Cranfield News and information

Cranfield is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It has a population of over 5,300.

The parish includes Bourne End and Wharley End. It is roughly 48 miles away from London.

Cranfield’s airfield was originally an RAF training airfield. It is now part of Cranfield University. Recently approval was granted for the airfield to be expanded into a new ‘Air Park’ called London Cranfield.

Cranfield University is a postgraduate and research-based university specialising in science, engineering, technology and management.

The village’s doctors’ surgery is currently closed, and residents have to visit the GP surgery in Marston Moretaine. A planning application for a new doctors surgery has been submitted, but it is currently unclear if this will go ahead.

Cranfield has a dentist and a pharmacy.

Cranfield has a higher rate of home ownership, either outright or via a mortgage than the national average.

There is one middle school and a  lower school which is split between two sites.

Cranfield is in Central Bedfordshire Council’s Cranfield and Marston Moretaine Ward.

MP: Ms.Nadine Dorries MP

Ward Councillors: Cllrs Mrs Sue Clark, Ken Matthews and Robert Morris

From A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3

The village of Cranfield stands on high ground over 360 ft. above the ordnance datum and extends some distance along roads radiating from the church, which is surrounded by a shady churchyard.

Some years ago, when the church was undergoing restoration, Roman coins were discovered in the churchyard. (fn. 2) At the junction of the roads is the village pump and hard by are the schools.

The street boasts several good shops, due probably to the fact that the nearest railway stations, Millbrook and Woburn Sands, are only 4 miles distant.

The most conspicuous object, however, is the group of almshouses, two separate portions of which were erected by the late Mr. James Goodman and the third by the Society of Friends. In this part of the village, which extends into the hamlets of West End and Tartlett End, are the Wesleyan chapel and two Baptist chapels.

 

The Goodman Almshouses
In 1888 James Goodman, formerly of Cranfield, by deed, dated 24 September in that year, founded and endowed almshouses for aged and infirm widows.

The same donor by deed, dated 13 October 1892, also built and endowed five additional almshouses for aged or infirm married couples or widowers. The endowment consists of house property at Tooting, Herne Hill, Brixton and Clapham, and 3 a. 2 r. at Cranfield, producing in 1909 £170 or thereabouts; 5s. a week is paid to each of the inmates, the surplus income being applied for the benefit of deserving poor.

In 1883 Stephen John Hatfeild Harter, by will proved at London on 7 March in that year, bequeathed £1,000, the interest to be applied in donations to the poor or other charitable purposes for the good of the parish at the discretion of the rector and churchwardens. The legacy is represented by £896 London and North Western 4 per cent. stock with the official trustees, producing £35 16s. 10d., which in 1909 was applied in tickets for clothing of the value of 5s. each; also gifts were made to families to encourage the children’s school attendance.

The Church Estate consists of 4 a. or thereabouts, the rental value of £5 being applied for church expenses.

The trustees of the Baptist chapel, comprised in a deed of 8 November 1849, hold certain cottage property now producing about £21 a year upon trust as to £5 for the use of the Sunday school of the Meeting House and the residue towards the support of the minister.

 

Citation:
‘Parishes: Cranfield’, in A History of the County of Bedford: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1912), pp. 275-279. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp275-279 [accessed 3 January 2019].