AMPTHILL

History . . AMPTHILL is  rightly famed for its Georgian character, but the true source of its charm lies  deeper than this, for a Georgian front often conceals an earlier interior, and  even the Victorians have made their contribution. Nowhere is this better  illustrated than in the Town Clock  20th Century electric in a late 18th  century concept surmounted by an early 18th century cupola on a 19th century  building. THE  MARKET was for centuries crucial to the life  of the town, bringing trade from the surrounding villages and generally  supporting the local economy. Ampthill market has been held on a Thursday since  1219 and was confirmed by royal charter when the first of a number of annual  fairs was authorised. The markets and fairs were for cattle as well as goods,  and spilled along the main roads, particularly Dunstable Street, which was known  as Cowfair End for a time. In the  mid-1780s, Lord Upper Ossory of Ampthill Park led a campaign to improve the town  centre (and increase income from the market) by creating a Market Square in  front of a new Market House (now Richardson's), and tidying up the butchers'  shambles, which ran from the Market House and into the Oxlet. . . Ampthill Town  clock . Church Street,  Ampthill (The butchers  had been particularly unpopular in the 15th century when they were always  throwing rotting offal into the town pond, the Oxflood). A new well was sunk on the Market Square and a pump installed  encased in a stone obelisk (the gift of Lord Ossory) and surmounted by an oil  lamp. The town clock, formerly on the old market house, was set in a new turret  surmounted by a cupola, and placed on the 15th century Moot HallL where the  manor court met. The Moot Hall (similar to that at Elstow) was pulled down in  1852, and the town clock moved to present Clock House, which replaced  it. From the Market Square two of the  town's former coaching inns can be see: the White Hart, a front of about 1730 on  a very much older building once known as the Red Hart, remains in business. The  King's Arms, formerly the Crown, now 9 Church Street, has an 18th century front,  but is similarly much older; it closed in the 1950s when the ground floor was  converted into shops. In the Kings Arms  Yard are ancient buildings used in the 17th century to house needy people at the  expense of the parish. It is thought that the roundel of pargetting with crown,  fleur-de-lis, the dated 1677 and initials W.H commemorates this use  the  initials standing for Work House. The path leads  on to the newer parts of the town passing The Hop Ground, formerly belonging to  the White Hart, but now after a century and more of neglect a remarkable garden  created from 1967 by William Nourish, and since his death maintained for the  Town Council by a group of volunteers. The garden is open to the public from  time to time. CHURCH  STREET, leading off from the Market Square in  the direction of Maulden contains many interesting buildings most notably Avenue  House (number 20) formerly the home of Professor Sir Albert Richardson, KCVO,  one-time President of the Royal Academy, whose love for the Georgian period is  legendary and was reflected in his work as an architect. 'The Professor' died in  1964, and plaque on the wall of his former home carried a tribute from his old  friend John Betjeman, 'He strove to preserve the best in English landscape and  buildings ………..' The house was built for John Morris, a brewer, to the design,  it is thought, of John Wing the Bedford architect, in 1790, the easternmost  section having been added in 1819. The house takes its name from a lime walk in  the garden. On the opposite side of the  road is the Ampthill Masonic Centre built in the early 1860s as a Court House,  the architect being Sir John Taylor, KCB. In 1961 James Hanratty was brought  before the magistrates here accused of the murder of Michael Gregson in a lay-by  off the A6 at Clophill, a crime for which he was ultimately hanged in the last  judicial hanging in this country. The courts moved to new premises in Woburn  Street in 1963. Next door, now divided  into four, as a fine Jacobean House once the home of Edmund Wingate (1596-1656)  mathematician and legal writer and reputedly the inventor of the slide rule. For  a time he had lived in Paris where he taught Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I,  to speak the English language; but his later sympathies were very much with the  parliamentary cause. A later owner and resident was George Wateson, born in  Ampthill and for a time Rector of Millbrook. But he was deprived of the Living  for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary on the grounds  that to do this would break the oath he had already taken to James II. (There  were over 400 good and saintly clergy who were similarly deprived for  conscience's sake at that time: they are known as  Nonjurors). On the opposite side of the  road is Gates House (number 28) built in about 1807 and distinguished by a fine  wrought iron screen and entrance gates thought to have been those made for Park  House by the local blacksmith