The Parish of Houghton Regis in General

Houghton Regis, 1912 [ref: Z1306/63/1/2]

Houghton Regis is an ancient parish one mile north of Dunstable and five miles north-west of Luton, with hamlets at Bidwell, Puddlehill, Sewell, Thorn, Tithe Farm and Upper Houghton Regis.

Landscape

Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912; at that time the parish comprised 4,390 acres, of which some 3,162¼ are arable land and 843¾ permanent grass. The soil was made up of loam and chalk, and the subsoil chalk with clay in parts. The principal crops were wheat, barley, beans and peas.

Name

The name Houghton comes from the Saxon word 'hoe' meaning the spur of a hill, and 'tun' meaning a village. By the 11th century, much of South Bedfordshire had become royal land and Houghton became known as Houghton Regis or King's Houghton to distinguish it from the other Houghton in Bedfordshire, which became known as Houghton Conquest.

• 1086: Houstone
• 1156: Hohtun
• 1156: Hohton
• 1158: Hocton
• 1169: Houcton
• 1220: Hoghton
• 1242: Houtun
• 1287: Kyngeshouton
• 1353: Houghton Regis

Administrative History

Houghton Regis is an ancient parish in the Manshead Hundred which includes: Aspley Guise, Leighton Buzzard, Potsgrove, Toddington, Woburn and others. There are two tiers of local government covering Houghton Regis, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Houghton Regis Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. From 1894 to 1974 Houghton Regis came under Luton Rural District. In 1974 Luton Rural District was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 and Houghton Regis became part of South Bedfordshire. In 2009 South Bedfordshire was abolished and Houghton Regis became part of Central Bedfordshire. The local boundary lines have been the subject of many changes, with much land being taken away from the parish. In 1907 area today known as High Street North was formerly part of Upper Houghton and was transferred to Dunstable and in 1939 a part of the parish was transferred to Luton. The boundary lines continued to change well into the 1950s when the Brewers Hill Estate was being built. This estate was again originally incorporated into Upper Houghton but was lost to Dunstable when the borough was extended. The Parish was not happy about this, and the Parish Council put up a strong case in their defence (1953) including the scandalous increase in rates. Houghton Regis officially becomes a town in 1980.

Population

The Domesday Book of 1086 contains an entry for Houghton Regis showing it had 50 households comprising of 38 villagers and 12 smallholders. As these individuals would have been heads of households, this number should be multiplied by at least four to provide an idea of the actual figure.

The Hearth Tax of 1671 records 113 dwellings in Houghton Regis for a total of 198 hearths. It has been estimated that this represented a population of about 446. The largest number of hearths - 12 - were in the house of Mr Henry Brandreth. There is one forge.

• 1086: 200
• 1671: 446
• 1801: 784
• 1811: 1,020
• 1851: 2,213
• 1901: 2,608
• 1921: 1,435
• 1951: 2,826
• 1961: 7,293
• 1991: 15,762
• 2001: 16,970
• 2011: 17,283
• 2021: 18,818