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Cranfield
Cranfield maps
Historic maps of Cranfield and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Cranfield maps
Cranfield photos
We have no photos of Cranfield, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Aspley Guise| Woburn Sands| Sherington| Newport Pagnell| Houghton Conquest| Kempston| Ampthill| Steppingley| Bow Brickhill| Woburn| Woburn| Simpson| Turvey| Flitwick| Elstow| Fenny Stratford| Olney| Westoning| Weston Underwood| Bletchley
Cranfield area books
Displaying 1 of 6 books about Cranfield and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Cranfield
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Bedfordshire memories
My First Visit to Marston
The first time I went to Marston my boyfriend was taking me to visit his parents. I was 15 and he was 17. We caught a train from Bedford St John's and got off at Milbrook Halt. His family lived in a Brickyard home in "Jubilee Cottages". It wasn't as modern as my parents' council house as it had no hot water and an outside non-flush toilet. He thought that I was posh because we had two flushing toilets, one inside the house and one outside. His house had no bathroom either.
Back then the Brickyards were still working and I remember all of the chimneys in the skyline.
His family moved to Peterborough a few months later and we have only been back a few times since.
Small Prison Cell Where John Bunyon Stayed
I was born in Tithe Barn Road in 1953. When I was about 9 and 12 some mates and me noticed this small building that looked like a small house. A pointed house with no windows, just a solid oak door with 3 bars at top of door, always very dark inside & nobody told us nothing - only it was a jail. As it had woodern beams we could see writing carved in the wood, so after a lot of work and time we managed to make a hole though one corner. After we got the courage to enter, we noticed the poems carved out on the beams were written by John Bunyon. I would love to see some photos of the prison, it went many years ago. It was in Hall End Road, next to church, in the corner, under trees.
The Square at Christmas
The Square was lit up throughout Chrismas 2006. A Christmas Tree was installed in the centre and the surrounding buildings were adorned with gentle Chritmas lights. The day of 'lighting up' was attended by a large part of the community from the youngest to the most senior, and it was two of the latter who performed the grand switch on.
On The Way to School
This is the junction of Woburn Lane (straight on) and Spinney Lane (turn left). The Primary School I attended was along Spinney Lane, which at that time was completely un-metalled and rutted, so getting to school with clean shoes was a challenge in wet weather.
Swimming in The River at Kempston
Great times were had at the river at the bend as we children called it, we would make mud slides down the banks. What fun we had. There was always a good crowd there on a Sunday afternoon, but now its all quiet, no swimmers, the bend has long since gone.
Up The Overs
Walking free through the wet grass leaving dark trails. Ahead the meadow rises to the mill bank where we stand in silence. Silent and smooth the deep mill race slides towards the wheel. Turning away we follow the bank upstream to the New Overs. Standing on the wooden sluice walk we look down the slide to the deep pool below. No water over the spillways in summer, the shutters are down and slides are dry. Later in the day the children will come to swim in the sluice pool and splash along through the shallows to the eyot. The girls will sit on the slide lip and the boys, lifting the shutters from the sluice walk, will send a wave down the slide to wash them into the pool. No-one will play on the second Over with its dark tree shaded pool. Strong swimmers drown among the tangled roots.
On along the mill steam bank, walking on the cracked dry clay, to the old Overs. The duck... Read more
Butchers Shop
Browsing Ampthill, for the first time, I came across the above photo. On the left just above the logo is a shop blind that used to protect the meat in the window display from sunshine (when it appeared). That blind was the bain of my life in 1952/3/4 when I was a so called "butchers boy". It never ran correctly on it's tracks, and I caused many a car to swerve my long pole manipulations putting it up and down. Funny when I think about it. The bicycle outside (possibly me pictured) was used for deliveries. The carrier full of orders for Maulden and surrounds was a steering hazard particulary in the snow. One Saturday morning I came to grief down Maulden hill and spent an hour scraping dirt and stones from meat with my pen knife before going on my way. The complaints arrived back at Ampthill well before yours truly. Oh the humiliation and all for 2/6p a week. Humiliation was for being caught out, not for stony... Read more