Jasper Grimes and designed by John Lumley, in the  early 1700s. At the brow f the hill is THE  Wingfield Club, opened as a United Services Club by the Princess Beatrice in  1921. The house, built in 1742 by Catherine Coppin, was for a time the home of  the Revd Charles Cavendish Bentinck, one-time Rector of Ridgmont, and his wife  Sinetta. For some years they had rented the house now 41 Church Street, but  moved here in 1848. Two years later Mrs Bentinck died, and shortly her husband  married again, the eldest daughter of that marriage eventually becoming Countess  of Strathmore, mother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Modern housing developments to the east and south of Church  Street occupy what was formerly the estate of Sir Anthony Wingfield (1857-1952).  Ampthill House, which stood where the eastern section of Brinsmade Road is now,  had been built in 1829, but was considerably enlarged by Mr Wingfield (as he was  then) to provide accommodation for the large number of visitors he entertained.  His private zoo was a great attraction, stately Edwardian ladies and  distinguished gentlemen (9ncoluding minor and foreign royalty_ were pleased to  be photographed on the most unlikely mounts, while camels, bison, pigs,  ostriches and llamas roamed the estate freely, and were made to work where  possible. Many of the animals were transferred to Whipsnade when that zoo  opened, and all had long gone when following Sir Anthony's death, the house was  pulled down and its parkland built upon. The Cloisters is a more recent development on the Ampthill House estate  and marks the site of a modest 17th century mansion reputedly built for  Ampthill's most famous son, Richard Nicolls (although documentary evidence for  this legend has not – as yet – been found). Nicolls was born in 1625 at Great  Lodge in Ampthill Park where his father was a keeper, and early in life entered  the royal service. He followed the royal family into exile on the continent  after the execution of Charles I and became a friend of his son, James Duke of  York (afterwards James II). After the restoration Richard Nicolls was sent as  senior of three commissioners with a small supporting force, to recover the  North American territories from the Dutch. In 1664 he received the surrender of  Nieuw Amsterdam which he renamed New York, after the Duke of York, and here he  remained for a while as Governor. Having retired to Ampthill, he was called to  attend James, then Lord High Admiral, at the battle of Sole Bay (Southwold) in  1672. Mortally wounded by a Dutch cannon ball, his body was brought back to  Ampthill for burial, the fatal cannon ball being incorporated into his memorial  in the parish church. . Ampthill Parish  Church . THE PARISH CHURCH, dedicated in honour  of Saint Andrew, in its present form dates from 14th and 15th centuries with  19th and 20th century additions; but there was a church on the same site in  Norman times, and perhaps earlier. A comprehensive guide book is available at  the church. CHURCH  SQUARE has on its east side Brandreth House, now two, built for  Thomas Gibbs in about 1810. He was a noted seedsman to the Board of Agriculture  for whom we did much experimental work on grasses, and married Sarah Brandreth  of Houghton Regis, hence the house's name. Adjoining are the Feoffee Almshouses,  maintained still by feoffees (trustees) using the income from charitable  endowments made by townsfolk in earlier centuries. The almshouses were  established before 1485, and those on the left of the gateway may be of even  earlier date; but the houses which border the churchyard and the one to the  right of the gateway were built in the 19th century. On the west side  of Church Square the imposing three-storey Dynevor House has the initials S.V  and the date 1725 on the rainwater heads. S.V. was Sir Simon Urlin, Recorder of  the City of London from 1742 to 1746, who had the house refronted and remodelled  at that time. . . . . RECTORY  LANE leads from west of the church tower by  footpath to either Houghton Conquest (following the churchyard boundary) or  Bedford Road, which is reached by the Holly Walk, a path made in the early 1820s  as a short cut from the church to Park House. A short way along the Maulden Road, on the north side, is Gas House Lane,  a reminder that the town's gas works was built here in 1849. This was formerly  South Gate Walk, the principal approach to Houghton House, home of the Bruce  family whose head was the Earl of Ailesbury. . . . Feoffee  Almshouses, Amphill Their 17th  century walled garden and orchard can be seen ahead. The large new housing estate leading off from the roundabout  in the Maulden Road is reached by Ailesbury Road (on the side of Cut Throat  Lane!). The roads of this development bear the names of many worthy families  from Ampthill's history. . . . BEDFORD STREETis the most changed of all the town's four main  roads, having been considerably restricted on its eastern side until the late  1930s by the buildings of Ampthill Brewery which had been established by John  Morris in the 1770s, flourished a century under family management, and retained  the Morris name until its closure in 1926, when the business was taken over by  J.W. Green of Luton. Ampthill Brewery was among the largest in the county and  its loss was a significant one for the town. Nothing remains of the buildings,  except a vaulted store  now a restaurant – and a few walls around the car park.  