Billington
Timeline
Places > Billington
1086: Billington is mentioned in The Domesday Book, in which it was noted a bowyer (bowmaker) lived in the settlement.
13th Century: The parish church dates from the 13th century. It was originally a chapel of ease to Leighton Buzzard.
1810: The ecclesiastical parish of Billington established comprising Great Billington and Little Billington.
1844: The open fields were enclosed and the remaining common land was enclosed in 1848.
1848: The Primitive Methodists first met, holding meetings in a house until the building of their chapel. The 1851 religious census recorded a congregation of 32 in the morning and 70 in the evening, even though the chapel had only 45 seats with room for a further 25 standing. The tiny hill top chapel survived as a place of worship for over 100 years. It was used as a garage in the 1950s and today a house stands on the site.
1852: Extensive renovation carried out to the church which included heightening the walls, raising the roof and altering the window tracery in proportion.
1863: Village school opened and by 1870 the school numbered 80 children.
1868: New church tower added.
1871: The 1871 census lists lists eleven coprolite workers including an engine driver at the works from Great Billington and two from Little Billington.
1872: The parish minutes record that discussion took place regarding coprolite digging. Superphosphate was a cheap agricultural fertiliser derived from coprolite. In 1877 55,000 tons of coprolite were dug in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Coprolite was dug in the Great Mead area of Billington.
1881: Arthus Macnamara rebuilt Billington Manor as a fitting residence for his wife Lady Sophia, daughter of an Earl and Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria's younger daughters. Squire Macnamara was no friend to the villagers as he had inscribed in Latin on the manor walls 'I Hate the Common People'. The squire died a bankrupt in 1906.
1884: Piece of land at Great Mead for sale with a 'valuable bed of coprolite'.
1890: About this date that coprolite digging ceased in Billington.
1900s: In the early years the fields around the recreation ground were all orchards growing a particular variety of plum, which became known as the Billington Plum, used as a dye in the hat industry, as well as jam making.
1920s: The Cock Inn closes, it is now a thatched cottage.
1924: Edward, Prince of Wales broke his collar bone while jumping fences at Billington Manor.
1968: Village Hall built.
1990: Five sets of rumble strips installed as traffic calming methods by Bedfordshire County Council.
Sources:
- The Newspaper Cuttings Collection in the Local Studies Library at Bedford Central Library
- Horne, B. Billington, Bedfordshire and Coprolite. In Manshead Magazine No.41 Sept. 2001 pp.7-16
- Pickford, C. Bedfordshire Churches in the 19th Century, Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Vol.73 1994.
- Brown, M. and Masters, J. Around Leighton Buzzard and Linslade. 1998.
Page last updated: 23rd January 2014