Timeline of Events in Biddenham
1086: Biddenham is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
1281: The Dunstable Chronicle records that during a severe frost an ice flow carried a woman from Biddenham to Bedford "when she was seen no more", a distance of four miles!
1303: Henry Bobbe of Lower Caldicote hanged Robert de Bole on Biddenham Gallows. They were taken down in 1801.
1349: Vicar of Biddenham Church dies of the plague.
1675: Bromham Mill built.
1700 (approx.): Village pond built. It was originally the Carp Pond for Manor Farm House (now Manor Hospital).
1706: Dovecote built close to the pond. It would have provided a source of pigeons for Biddenham Manor House.
1766: Biddenham Houses built. According to tradition it was once the hunting lodge of a Duke of Marlborough.
1832: St. James's V.A. Lower School built. It originally consisted of one classroom. The school was enlarged in 1966.
1847: The 'Three Tuns' becomes a public house (it was once a family cottage dating back to the 17th century).
1857: A 40ft shaft discovered containing a Roman sculpture, pottery and a skeleton north of Bromham Road.
1861: James Wyatt finds old stone age (palaeolithic) implements and remains of long extinct animals in Biddenham river gravels.
1880: First village post office opened.
1894: Biddenham Parish Council formed with seven members.
1900-1901: 'Three Gables', no. 17 Biddenham Turn built. The house was included in Gertrude Jekyll and Lawrence Weaver's 'Gardens for small country houses (1912) as a good example of a house that had a close connection between house and garden. The house was designed by Charles Edward Mallows and George Grocock in the arts and crafts style.
1902: Lectern designed by Charles Edward Mallows for St. James's Church in the arts and crafts style.
1911: Kempston-Biddenham detachment of the Red Cross formed by Lady Ampthill.
1914-18: Scottish and Welsh regiments billeted in the village.
1922: Biddenham Women's Institute founded.
1930-32: Electricity supply installed for the village.
1932: Biddenham Dovecote restored under the direction of Professor Richardson.
1934: Piped water supplied to the village.
1952: St. Gregory's Middle School opened.
1957: Main sewer installed.
1961: Biddenham Society founded.
1961: Biddenham Guides founded.
1966: Biddenham dovecote demolished. It had been built in the 18th century and stood in a field near the village pond. The building was timber framed and could house 461 nests.
1966: Biddenham Manor sold on the open market for 24,500. In the latter part of the nineteenth century it was owned by Charles Howard (son of the industrialist John Howard). It became a nursing home and is now a private hospital.
1967: Parts of Biddenham designated a conservation area under the Civic Amenities Act 1967.
1967: The village smithy demolished on the village green. The last blacksmith was Mr. Herbert who died in 1966.
1967: Biddenham Cricket Club founded.
1971: The census records 730 inhabitants in the parish of Biddenham, 84% of which own a car.
1972: Bromham Mill purchased by Bedfordshire County Council.
1974: Bromham Mill destroyed by fire.
1980: Biddenham House and its contents auctioned.
1988: Biddenham Upper School opened.
1990: Biddenham Rugby Club founded.
1991: Biddenham Tennis Club founded.
1993: Cricket pavilion and leisure centre opened costing 450,000. The complex was funded by Beazer and Twigden Homes.
1995: Bovis Homes Ltd gain permission to build an 18 hole golf course, country park and 100 detached houses, representing the first phase of the Biddenham Loop development.
1995: A medieval manuscript dating to 1280 is discovered in Biddenham Church. The British Museum examine it and find it to be a page from a lectionary (a book read out loud by monks over dinner). It is not known how it came to be in the church.
1998: Biddenham Loop Country Park opened. The park was developed by Bovis Homes and covers 75 acres.
2003: On 26th October H.M. Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire Mr S.C. Whitbread unveiled a commemorative plaque to Bedford Group Royal Observer Corps who had occupied premises on the edge of Day's Lane from 1942-1992. Before the purpose built headquarters were built in 1942 the Royal Observer Corps had operated from what was the Post Office in Dame Alice Street, Bedford.