The market was moved here from Market Square in 1987. The first building to be put up on the brewery site was a  cinema, The Zonita, which opened in 1937 and closed in 1960  a brief but  colourful existence. Converted into office buildings, the Zonita became a  snooker hall in 1982, and later its ground floor was made into small shops named  Rose Walk. Further up Bedford Street and  now used as a garage, is the former National . Holly  Walk School, one of  the town's two main schools. Supported by the parish church, this school opened  in 1845 and closed 1954 when the local authority took responsibility for  education in the town. The Bedford Road  continues to the top of the hill where it becomes Hazelwood Lane. Here, a sign  points the way to Houghton House, a magnificently sited Jacobean mansion built  by Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in about 1615. Dismantled in 1794, the house has  been a ruin for many years, but from what remains and from old records and  pictures it can be seen that this was a building of considerable distinction  with impressive porticos at the north and west fronts and corner towers  surmounted by concave pinacles with gilded finials. From 1620 until 1738 it was  the home of the Bruces, Earls of Ailesbury, prominent in local life and at court  where they held high office. The last Lord Ailesbury to live here was Thomas, a  supporter and friend of James II and consequently under constant suspicion  following that monarch's departure in 1688. Eventually the situation became  intolerable, and he was forced to retire to the continent where he lived at  Brussels until his death at the age of 85 in 1741. Francis, Marquess of Tavistock, came to live here shortly  before his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Keppel, but in 1767 he was killed in a  riding accident in Houghton Park, and within a year his widow had died too, 'of  a broken heart'. The Duke of Bedford who had bought the estate in 1738, wished  to farm the land but had difficulty in finding tenants for the house, and so  after a while it was dismantled. . . Houghton  House DUNSTABLE STREET, though victim of too  much traffic, has some historic and distinctive features. Number 105 was in the  late 18th and early 19th centuries the home of the Royal School of Embroidering  Females who, under the patronage of Queen Charlotte, made many of the complex  and lavish hangings used in the refurbishing of Windsor Castle in hand at that  time. On the opposite side of the road The Gazebo is all that remains of an  extensive mid-18th century estate which stretched from the road the site of the  Alameda where there was an artificial 'Canal' to give focal point to the garden.  The house, which belonged to this estate, stood at the edge of the footpath  where numbers 84 and 86 now stand. In 1882 the canal estate was developed, the  house pulled down and replaced by two villas built adjoining their new chapel by  the Methodist trustees. The imposing  Methodist Church was designed by Charles Bell of London and opened on 13th  August 1884, replacing an earlier building in Woburn Street. The Baptist Church  further along the road, was built on a site acquired in 1822 and stood back from  the pavement. Extensions in  1870 brought the buildings forward by creating a vestibule, and in 1893  accommodation was doubled by the erection of an adjoining Sunday School room and  vestry. The Primitive Methodists opened a  chapel in Saunder's Piece in 1871; after a spell as 'The Kinema', it was from  1949 to 1994 a branch of the County Library. Empty for a couple of years it is  now the home of S. Luke's Church, part of the newly formed Traditional Anglican  Church. The Strict Baptists built a new  chapel in Oliver Street in 1904; it was designed by the Ampthill architect  Alfred Wildman, and opened on 11th October that year. AMPTHILL HALL began existence as a barn belonging to Christopher Bennell where the Quakers  started holding meetings in 1726. Rebuilt from the old materials on the same  site in 1753, it was extended to its present size in 1768, and continued in use  as a meeting house until the early 1900s. For many years it served as Saint  Andrew's Church hall, but was purchased by the Council in the 1970s for  conversion to public use. The front section of the hall is a 19th century  addition. Quaker meetings were resumed here in 1990. A sign on the dentist's wall at the top of Oliver Street  points 'To the Foundry'. This was the Sand Road Iron Works (Oliver Street then  being called Sand Road) built in the early 1870s by William Whitehouse on the  corner of this road with Neotsbury Road (formerly Foundry Lane). The foundry  made chiefly agricultural equipment and domestic ironwork, notably railings.  