches ofboulder clay,and the eastern and northern parts of the parish are onOxford clayoverlyingKellaways beds.[7]Around the village the soil has low fertility, is freely draining and slightly acid with aloamytexture. The eastern area of the parish has highly fertile, lime-rich loamy and clayey soils with impeded drainage. By the Ivel and Great Ouse are loamy and clayeyfloodplainsoils with naturally high groundwater.[8]

The night sky and light pollution

Light pollutionis the level of radiance (night lights) shining up into the night sky. TheCampaign to Protect Rural England(CPRE) divides the level of night sky brightness into 9 bands with band 1 being the darkest i.e. with the lowest level of light pollution and band 9 the brightest and most polluted. Tempsford in band 6 is adversely affected by lighting along the A1 road.[9][10]

The built environment

Along Station Road are a number of Grade II listed, late 17th-century, colour-washed, roughcast-rendered, thatched cottages. Also, Victorian workers' cottages built by the Tempsford Estate in yellow brick with red brick facing, farm houses, barns, local authority and modern private houses.

At Church End the former White Hart public house dates from the 16th century and is timber framed with ajettiedgable and clay tile roof.[11]

Roads and bridges

The A1 northbound carriageway is carried over the Ouse by a sandstone bridge built in October 1820. Listing particulars state the bridge to be about 50 metres (164 ft) long and 10 metres (33 ft) wide. There are three broad, low arches built with blocks ofBramley Fall stonefrom a quarry near Leeds. A rounded towpath archway passes through the east abutment. A sandstone parapet rests on a projecting stone string course. Except where replaced by concrete, Bramley Fall stone copings run the length of the bridge. Inscriptions of masons can be seen on the inside face of the copings over the crown of the centre arch. Flood bridges to the east and west have seven smaller and lower segmental brick arches.[12][13]A separate bridge was built for the southbound carriageway when the road was dualled in the early 1960s.

The A1 Trunk Road (Tempsford Junction Improvements Slip Roads) Order 1999 authorised the construction of new slip roads to access the A1 and the scheme was completed in 2001. A slip road from the southbound carriageway joins the road from Little Barford, which was extended south through Tempsford Hall Park to a new roundabout. A bridge across the A1 and a second roundabout were built to access the northbound carriageway and the roads to Blunham and Church End. The road to Church End became a no through road.

Public footpaths

A public footpath on the eastern side of the Station Road level crossing runs south then east toEverton.A stretch of the Kingfisher Way runs from Mill Lane alongside the Ivel toBlunham. In 2001 an extensive metal footbridge over the A1 was constructed which links Station Road with the former Anchor Hotel, Memorial Hall and Church End.

History

[edit]

Prehistoricfinds recovered from the Tempsford area include stone tools and other artefacts dating from thePalaeolithic,MesolithicandNeolithicperiods. South of Tempsford Church End and east of the River Ivel arecropmarksofring ditchround barrows. Archaeological excavations carried out in Tempsford Hall park in 1999 foundsherdsof Roman pottery, ditches relating to middle to late Saxon enclosures and a complete Maxey ware bar-lug vessel.[14]

Tempsford has had a multitude of name variations over the years. The village was known as Tamiseforde in theDomesday Bookof 1086. The meaning is disputed. Some historians surmise that this stretch of the Ouse was once known as the Thames, while others believe it to mean the 'ford on the road to the Thames' (in London).[15][16]

In 917 Tempsford was a fortified Danishburhwhere, following an unsuccessful attack onBedford,theBattle of Tempsfordtook place. The Danes were defeated by an English army led by KingEdward the Elder.[17]

Gannocks Castle,a scheduled ancient monument to the west of Church End, was amotte and baileyfortified manor house built by theNormansin the late 12th or early 13th century.Earthworksand the moat can be seen.

East of the railway line are the well-defined remains of a medieval moated enclosure at Biggin Wood. The square and flat enclosure measures some 67 metres (220 ft) across inclusive of the 8 metres (26 ft) wide surrounding moat. The partially water-filled ditches form a complete circuit apart from an infilled section at the north-east corner.[18]

A wooden bridge over the Ouse was completed in 1736. It was replaced by a stone bridge in 1820.

Tempsford wasenclosedby Act of Parliament in 1777.[19]

After enclosure, Sir Gillies Payne, Lord of the Manors of Tempsford, Drayton and Brays laid out Tempsford Park and built a mansion house. The manors were sold toWilliam Stuartin 1830. In November 1898 the house was destroyed by fire. A new hall was built in 1904, which stands today.[20]

Population growth in Tempsford since 1801
YearPop.±%
1801409—
1841561+37.2%
1881535−4.6%
1921468−12.5%
1961491+4.9%
2001566+15.3%
[21]

Tempsford railway stationexisted from 1863 to 1965, although passenger traffic ceased in 1956.

