Harlington, Bedfordshire
Encyclopedia
Harlington is a village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire
, England
, near the M1 motorway
. The nearest town is Flitwick
about three miles to the north. Many residents commute from the village to work in London
.
, 7 miles (11 km) north of Luton
, 10 miles (16 km) south of Bedford
and 40 miles NNW of London
.
's Thameslink
route trains. From Harlington station
, you can travel north to Flitwick
and Bedford
, or south to Luton
, , St Albans
, Central London
, East Croydon
, Gatwick Airport and Brighton
.
, Westoning
, Flitwick
, Ampthill
, Houghton Conquest
, Kempston
, and Bedford
.
and The Old Sun. There are several churches, including the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Harlington Methodist Church and Life Church (part of the Pioneer network of churches). There is a small parade of shops, consisting of a newsagent, an off licence, a post office, a hairdresser, a beauty salon and a gunsmiths.
There are several buildings surrounding the village green used for community activities. These include the parish hall, village hall and scout hut. A cricket pitch adjoins the village green.
Within Harlington Manor there is a leisure club, currently closed due to insolvency of owner. The club has a gym, pool, sauna and Steam rooms. The club does not allow children.
Harlington Manor is currently unoccupied and being marketed for sale.
, HUSA.
The village also has Harlington Lower School – a smaller than average school from reception class through to age 9, which received a "Good" rating in its ofsted report of November 2006. As Bedfordshire is a three tier schools system, most children in the middle age bracket spend their middle years at Parkfields in nearby Toddington.
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, near the M1 motorway
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
. The nearest town is Flitwick
Flitwick
Flitwick, pronounced , is a small town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-Location:...
about three miles to the north. Many residents commute from the village to work in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Road
The village is about 1.5 miles from junction 12 of the M1M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, 7 miles (11 km) north of Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, 10 miles (16 km) south of Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
and 40 miles NNW of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Rail
Harlington has a railway station,in the west of the village. The station is served by First Capital ConnectFirst Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...
's Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...
route trains. From Harlington station
Harlington railway station
Harlington railway station is located in Bedfordshire, at the west of Harlington village.It was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. The original intention had been to call it "Harlington for Toddington". The station buildings still exist and were carefully restored...
, you can travel north to Flitwick
Flitwick
Flitwick, pronounced , is a small town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-Location:...
and Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
, or south to Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
, , St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
, Central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, East Croydon
East Croydon station
East Croydon station is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, 10.35 miles south of London Bridge in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the largest and busiest station in Croydon and the busiest in London outside Travelcard Zone 1 in terms of the number of passengers entering and exiting...
, Gatwick Airport and Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
Buses
The X42 service provides a direct link to ToddingtonToddington
Toddington could be*Toddington, Bedfordshire*Toddington, Gloucestershire*Toddington, West Sussex...
, Westoning
Westoning
Westoning is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire located about a mile south of the town of Flitwick. It is about two miles north-east of junction 12 of the M1 motorway, and beside the First Capital Connect railway line to London and beyond...
, Flitwick
Flitwick
Flitwick, pronounced , is a small town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.-Location:...
, Ampthill
Ampthill
Ampthill is a small town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population of about 6,000. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council. A regular market has taken place on Thursdays for centuries.-History:...
, Houghton Conquest
Houghton Conquest
Houghton Conquest is a village and civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish also includes the hamlet of How End.-History:...
, Kempston
Kempston
Kempston is a town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. Once known as the largest village in England, Kempston is now a town with its own town council. It has a population of about 20,000, and together with Bedford, it forms an urban area with around 100,000 inhabitants, which is the...
, and Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
.
Amenities
Harlington has two pubs, the Carpenters ArmsCarpenter Arms
Carpenters Arms is a common British pub name.The Carpenters Arms are today an unrelated series of public houses informally referred to as "Pubs" within the United Kingdom. Historically the first such named "Carpenter Arms" was based on a forfeit Carpenter Coat of Arms patent and supported by the...
and The Old Sun. There are several churches, including the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Harlington Methodist Church and Life Church (part of the Pioneer network of churches). There is a small parade of shops, consisting of a newsagent, an off licence, a post office, a hairdresser, a beauty salon and a gunsmiths.
There are several buildings surrounding the village green used for community activities. These include the parish hall, village hall and scout hut. A cricket pitch adjoins the village green.
Within Harlington Manor there is a leisure club, currently closed due to insolvency of owner. The club has a gym, pool, sauna and Steam rooms. The club does not allow children.
Harlington Manor is currently unoccupied and being marketed for sale.
Schools
The village is home to Harlington Lower and Upper Schools which serve students up to A-level. Many students from the surrounding Luton and Bedfordshire area travel to Harlington for its schools. Harlington Upper School recently became a specialist science college, thanks to funding raised by its Parent-Teacher AssociationParent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
, HUSA.
The village also has Harlington Lower School – a smaller than average school from reception class through to age 9, which received a "Good" rating in its ofsted report of November 2006. As Bedfordshire is a three tier schools system, most children in the middle age bracket spend their middle years at Parkfields in nearby Toddington.
History
- 1086: The Domesday bookDomesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
calls the village Herlingdone and lists Nigel D'Albini as Lord of the Manor; he took over from four Saxon thegns who lost their lands at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. - 1300-1350: The Church of St Mary the Virgin was built, replacing what was probably a wooden church with a thatched roof. The church tower was not added until the fifteenth century.
- 1349: Over a quarter of the village died of the Black DeathBlack DeathThe Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
. - 1660: John BunyanJohn BunyanJohn Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on 29 August.-Life:In 1628,...
led an unauthorised religious meeting at a farmhouse near Harlington, for which he was arrested and taken to Harlington House. After being questioned he was imprisoned for twelve years in Bedford county gaol. While serving his sentence he began writing his most famous work, The Pilgrim's ProgressThe Pilgrim's ProgressThe Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been...
. - 1859: the first village school was built.
- 1868: Harlington railway station opened.
- 1920: Harlington War Memorial dedicated to the memory of 27 Harlington men killed in the First World War.