Alfred Hetley, Mr Whitehouse's successor, continued the business until the early  1920s. After military use in the war the buildings were occupied by Jewsons, but  demolished in the 1970s when the present houses were built. The Mid Bedfordshire District Council's Offices in Dunstable  Street were built for the Ampthill Rural District Council to designs by Sir  Albert Richardson and opened in 1967. Subsequently, the offices have been  modified and considerably extended. THE CEDARS was built as  the Union Workhouse in 1836, the architect being James Clephane, whose other  work includes Wrest Park House. The workhouse was built to accommodate 469  inmates from Ampthill and the surrounding parishes, which formed the Union, and  operated under a regime of the strictest discipline and segregation.  Consequently there was a great dread of 'going to the Union' which was only  slightly alleviated by new legislation of 1929 which made this the Public  Assistance Institution. But all that became history when, in the late 1940s, the  building re-named The Cedars began valuable community service as a Local  Authority old people's home, closed in the early 1990s. At the time of writing  (1997) plans are in hand to convert it into luxury  apartments. The former Board Room, built  for the Poor Law Guardians in 1902, is now the town's library. Particularly  noteworthy is its modern weather vane commemorating the Gold Hare  (Masquerade) treasure hunt – a story worth investigating in the  library. Station Road  once led to Ampthill Station, but the latter (opened in 1868) was closed in 1959  and its site, cut off from Station Road by the bypass is now a part of the  industrial estate. It is interesting that the World Speed Record was held from  1897 to 1903 by a Midland Railway train sustaining a speed of 90 m.p.h over 2.36  miles of track here. Close by the station, once very isolated amongst the trees  of Little Park, is the Ampthill Hopspital, as it was originally known. These almshouses, built in 1701 under the  directions of the will of John Cross of Oxford, were to accommodate old college  servants. In more recent years a wider range of resident has been accommodated,  and the flats are now administered by Church Army Housing. There are two Schools in Station Road, The Firs, and Alameda,  built in the early 1970s as a primary and middle school respectively. Redbourne  School, on the extreme boundary of the town at Running Waters, opened as the  Ampthill/Flitwick Secondary Modern School in 1954. . Brewery  Lane It takes its  name from the ancient administrative area of the shire, which included both  Ampthill and Flitwick, the Hundred of Redbornestoke. WOBURN STREET was once known as Mill Street, the local rope makers having a horse-powered mill  here at one time. Beneath the great, empty wrought-iron sign bracket (numbers 1  &3), is another of the town's coaching inns, formerly the Kings Head,  previously the Swan, refronted in about 1734 and since 1948 used as  offices. Behind number 6 was a workhouse,  built in 1729 and in operation until 1795. John Wills, who was in charge in  1772, was allowed £230 a year out of the rates for bedding, clothing and food  for the inmates – quite a sum. A successor workhouse, the House of Industry, was  built in 1811 on Park Hill (where the wooden houses stand0 and was the scene of  serious rioting in May, 1835, when new poor law regulations were brought into  force. The rioting, which had started in Lidlington and Millbrook when payments  previously made were withheld, moved to the Market Square and continued until  police were brought from London (no Bedfordshire force in those days) and the  militia called out and held in readiness at Luton. By the late 18th century the upper parts of Woburn Street were  known as Slutts End. Even so, the Methodists were happy to build a chapel behind  what is now number 29, in 1813. It was an imposing building with an interior  compared by one who knew it to the hatchway of a ship. 470 worshippers could be  accommodated in an incredibly restricted building. Opposite the old chapel, which was pulled down soon after its  congregation moved to their new building in Dunstable Street in 1884, is  Claridge's Lane, formerly Rope Walk (doubtless where the horse mill was), and  named after George Claridge, a grocer whose shop and house was on the corner of  Dunstable Street and Woburn Street. So on  to the thatched Ossory Cottages, much admired and photographed, which were built  for his estate workers by Lord Ossory in the early 19th century and bear his  plaque and the date. The other cottages in this group are older, and all have  been extensively restored and modernised. Across the road are The Sands, once an  open space as its name suggest, and the playground of the school which was  consequently unofficially known as the Sands School. Built as the British School  and opened for children associated with the town's chapels in 1844, it became  the Wesleyan School in the 1890s and after 1954, Ampthill county Primary  (subsequently, in new premises, Russell School). The building is now a  restaurant.

