58-674: Shefford can mean the following: Shefford, Bedfordshire , a town in Bedfordshire, England Shefford Town F.C. , the football (soccer) club based in that town Great Shefford , a village in Berkshire, England Shefford, Quebec , a township in Eastern Quebec, Canada Shefford County, Quebec , a historic county in Quebec Shefford (federal electoral district) ,
116-520: A non-League football club, Shefford Town & Campton F.C. and boys and girls football teams at Shefford Saints Juniors FC. Both clubs play home matches at Shefford Sports Club on Hitchin Road. Wales and West Ham footballer, Jack Collison played for Shefford Saints and grew up in Shefford. A modern, concrete skatepark is at Lovelace Meadow. Midland Railway The Midland Railway ( MR )
174-514: A branch led to the MR Nottingham station. The Great Northern Railway by then passed through Grantham and both railway companies paid court to the fledgling line. Meanwhile, Nottingham had woken up to its branch line status and was keen to expand. The MR made a takeover offer only to discover that a shareholder of the GN had already gathered a quantity of Ambergate shares. An attempt to amalgamate
232-759: A federal electoral district in Southern Quebec Shefford (provincial electoral district) , a provincial electoral district also in Southern Quebec [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shefford&oldid=1171861337 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
290-763: A few miles north of Matlock in 1849. However the M&;BR had become part of the LNWR in 1846, thus instead of being a partner it had an interest in thwarting the Midland. In 1863 the MR reached Buxton, just as the LNWR arrived from the other direction by the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway . In 1867 the MR began an alternative line through Wirksworth (now the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway ), to avoid
348-823: A large medical practice. The town has a scout group , Guiding Groups and a local Army Cadet Force hut at Chicksands on the Army Intelligence Corps base, which is part of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire ACF, in 4 Company. Shefford railway station was on the Bedford–Hitchin line but closed to passengers in 1961 and to freight in 1964; its goods yard is now the site of an industrial estate . Current public transport provision consists of hourly buses 9A and 9B between Bedford and Hitchin , operated by Stagecoach East and promoted by Intalink . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia . Television signals are received from
406-440: A newsagent, a convenience store, a charity shop, an angling centre, a bakery, a tea room, a wine bar, a Post Office with sorting facilities and an ironmonger/building supply centre. Community institutions include a fire station, bowls club, sports club, Memorial Hall and Community Hall. A public library is on High Street. There are four Churches - Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic. Several schools and nurseries, and
464-648: A small pool beneath Carters Hill, a few metres to the east of the M1 motorway and just to the east of the village of Chalton . The River Hit runs from Standalone Farm Hill to make the flow as seen in Shefford today but flows from the Baldock area in smaller flows. The Hit and the Flit meet just a short way down the path from the Northbridge Street river bridge to form the historic Ivel Navigation. The River Ivel joins
522-471: A street fair on October the 11th each year, remains today. By the fifteenth century the church of St Michael and All Angels had been built at the eastern end of the High Street near the junction with Southbridge Street, originally serving as a chapel of ease to Campton . The working class poet Robert Bloomfield lived in Shefford from 1812 until his death there in 1823. One of the town's schools
580-545: Is a marvel of Gothic Revival architecture , in the form of the Midland Grand Hotel by Gilbert Scott , which faces Euston Road , and the wrought-iron train shed designed by William Barlow . Its construction was not simple, since it had to approach through the ancient St Pancras Old Church graveyard. Below was the Fleet Sewer, while a branch from the main line ran underground with a steep gradient beneath
638-483: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Shefford, Bedfordshire Shefford is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire , England. At the 2021 census it had a population of 7,311. It lies 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Bedford . The name Shefford means "sheep ford", referencing the fords over
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#1732779527882696-523: Is named after him. The Ivel Navigation was extended to reach the town in 1823, with the extension also being known as the Shefford Canal. It closed to traffic in 1876 following growing competition from the railways. The Midland Railway opened Shefford railway station in 1857 on its original main line to London. The route was downgraded to become the Bedford to Hitchin branch line following