Tempsford School opened in September 1869. Bedfordshire Records & Archives Service hold log books detailing day-to-day events in the school's history. The school closed in July 1983. The building is now the registered office of Tempsford Stained Glass Ltd.[22][23]

Tempsford Airfield was constructed in 1940–41.

A village shop at no. 49 Station Road was in business from 1905 until 1989. Next door was The Black Horse public house which closed in 1967.[24]

Church Street was part of theGreat North Roaduntil bypassed in 1961.

Governance

[edit]

The parish council consists of 7 elected councillors who serve a four-year term. Tempsford is part of Potton ward for elections to theCentral BedfordshireUnitary Authority.[25]

Prior to 1894, Tempsford was administered as part of thehundred of Biggleswade. From 1894 until 1974 it was inBiggleswade Rural Districtand from 1974 to 2009 inMid Bedfordshire District.

Tempsford was in theMid Bedfordshire parliamentary constituencyuntil 1997. Now inNorth East Bedfordshire,the elected member isRichard Fullerof theConservative Party.

Public services

[edit]

The village is inAnglian Water's Sandy Public Water Supply Zone (MW46). The water supply is sourced from either river or reservoirs, and ischloraminatedand classed asvery hard.[26]There is awaste water treatmentworks off the road toLittle Barford.

The Eastern Power Area ofUK Power Networksis thedistribution network operatorfor electricity.[27]Cadent Gasowns and operates the area's gas distribution network.[28]

The nearest general hospital isBedford(Bedford Hospital NHS Trust). Ambulance services are provided by theEast of England Ambulance ServiceNHS Trust, fire and rescue services byBedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service,and policing byBedfordshire Police

The nearest public library and post office are at Sandy.

Economy

[edit]

Tempsford Hall has been the head office of construction firmKier Groupsince 1967.

Straddling the parish border with Sandy is Flamingo Flowers, a wholesaler of flowers and plants, formerly known as Zwetsloots. Cornelius Zwetsloot came from Holland in 1932 and established a tulip bulb growing company under glass. Flowers andmarket gardeningcrops were a source of business until 1948, before the nursery began to specialise infloriculturerather thanhorticulture.The Zwetsloot brothers sold 80% of the ordinary shares to Flamingo Holdings in August 2002 and the remaining 20% a year later.[29][30]

Community

[edit]

The Tempsford Stuart Memorial Village Hall was built in 1924 by the Stuart family of Tempsford Hall in memory of their son and fourteen other Tempsford men who lost their lives in the First World War. The main hall can accommodate up to 150 people and has a stage suitable for theatrical productions or concerts and a maple wood sprung dance floor.[31]

Founded in 2013, the Tempsford Museum & Archives is housed in the old Gentlemen's Snooker Room in the Stuart Memorial Village Hall. The museum is open afternoons on the first Sunday of each month (except January). It houses a collection of artefacts, deeds, maps, newspaper cuttings, family papers, postcards photographs, books and letters associated with the village of Tempsford.[32]

The annual Tempsford Show at the village hall has attractions such as a dog show, bouncy castle, coconut shy, craft stalls, vintage tractors and cars, and atombola.There are competition classes for fruit, vegetable, floral, culinary, and art and craft exhibits.[33]

Records pertaining to The Wheatsheaf public house go back to 1807. In December 2013, Prince Charles visited and was photographed holding a glass of beer after attending a Service of Dedication and unveiling amemorialto honour and remember the women agents who flew out of RAF Tempsford to aid resistance movements in occupied Europe.[34][35]

A children's play area and farm shop are on Station Road.

Tempsford Millennium Garden Sanctuary was part of the parkland surrounding the original entrance to Tempsford Hall. The land was compulsory purchased in the early 1960s to construct the A1 trunk road. The 1.5 acres (1 ha) site was left as a small woodland. The garden, which opened in 2000 is owned and maintained by the parish council.[36]

The Tempsford Times magazine which reports on parish council meetings, church and village events is published bimonthly and distributed free to residents.

Tempsford Football Club was founded in 2019 and is based at Meltis Social Club in Bedford. The club competes in the men's Bedford and District Sunday Football League.[37]

Churches

[edit]

The Church of St Peter dating from the 14th century is constructed of coursedironstone,cobbles andclunchwith large parts of clunch and ironstone banding. Considerable repairs were made in 1621, especially in the south-west part of the church and the tower. The whole building was restored in 1874.[38]

Tempsford Methodist Church was built in 1804 and was in the St Neots and HuntingdonCircuit,however in 2023 the church closed down. A Sunday School building was added to the rear in 1878.[39][40]

Public transport

[edit]

Weekly buses toBiggleswade,St NeotsandCambridgeare run by community, non-profit operator Ivel Sprinter. Services began in 1991 in response to requests from Tempsford residents.[41]