Alameda  Cottages

THE ALAMEDA, planted for the benefit of the town by Lord and Lady Holland,  was created between 1821 and 1827 in imitation of the 'almeidas' the Hollands  had admired in their travels to Spain and Portugal. Its splendid gates, set in a  red brick curtain wall, were removed and the wall demolished, by the Duke of  Bedford's workmen in 1882. (Later the gates were given by the Duke to Bedford  School, where they form the St Peter's Green entrance). The present gateway was  constructed to Professor Richardson's design, in 1921, when Princess Beatrice  came to unveil the War Memorial which was built at the far end of the Alameda.  This memorial, the Cenotaph, was planned in association with q United Service  Men's Club in Church Street, and many thought this inappropriate. So a second  memorial was arranged, and unveiled in the churchyard a week after the Cenotaph,  by Lord Ampthill. Both memorials were designed by Professor  Richardson. . . . . The Alameda leads to The  Firs (sometimes known as Cooper's Hill). This was from the 1820s a pine  plantation of great beauty and much frequented by local people. In 1917 the  trees were cut down for use as props in the trenches in France. The Firs  remained a scarred wasteland until the heather took over, a reversion to its  former state when this areas was known as Ling (heather)  Hills. Woburn Street ends with Agate  House, the Bedfordshire Cheshire Home built in the late 1970s. In this part of  the town most of the sporting interests have their base – cricket, tennis,  netball, football, angling and the children's recreation area in the park; The  Alameda rugby in  Dillingham Park and more football in the adjoining Lawrence Park. All these,  with the sports hall behind Parkside Hall and adjoining Nottingham Rooms, make  this very much a social centre for the town, as most of these clubs and  activities have provided themselves with up-to-date facilities and accommodation  and are professionally served and organised by their management committees. . . . . Ampthill Park,  Reservoir AMPTHILL  PARK, more accurately Great Park, was formed when Sir John Cornwall purchased the  manor of Ampthill from the St Amand family early in the 15th century. Already  famous for his skill in the tournaments, he achieved additional renown in the  French wars, notably at Agincourt (1415) where he was a commander in the English  army. His wife was Henry IV's sister, the Princess Elizabeth of Lancaster, and  thus he became uncle to Henry V. Here at  Ampthill, the park enclosed, he began building a house appropriate to his  status. (Perhaps he planted some of the oaks, many of which  survived almost into our time, although too old for ship building in the 17th  century). Ampthill Castle, 'stately on a hill with four or five fair towers of  stone' occupied a considerable site between the Woburn Road and the top of the  hill where Lord Ossory was to put the Katherine Cross centuries later. No  contemporary picture of it has yet been found, and some sketchy plans are hard  to interpret. But the descriptions of those who saw it tell of an inner and  outer court with high walls punctuated by 'fair towers' or turrets. There was no  keep, but accommodation was built against the walls, the principal buildings  such as the great drawing room and the chapel, being on the hill. (Westminster  Pond was doubtless a part of the castle complex, a valuable source for the  supply of fresh fish). Cornwall died in  1443 and was buried at Blackfriars in London; his wife had died some years  earlier. Their only son having been killed in the French wars, the estate passed   after protracted dispute with Cornwall's illegitimate sons  to Lord Edmund  Grey of Wrest, who paid 6,500 marks (£4,300) for it in 1454. Lord Edmund's  grandson, a gambler and wastrel, forfeited the estate to Henry VII when unable  to repay a debt, and Ampthill came into royal ownership. It was Henry VIII who,  by making Ampthill a favourite base, brought prosperity and prominence to the  town. The court came down at least once a  year, usually in autumn as part of a progress from Windsor to Grafton in  Northamptonshire, and although affairs of state received their due attention,  the king's chief pastime was hunting. Deer, bred in Little Park (hence its name)  ensured his needs were well met, and additional hounds – the king's usually came  with him – were held in readiness too. The ladies of the court and the less  agile gentlemen watched the hunt from a construction known as 'The Stand' ready  to take pot shots at the unfortunate deer who would be driven in their direction  by the foot hunters and hounds. KATHERINE OF