754-582: The Bedford to Hitchin Line , joining the GN at Hitchin for King's Cross. The line began its life in a proposition presented for the shareholders by George Hudson on 2 May 1842 as: "To vest £600,000 in the South Midland Railway Company in their line from Wigston to Hitchin." a full decade before realisation. The delay was partly due to the withdrawal of GN's interest in the competing scheme,
812-639: The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway found a place elsewhere in Hudson's empire with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway , though he later returned. The MR was in a commanding position having its Derby headquarters at the junctions of the two main routes from London to Scotland, by its connections to the London and Birmingham Railway in the south, and from York via the York and North Midland Railway in
870-563: The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in 1912. It had running rights on some lines, and it developed lines in partnership with other railways, being involved in more 'Joint' lines than any other. In partnership with the GN it owned the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway to provide connections from the Midlands to East Anglia, the UK's biggest joint railway. The MR provided motive power for
928-763: The Midland Counties Railway , the North Midland Railway , and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway , the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway joined two years later. These met at the Tri-Junct station at Derby, where the MR established its locomotive and later its carriage and wagon works. Leading it were George Hudson from the North Midland, and John Ellis from the Midland Counties. James Allport from
986-728: The North British Railway had built the Waverley Line through the Scottish Borders from Carlisle to Edinburgh. The MR was obliged to go ahead and the Settle to Carlisle opened in 1876. The Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway opened for goods traffic on 1 December 1879 and for passenger traffic on 1 March 1880. By the middle of the decade investment had been paid for; passenger travel
1044-600: The River Flit and River Hit. The name was recorded as "Shipford" in 1229, with the modern spelling being recorded from as early as 1262. The town gives its name to Shefford, Quebec . Roman remains were discovered in Shefford in the early nineteenth century. Shefford grew up between a pair of fords on the main road from Bedford to Hitchin where it crosses the River Flit and River Hit. Another road leading west from that main road, heading towards Ampthill , became
1102-526: The River Great Ouse at Tempsford . There are two tiers of local government covering Shefford, at civil parish (town) and unitary authority level: Shefford Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council . The town council is based at Shefford House at 15 High Street. Central Bedfordshire Council has its main offices at Priory House in Chicksands , immediately west of Shefford. Shefford
1160-614: The Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio on 95.5 FM, Heart East on 96.9 FM, and Bedford Radio, a community based radio station which broadcast online. The town is served by the local newspapers, Bedford Today (formerly Times & Citizen ) and The Biggleswade Chronicle . Shefford is served by secondary school Samuel Whitbread Academy , middle school Robert Bloomfield Academy, Shefford Lower School, Shefford Nursery, BEST nursery and Acorn Pre-School & The Mighty Oaks. Shefford has
1218-615: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway , and was a one-third partner in the Cheshire Lines Committee . In 1913, the company achieved a total revenue of £15,129,136 (equivalent to £1,880,400,000 in 2023) with working expenses of £9,416,981 (equivalent to £1,170,440,000 in 2023). With the onset of the First World War in 1914, unified Government control of the Midland, and all the main line railways,
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#17327795278821276-608: The Bedford and Leicester Railway, after Midland purchased the Leicester and Swannington Railway and the Ashby Canal and Tramway, which were to have been the feeder lines. With the competition thwarted there was less rush to have this line as well as its branch lines to Huntingdon (from Kettering) and Northampton (from Bedford) finished. Both these branches were subsequently built by independent companies. While this took some of
1334-578: The Bristol to Birmingham route. While the two parties were bickering over the price, the MR's John Ellis overheard two directors of the Birmingham and Bristol Railway on a London train discussing the business, and pledged that the MR would match anything the Great Western would offer. Since it would have brought broad gauge into Curzon Street with the possibility of extending it to the Mersey, it
1392-634: The LNWR was settled before the Settle and Carlisle was built, but Parliament refused to allow the MR to withdraw from the project. The MR was also under pressure from Scottish railway companies, which were eagerly awaiting the Midland traffic reaching Carlisle as it would allow them to challenge the Caledonian Railway 's dominance on the West Coast traffic to Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Glasgow and South Western Railway had its own route from Carlisle to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock, whilst