There is a plan to open a new railway station in Tempsford as part of the development ofEast West Rail,a new line between Oxford and Cambridge.[42]The oldTempsford railway stationclosed in 1956, and as of 2023,the nearest railway station is atSandy.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Civil Parish population 2011".Neighbourhood Statistics.Office for National Statistics.Retrieved12 November2016.
  2. ^"2011 Census parish profile: Tempsford"(PDF).Central Bedfordshire.Retrieved9 October2019.
  3. ^"National Character Areas".Natural England.Retrieved4 October2019.
  4. ^"4A Great Ouse Clay Valley"(PDF).Central Bedfordshire.Retrieved4 October2019.
  5. ^"5F Biggin Wood Clay Vale"(PDF).Central Bedfordshire.Retrieved15 October2019.
  6. ^"Tempsford: elevation".Route Calculator.Retrieved8 October2019.
  7. ^"Sheet 204. Geological Survey of England & Wales".British Geological Survey.Retrieved9 October2019.
  8. ^"Soilscapes Viewer".LandIS - Land Information System.Cranfield University.Retrieved9 October2019.
  9. ^"Night Blight 2016: Mapping England's Light Pollution and Dark Skies".Campaign to Protect Rural England.CPRE.Retrieved9 October2019.
  10. ^"Map".nightblight.Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.Retrieved9 October2019.
  11. ^"Gannocks - 15 Church Street Tempsford".Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service.22 June 2019.Retrieved12 October2019.
  12. ^Angela Simco & Peter McKeague (1997).Bridges of Bedfordshire(PDF).Bedfordshire County Council, Bedfordshire Archaeological Council, Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. pp. 21–26.ISBN0-9531531-0-X.Retrieved16 October2019.
  13. ^Historic England."TEMPSFORD BRIDGE AND FLANKING FLOOD BRIDGES (Grade II) (1321633)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved16 October2019.
  14. ^Anthony Maull and Andy Chapman (2005).A Medieval Moated Enclosure in Tempsford Park(PDF).Northamptonshire Archaeology. pp. 5, 14–16.ISBN978-0-9531531-2-1.Retrieved13 October2019.
  15. ^"Tempsford in general: Name".Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service.22 June 2019.Retrieved11 October2019.
  16. ^Angela Simco & Peter McKeague (1997).Bridges of Bedfordshire(PDF).Bedfordshire County Council, Bedfordshire Archaeological Council, Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. p. 21.ISBN0-9531531-0-X.Retrieved16 October2019.
  17. ^The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles,ed. Michael Swanton, 2nd ed. (London 2000), pp. 101-2
  18. ^Historic England."Biggin Wood moated enclosure, Tempsford (1012451)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved16 October2019.
  19. ^Page, William (1908).Parishes: Tempsford - A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 2.London: Victorian County History. pp. 251–255.Retrieved12 October2019.
  20. ^"Tempsford Hall".Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service.22 June 2019.Retrieved13 October2019.
  21. ^"BEDFORDSHIRE POPULATION FIGURES 1801 – 2011"(PDF).Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service Archives.Retrieved11 October2019.
  22. ^"Tempsford School".Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service.22 June 2019.Retrieved12 October2019.
  23. ^"Company number 06507687".Companies House.Retrieved12 October2019.
  24. ^"Tempsford Heritage Trail"(PDF).?.Retrieved13 October2019.
  25. ^"Area, Ward, Potton".Central Bedfordshire Insight.Retrieved10 October2019.
  26. ^"Drinking Water Quality Information".Anglian Water.Retrieved14 October2019.
  27. ^"Check if you're in our area".UK Power Networks.Retrieved14 October2019.
  28. ^"Map: who operates the gas distribution network?".ofgem.Retrieved14 October2019.
  29. ^"Zwetsloots".Wedding Day Hire.Retrieved12 October2019.
  30. ^"FLAMINGO FLOWERS LTD".Companies House.Retrieved12 October2019.
  31. ^"Serving the Community".Tempsford Stuart Memorial Village Hall.Retrieved11 October2019.
  32. ^"About The Museum".Tempsford Museum and Archives.Retrieved11 October2019.
  33. ^"Tempsford Show".Tempsford Stuart Memorial Village Hall.Retrieved11 October2019.
  34. ^"Prince Charles visits Tempsford".Bedford Today.Retrieved12 October2019.
  35. ^"HRH PRINCE CHARLES UNVEILS WAR MEMORIAL AT TEMPSFORD".Reserve Forces & Cadets Association for East Anglia.Retrieved12 October2019.
  36. ^"Tempsford Millennium Garden - a brief history".Tempsford.org.Retrieved12 October2019.
  37. ^"Tempsford | Bedford & District Sunday Football League".
  38. ^"Church of St Peter".British Listed Buildings.Retrieved12 October2019.
  39. ^"History of Tempsford Methodist Chapel".Tempsford.Retrieved12 October2019.
  40. ^"Tempsford Heritage Trail"(PDF).?.Retrieved13 October2019.
  41. ^"About us".Ivel Sprinter.Retrieved10 October2019.
  42. ^"Preferred Route Alignment".East West Rail.Retrieved10 November2023.
[edit]

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