ARAGON, married to Henry  for almost 20 years before he began to take steps to end their relationship, was  particularly fond of Ampthill, although her confinement here while Cranmer's  court at Dunstable Priory decided her fate could not have been a pleasant. The  court announced the invalidity of the marriage on 23rd May 1533; she refused to  meet the deputation sent to inform her until 3rd July, and then, surrounded by  her household and friends, and with great dignity, made her defiant stand that  she was the king's true wife. After  Henry's death the castle was neglected, his immediate successors no doubt having  no liking for a place with such unhappy associations, and by Queen Elizabeth's  time it was becoming ruinous and quite uninhabitable. Royal visitors of that  period (and later, like James I who had plans to rebuild the castle) stayed at  Great Lodge, the steward's house on the site of the present Park  House. In the 1680s much building work was  done at Great Lodge for Diana, Dowger Countess of Ailesbury, who had moved there  from Houghton House. After her death John, Lord Ashburnham, whose father had  received the park from Charles II in repayment of a loan, planned to extend the  house and make it his principal home. For a time Nicholas Hawksmoor was his  architect, but his plans were considered too drastic, and first John Lumley of  Northampton and then William Winde, were brought in to meet the earl's exacting  requirements. But he died before the work was finished and park and house passed  eventually into the possession of John, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory who in the  1770s began a complete reconstruction and enlargement of the house, for which he  engaged the architect Sir William Chambers. At the same time he employed  Lancelot 'Capability' Brown to landscape the park. The principal front which for Great Lodge and Lord  Ashburnham's house had been facing south, was made to face north, the remains of  Great Lodge being on that side of the building were swept away, and an imposing  main entrance with an impressive flight of steps up to the door at first floor  level took its place. New wings were constructed, and the whole building  lengthened. In the park 'Capability'  enhanced existing features by planting trees in isolated clumps and merged the  park boundaries into the surrounding landscape with narrow plantations. A new  drive was constructed to give a more interesting approach to the house. The old  entrance had been at the lodge in Woburn Road (now called Hollyhock Cottage)  through the park past Russett Lodge (given a classic temple appearance by Lord  Ossory) and so through what is now the Darkenings to the sunken lime walk, the  Green Walk planted way back in Lady Ailesbury's time and cut down in  1968. The new approach began further along  the Woburn Road (where the entrance to the car park is now) at a new lodge  (demolished 1972) and passed the remaining fragments of the castle and the new  Katherine Cross, set in a grove of Scotch pines, down the hill, with glimpses of  water from 'Capability's' new lake ("The Rezzy") between the trees on the right,  and so to Park House, beyond which the drive, with more glimpses of water from a  lake on the north (drained 1850) joined the Bedford Road at the foot of  Hazelwood Lane Hill. When Lord Ossory died  in 1818 the estate passed to his nephew, Lord Holland, whose widow sold it to  the Duke of Bedford in 1841. Just over a century later the northern part of the  park, including Park House, was sold to Bovril Ltd, whose factory had been  evacuated to Reddings Wood in the war, and in 1947 the remainder of the park was  sold to Ampthill Urban District Council for little under  £11,000. (A companion to the Katherine  Cross was erected by the Duke of Bedford to commemorate the training camp he  built (and financed) on this site in World War I. The memorial records the  remarkable fact that 10,604 men were brought here, of whom 707 were killed in  action. Some of the bronze plates bearing the names of the latter were stolen in  1970. Cooper's Hill – known locally  as The Firs – is one of the few remaining examples of the heaths, which one  stretched across Bedfordshire along the Greensand Ridge. A lowland heath of  National importance, it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific  Interest (SSSI) by English Nature and was declared a Local Nature Reserve in  1980 by Bedfordshire County Council. Owned by Ampthill Town Council, the  heathland is managed by the Wildlife Trust. A beautiful area highly coloured when the heather is in bloom, is heath  is also very delicate and should be treated with great  respect.

