The Parish of Brogborough in General
The remains of the Round House December 2008
Landscape
Brogborough lies on a solid geology of Oxford Clay Formation. This mudstone was laid down between 154 and 164 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of the Jurassic Period. It follows that much of the soil is clay, as witness Brogborough's growth, as housing for a brick works; though a good deal of soil in the inhabited area is till - a diamicton formed during the Ice Ages of the last two million years.
Brogborough extends from the top of Brogborough Hill down a comparatively steep slope. The ruins of the Round House near the top of the slope stand at 302 feet above sea-level whereas Ridgmont Station is at about 270 feet.
Name
The Place Names of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire by A Mawer and Frank M Stenton was published in 1926 but is still the most scholarly study of the county’s place names and their origins. Brogborough first appears in the historical record in 1222. The name means “badger hill”, the first element being the Old English word “brocc”, brock being a word for a badger still regularly employed in everyday speech well into the 20th century. The name has had a few variations over time;
- Brockeberg: 1222-1286;
- Brockebergh: 1247;
- Brokesbery: 1247;
- Brokeberwe:1261;
- Brockeborewe: 1308;
- Brockburwe: 1324;
- Brockeburwe: 1324;
- Brokkebergh: 1328;
- Brokburgh: 1331-1388;
- Brokeburgh: 1331-1338;
- Brockeburgh: 1331-1354;
- Broybury: 1363-1383;
- Broybiry: 1363-1383;
- Brokboroughe: 1389-1396;
- Brockborough: 1509;
- Brobury: 1525.
The former Brogborough Club December 2008
Administrative History
Brogborough was a small settlement and area in the parishes of Lidlington, Ridgmont and Husborne Crawley. The modern settlement owes almost everything to houses built to house workers at the various brickworks in the locality. Ironically, it became a separate civil parish in 1990 at a time when the brick industry in Bedfordshire was in terminal decline.
Entrance to the former Brogborough Club December 2008
Population
Brogborough has only been a parish since 1990. The census figures so far are as follows:
- 1991: 318
- 2001: 345
- 2011: 302