1450-540: The LNWR, in what became known as the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee . Continuing friction with the LNWR caused the MR to join the MS&;LR and the GN in the Cheshire Lines Committee , which also gave scope for wider expansion into Lancashire and Cheshire, and finally a new station at Manchester Central . In the meantime Sheffield had at last gained a main-line station. Following representations by
1508-463: The Leicester and Hitchin railway cost £1,750,000 (equivalent to £222,460,000 in 2023). By 1860 the MR was in a much better position and was able to approach new ventures aggressively. Its carriage of coal and iron – and beer from Burton-on-Trent – had increased by three times and passenger numbers were rising, as they were on the GN. Since GN trains took precedence on its own lines, MR passengers were becoming more and more delayed. Finally in 1862
1566-520: The MR joined with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway (M&BR), which was also looking for a route to London from Manchester, in a proposal for a line from Ambergate . The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway , it received the Royal Assent in 1846, in spite of opposition from the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway . It was completed as far as Rowsley
1624-672: The MR was a connection between Sheffield and Manchester, by a branch at Dore to Chinley , opened in 1894 through the Totley and Cowburn Tunnels, now the Hope Valley Line . In the 1870s a dispute with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) over access rights to the LNWR line to Scotland caused the MR to construct the Settle and Carlisle line, the highest main line in England, to secure access to Scotland. The dispute with
1682-720: The Midland's infrastructure remains in use and visible, such as the Midland Main Line and the Settle–Carlisle line , and some of its railway hotels still bear the name Midland Hotel . The Midland Railway originated from 1832 in Leicestershire / Nottinghamshire , with the purpose of serving the needs of local coal owners. The company was formed on 10 May 1844 by the Midland Railway (Consolidation) Act 1844 ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. xviii) which merged
1740-432: The Midland, but it still had designs on Manchester. At the same time the LNWR was under threat from the GN's attempts to enter Manchester by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway . In 1850 the MR, though much more secure, was still a provincial line. Ellis realised that if it were to fend off its competitors it must expand outwards. The first step, in 1853, was to appoint James Allport as general manager, and
1798-518: The cities concerned were provided with a rail service, it would make it more difficult to justify another line. They were approved while the bill for the direct line was still before Parliament, forming the present day Lincoln Branch and the Syston to Peterborough Line . The Leeds and Bradford Railway had been approved in 1844. By 1850 it was losing money but a number of railways offered to buy it. Hudson made an offer more or less on his own account and
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1856-532: The coalfields that became its major source of income. Passengers from Sheffield continued to use Rotherham Masborough until a direct route was completed in 1870. Meanwhile, it extended its influence into the Leicestershire coalfields, by buying the Leicester and Swannington Railway in 1846, and extending it to Burton in 1849. After the merger, London trains were carried on the shorter Midland Counties route. The former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
1914-471: The council in 1867 the MR promised to build a through line within two years. To the MR's surprise, the Sheffield councillors then backed an improbable speculation called the Sheffield, Chesterfield, Bakewell, Ashbourne, Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway. This was unsurprisingly rejected by Parliament and the Midland built its "New Road" into a station at Pond Street. Among the last of the major lines built by
1972-660: The decision was taken for the MR to have its own terminus in the Capital, as befitted a national railway. On 22 June 1863, the Midland Railway (Extension to London) Bill was passed: The new line deviated at Bedford, through a gap in the Chiltern Hills at Luton , reaching London by curving around Hampstead Heath to a point between King's Cross and Euston. The line from Bedford to Moorgate opened for passenger services on 13 July 1868 with services into St Pancras station starting on 1 October 1868. St Pancras station
2030-658: The line gave the MR an exit to the north, which became the start of the Settle and Carlisle line, and it gave the MR a much more convenient station at Leeds Wellington . In spite of the objections of Hudson, for the MR and others, the "London and York Railway" (later the Great Northern Railway ) led by Edmund Denison persisted, and the bill passed through Parliament in 1846. In 1851 the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway completed its line from Grantham as far as Colwick , from where