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LOCAL  INFORMATION Play  Groups Redborne Day Nursery, Flitwick Road Jack and Jill, The Health Centre, Oliver Street Lady  Bird, Methodist Church, Chandos Road . Pre-school Playgroup  Association, 40 Church Street, (Secretary Ms Tamsyn  Kramer) Back to  Top Schools and  Colleges Firs Lower School, Station Road, Russell Lower School, Queens Road, Alameda  Middle School, Station Road Redborne Upper School and Community College, Flitwick Road, Tel: (01525) 402735 (Headteacher Mrs T  Mostowfi) Tel: (01525)  755664 (Headteacher Mrs J  Bramwell) Tel: (01525) 750900 (Headteacher Mr M L  Meakin) Tel: (01525) 404462 (Headteacher Mr Nigel  Croft) Recreation  and Sports Clubs Ampthill and District Rugby  Club, Dillingham Park, Woburn Street Ampthill Town Football Club, Ampthill Park, Woburn  Street Ampthill Town Cricket  Club, Ampthill Park, Woburn  Street Ampthill Athletic Football  Club Queensman Football Club, Lawrence Park, Woburn Street Ampthill Town Boys  Football Club, Oliver Street Ampthill Ladies  Netball Club, Nottingham Rooms, Woburn  Street Ampthill Badminton Club, Alameda Sports Hall, Woburn Street Ampthill Angling and Fish Preservation Society, 20 Arthur Street Ampthill Carpet Bowls Club Back to  Top Cultural and  Leisure Ampthill Allotment  Association Ampthill Festival Choir Ampthill and Flitwick Dramatics Society Army Cadet Force Ampthill Detachment, Drill Hall, Woburn Street Ampthill Town Band Ampthill Bellringers, St Andrews  Church Ampthill Bridge  Club Ampthill Cub and Scout Group, The Scout Hut, Station Road Ampthill  Sea Cadets, Ampthill Park Ampthill Guides  and Brownies Ampthill and District  Preservation Society Back to  Top Churches St Andrews Church, (Church of England), Church  Square, Church Street Methodist Church, Dunstable Street Baptist Chapel, Dunstable Street Roman Catholic  Church, Flitwick St Lukes  Church, Saunders Piece Society of  Friends, Ampthill Hall Local  Government Ampthill Town Council, 9 Church Street, . Tel: (01525) 404355 Mid Beds DC, 12 Dunstable Street, . Tel: (01525) 402051 Magistrates Court, The Court House, Woburn Street Registrars Office, The Court House, Woburn Street . Mid Beds Housing Ass., Dunstable Street, Tel: (01525) 404422 Police and  Emergency Services Ampthill Police Station, Woburn Street, Ampthill Fire Station Ampthill Ambulance Station Tel: (01525) 404422 Back to  Top Health and  Welfare Ampthill Social Centre, Houghton  Close . Ampthill Health Centre, Oliver Street, . Tel: (01525) 402302 Cheshire Homes, Agate House, Woburn Street Local  Events Morris Dancing at Katherine's  Cross 1st May Ampthill Festival and  Gala Last two weeks of  June Music Festival June Flower Festival June Remembrance Day Parade &  Service November Christmas Lights November/January Carol Service December Kings Arms Path Gardens Open  Days Spring/Summer/Autumn