Aspley Guise

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 Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.

[3] The first record of Aspley dates from 969, when land there comprising 15 hides was granted by King Edgar (the Peaceable) to his thegn (thane) Alfwold.

The book notes it covered a large tract of agricultural land, valued at £10 to its overlords, though rendering only £8, and was held before the conquest by Leofeva of Earl Waltheof.

In total were 12 ploughlands (larger than average), 10 ploughs of meadow, woodland producing 50 hogs per year, one mill; the book records no church at that date.

[3][b] After the middle of the 14th century the heirs of Hubert de Burgh in Aspley seem to have lapsed, and the manor was held directly of the barony of Bedford.

Anselm died in 1295 left as heir a son John, then aged 17 – his descendants inherited this tenancy and became direct tenants as mentioned.

[citation needed] In 1560, Queen Elizabeth I gave this asset by royal grant to Sir Richard Lee, military engineer.

In the similarly timed Dissolution of the Chantries (one year before its famed successor) an acre here was appropriated by the crown and its proceeds given to fund a new church window.

The Town Close, containing 4.75 acres (1.92 ha) and administered by the ecclesiastical parish, was awarded to the village by the Aspley Guise Inclosure Act 1759 (33 Geo.

[3] The Rookery, a secluded Victorian mansion in Church Street, was used by intelligence operatives during the Second World War for black propaganda against Germany controlled by Sefton Delmer.

[15] The current Anglican church is medieval and dedicated to St Botolph, also known as Botwulf of Thorney, an English abbot who died in 680 AD.

[3] In the 18th century, Guise House and its grounds were home to (Aspley) Classical Academy until 1845, a school at its peak rated to rival Eton and Harrow.

The southwestern area, which includes Aspley Wood has substantial pine trees, the west has a public golf course, accessed from either road to Woburn Sands.

It had been named with this term in the regional body's Expansion plans for Milton Keynes and identified as an appropriate possibility, being served by a railway station.

[27] Following the 2010 United Kingdom general election, the coalition government cancelled its predecessor's regional housing targets and bodies.

Aspley Guise railway station is on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley and has trains hourly Monday-Saturday.