A large town in Bedfordshire, located some 30 miles to the north of London, Luton, together with its nearby areas of Houghton Regis and Dunstable, has a population of around two hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants. Luton is a major travel hub for the region as it is the location of one of London’s satellite airports and London Luton Airport is handy for accessing the M1 motorway and the A5. The town is also well known for its football team who have had much success over the year. Though now a modern industrial town, Luton has a long history, with Palaeolithic remains being found in the area. In the Domesday Book of 1086, the town was recorded as Lintone, at which time it was reliant on agriculture.
June 25, 2010
August 27, 2009
Dunstable Houghton Regis and Toddington Bedfordshire
To the south-west of Bedford in the county of Bedfordshire, England, you will find the 2 historic towns of Dunstable and Houghton Regis and the ancient village of Toddington. Dunstable was originally established by the Romans as a posting station on Watling Street, an important road at this time, though it was probably settled much earlier than this as evidence of Palaeolithic flint implements and an Iron Age Fort have been found in its environs. Dunstable was one of the twelve sites chosen in 1290 for the erection of Eleanor Crosses after the death of the wife of Edward I. Close to Dunstable and possibly even older is the town of Houghton Regis, until recent years just a small village. Getting its name from the Saxon “hoe” (spur on a hill) and “tun” meaning village, Houghton became Houghton Regis during the time of Edward the Confessor, it remained a village until the 1950’s and 1960’s, when London overspill caused it to grow into the town it is today. Near to Dunstable and Houghton Regis, the pretty village of Toddington is gathered around its spacious village green, where you will find its parish church and 4 of its public houses.
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