2088-562: The line with the GN was foiled by Ellis, who managed to obtain an Order in Chancery preventing the GN from running into Nottingham. However, in 1851 it opened a new service to the north that included Nottingham. In 1852 an ANB&EJR train arrived in Nottingham with a GN locomotive at its head. When it uncoupled and went to run round the train, it found its way blocked by a MR engine while another blocked its retreat. The engine
2146-626: The merger of the standard gauge Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and the broad gauge Bristol and Gloucester Railway . They met at Gloucester via a short loop of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway . The change of gauge at Gloucester meant that everything had to be transferred between trains, creating chaos, and the C&;GWU was owned by the Great Western Railway , which wished to extend its network by taking over
2204-626: The neighbouring parishes of Southill , Clifton , Meppershall and Campton at the same time. Morrisons and Co-op supermarkets are in the town centre and a Tesco store is attached to the Esso Petrol Station on the outskirts. There are many public houses, the Banks and Taylor micro brewery (est. 1982) and Chinese, Indian and Turkish takeaways and restaurants, and a fish and chip shop. Shefford has two petrol stations, two car dealers, and two pharmacies. There are three estate agents,
2262-672: The next was to shake off the dependence on the LNWR to London . Although a bill for a line from Hitchin into King's Cross jointly with the GN , was passed in 1847 it had not been proceeded with. The bill was resubmitted in 1853 with the support of the people of Bedford, whose branch to the LNWR was slow and unreliable, and with the knowledge of the Northamptonshire iron deposits. The Leicester and Hitchin Railway ran from Wigston to Market Harborough , through Desborough , Kettering , Wellingborough and Bedford , then on
2320-682: The north. Almost immediately it took over the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway and the Erewash Valley Line in 1845, the latter giving access to the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfields. It absorbed the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway in 1847, extending the Erewash Valley Line from the latter between Chesterfield and Trent Junction at Long Eaton , completed to Chesterfield in 1862, giving access to
2378-708: The opening of a new main line in 1868. It closed to passengers in 1961 and freight in 1964. Between 1869 and 1974 Shefford was the site of an orphanage called St Francis' Boy's Home run by the Roman Catholic Church . It was situated on High Street next to the Catholic church of St Francis of Assisi . The church remains in use as a place of worship. The orphanage buildings have been converted into flats. During World War II an entire Jewish children's community came into being in Shefford as 500 pupils from Judith Grunfeld 's school were billeted in and around
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2436-537: The pressure off the route through Rugby, the GNR insisted that passengers for London alight at Hitchin, buying tickets in the short time available, to catch a GNR train to finish their journey. James Allport arranged a seven-year deal with the GN to run into King's Cross for a guaranteed £20,000 a year (equivalent to £2,410,000 in 2023), . Through services to London were introduced in February 1858. The construction of
2494-435: The problem of the Ambergate line. The section from Wirksworth to Rowsley, which would have involved some tricky engineering, was not completed because the MR gained control of the original line in 1871, but access to Manchester was still blocked at Buxton. At length an agreement was made with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) to share lines from a branch at Millers Dale and running almost alongside
2552-420: The station to join the Metropolitan Railway , which ran parallel to what is now Euston Road. The construction of the London Extension railway cost £9,000,000 (equivalent to £1,022,840,000 in 2023). From the 1820s proposals for lines from London and the East Midlands had been proposed, and they had considered using the Cromford and High Peak Railway to reach Manchester ( See Derby station ). Finally
2610-400: The symbols of Birmingham, Derby, Bristol, Leicester, Lincoln and Leeds. The wyvern , a legendary bipedal dragon, was used extensively as an emblem by the Midland, having inherited it from the Leicester and Swannington Railway . The MR, which used a wyvern sans legs (legless) above its crest, asserted that the "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia", and that it was "a quartering in
2668-406: The town arms of Leicester". The symbol appeared on everything from station buildings and bridges down to china, cutlery and chamber pots in its hotels, and was worn as a silver badge by all uniformed employees. However, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia". It has been associated with Leicester since
2726-443: The town's High Street. Both fords were later replaced by bridges; North Bridge over the Flit and South Bridge over the Hit. A market was being held at Shefford by 1225, with a formal market charter being issued in 1229. In 1312, another Royal charter granted Shefford the right to hold an annual fair. This was held at Michaelmas , and although at least two more fairs were established in the town at later dates, only this one, held as
