Grovebury Pits Leighton Buzzard

It is very frustrating that a lot of sand and clay quarries in the Grovebury and Billington Road area of Leighton Buzzard are identified on the 1925 Rating and Valuation Act survey maps but the corresponding reference books for the survey, carried out in 1927, have never been deposited with Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service.

The pits are difficult to identify in the late 19th and early 20th century records of pits in the area as one often finds references to "Grovebury Pit" or "Grovebury Pits" so it is difficult to work out, without a map, which is never attached, which one is the subject of the document! The pits as detailed in 1927 below are shown on the maps below.

A George Garside Pit just north of today's Chartmoor Road and west of Billington Road.

Brickyard Pit  - disused by 1927.

Another Brickyard Pit - north east of the Grovebury Road spur leading down to Grovebury Farm and north-west of the farm itself.

Grovebury Farm Pit - bordered by the River Ouzel to the west and in a position which is, today, just north of the A505 Leighton-Linslade bypass.

Grovebury Sidings Pit which lay west of Billington Road in the area of today's Chartmoor Road; owned by Leighton Buzzard Sand Company

Pratts Pit owned by J. Arnold and Sons Limited and lying between Pages Park and the modern crossroads on Billington Road with Chartmoor Road and the modern housing estate