Upper Crust Bakery Aspley Heath

Upper Crust Bakery July 2010

There has been a bakery on this spot for around a century at least. It is always thought of as being in Woburn Sands (which is in Buckinghamshire), but in fact it lies just on the Aspley Heath side of the parish and county boundary - the boundary itself being Hardwick Road.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed as to its rateable value. Aspley Heath was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting the property noted that it was owned and occupied by Horace Bernard Partridge [DV1/C242/142].

The brick and slate, detached building comprised a shop measuring 13 feet by 9 feet, a living room measuring 13 feet 3 inches by 11 feet, a kitchen measuring 7 feet 9 inches by 14 feet 6 inches, a lean-to conservatory and a living room measuring 11 feet by 10 feet. Four bedrooms, measuring, respectively 13 feet by 11 feet, 7 feet 9 inches by 11 feet, 8 feet 6 inches by 8 feet (plus 7 feet 6 inches by 10 feet) and 11 feet by 10 feet lay upstairs together with a reception room measuring 13 feet by 9 feet.

The bakehouse itself measured 16 feet by 12 feet 6 inches plus 8 feet by 8 feet 6 inches. The oven measured 63 square feet and there was a dough mixing machine with 12 feet 6 inches of shafting.

Outside lay a w. c., two old stables used as a store, with a loft above and an "old derelict cottage used store". There was also a brick and thatched stable for three. Mains water, drainage and gas were laid on. The valuer commented: "Good House" and "Best Situation". Directories reveal that Horace Partridge was the baker from at least 1914 until at least 1939.

The Upper Crust bakehouse July 2010