2784-426: The town. The school was moved in 1939 and remained in Shefford until 1945. This was part of " Operation Pied Piper " where schools were moved in anticipation of wartime bombing. A book was written about this time, titled "Shefford: The Story of a Jewish School Community in Evacuation, 1939-1945", telling the story of the evacuated school. The River Flit and the River Hit run through the town. The River Flit rises as
2842-432: The whole system was so overloaded that no one was able to predict when many of the trains would reach their destinations. At this point Sir Guy Granet took over as general manager. He introduced a centralised traffic control system, and the locomotive power classifications that became the model for those used by British Railways. The MR acquired other lines, including the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway in 1903 and
2900-662: Was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 . The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby , where it had its headquarters. It amalgamated with several other railways to create the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at grouping in 1923. The Midland had a large network of lines emanating from Derby, stretching to London St Pancras , Manchester , Carlisle , Birmingham , and Bristol . It expanded as much through acquisitions as by building its own lines. It also operated ships from Heysham in Lancashire to Douglas and Belfast . A large amount of
2958-459: Was historically a chapelry and township in the ancient parish of Campton. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. It remained part of the ecclesiastical parish of Campton until 1903. Shefford Hardwick was an extra-parochial area north-west of Shefford. Such extra-parochial areas were made civil parishes in 1858. The parish of Shefford Hardwick was subsequently abolished in 1933 and absorbed into Shefford, which also gained territory from
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#17327795278823016-416: Was imposed through the medium of the Railway Executive Committee. The Midland retained its private sector independence, being given income to match 1913 levels, but was required to undertake huge volumes of military traffic, largely freight, with little opportunity to maintain the network and rolling stock. At the end of the war, the railways were worn out and it was obvious that resumption of pre-war business
3074-470: Was impossible. The Government passed the Railways Act 1921 by which all the main line railways were amalgamated into one or other of four new large concerns, in a process known as the "Grouping". The Midland Railway was a constituent of the new London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) from the beginning of 1923; it was the largest joint stock company in the world. The MR operated ships from Heysham to Douglas and Belfast . The coat of arms combines
3132-420: Was increasing, with new comfortable trains; and the mainstay of the line – goods, particularly minerals – was increasing dramatically. Allport retired in 1880, to be succeeded by John Noble and then by George Turner. By the new century the quantity of goods, particularly coal, was clogging the network. The passenger service was acquiring a reputation for lateness. Lord Farrar reorganised the expresses, but by 1905
3190-436: Was left with the traffic to Birmingham and Bristol , an important seaport. The original 1839 line from Derby had run to Hampton-in-Arden : the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway had built a terminus at Lawley Street in 1842, and on 1 May 1851 the MR started to run into Curzon Street . The line south was the Birmingham and Bristol Railway , which reached Curzon Street via Camp Hill . These two lines had been formed by
3248-477: Was progressing slowly through the Lake District, and there was pressure for a direct line from London to York. Permission had been gained for the Northern and Eastern Railway to run through Peterborough and Lincoln but it had barely reached Cambridge . Two obvious extensions of the Midland Counties line were from Nottingham to Lincoln and from Leicester to Peterborough. They had not been proceeded with, but Hudson saw that they would make ideal "stoppers": if
3306-445: Was shepherded to a nearby shed and the tracks were lifted. This episode became known as the "Battle of Nottingham" and, with the action moved to the courtroom, it was seven months before the locomotive was released. The London and Birmingham Railway and its successor the London and North Western Railway had been under pressure from two directions. Firstly the Great Western Railway had been foiled in its attempt to enter Birmingham by
3364-405: Was something that the other standard gauge lines wished to avoid, and they pledged to assist the MR with any losses it might incur. In the event all that was necessary was for the later LNWR to share Birmingham New Street with the Midland when it was opened in 1854, and Lawley Street became a goods depot. The MR controlled all the traffic to the North East and Scotland from London. The LNWR
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