The Parish in general

View of The Old House and Red House towards Wednesdon from a map of 1745 [X30/1]

Landscape

Aspley Guise lies between about 300 and 450 feet above sea level, on average and is partly sand and partly clay soil. A considerable part of the parish was woodland originally and a large part still survives. Geologically the parish is almost evenly divided between Greensand and Oxford Clay, indeed, at one point along Salford Road a sand pit and a clay pit adjoined one another.

In the 19th century Aspley Guise was considered the healthiest place in Britain. This was largely on account of it having the smallest difference between summer high and winter low temperatures of anywhere then measured. This, combined with the attractive woodland, in particular the pine woods on the Heath, led to three sanatoria being built for sufferers from tuberculosis

 
A view of Aspley Guise in the 19th century looking towards the rear of Moore Place with the church in the background [X67/934/14b]

Name

The name Aspley was first recorded in the charter setting out the boundaries in 969 as Aepslea, by which it was known as late as 1229. Other variants of the name include Aspeleia (1086 - the Domesday Book|), Aspele or Asplelegh (1202 and later) and Aspeleye Gyse (1363). The word Aspley is Old English for "aspen-tree clearing". The Guise element comes from the French family of Gyse or Guise (from the town and commune of Guise in the northern French département of Aisne) - Anselm de Gyse (or Guise) being granted the Manor of Aspley by King Edward I in 1276.

 
The junction of Mount Pleasant with Bedford Road (then called East Street) about 1920 - the gable on the extreme left is 26 Bedford Road, the other houses were knocked down and now lie under Blackburn House [Z818/32]

Administrative History

Aspley Guise is an ancient parish|, indeed, its boundaries were established as early as 969|, a charter of the year still surviving (though not held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service). At that date the parish seems to have included the later parish of Hulcote| as a hamlet. Aspley Guise formed part of the Manshead Hundred|. The parish was relatively large into the 19th century, containing 3,299 acres (1,283 hectares) until 1883 when Aspley Heath, containing 600 acres, was split off from Aspley Guise, becoming its own civil parish|.

Aspley Guise is bounded by the Bedfordshire parishes of Hulcote and Salford |to the north, Husborne Crawley| east, Woburn| south and Aspley Heath south-west; it is also bordered to the west by the Buckinghamshire parishes of Woburn Sands and Wavendon. Modern boundary changes have altered the boundary between Aspley Guise and the Buckinghamshire parish of Woburn Sands especially that of 1965 which saw all the houses on the north side of Aspley Hill from the junction of Downham Road to the junction with the High Street in Woburn Sands transferred out of Aspley Guise and houses at the angle formed by Weathercock Lane and Station Road transferred into Aspley Guise, as well as a large quantity of land east of Station Road and north of Weathercock Lane. By the end of 1979 the area of the parish was just 1,899 acres (739 hectares).

 
Mount Pleasant about 1920 [Z818/34]

Population

In 1086 the manor of Aspley was noted as containing 16 villagers, 4 smallholders and 5 slaves - 25 people. This figure should be multiplied by a factor of at least four to account for these men's dependents giving a total population of, perhaps, a little over a hundred, about average for a Bedfordshire parish of the time.

Volume 81 published by the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (2002) is devoted to returns made during episcopal visitations| to the county by the Bishop of Lincoln in the early 18th century, edited by former County Archivist Patricia Bell. One of the questions asked was the number of families in the parish; the various responses were as follows:

• 1706: 56 families;
• 1709: 73 families "Souls about 300";
• 1717: four score i.e. 80 families;
• 1720: "Between 50 and 60 familys"

In modern times Aspley Guise has always had a reasonably sized population as the figures below show. The significant drop between 1881 and 1891 is accounted for by the creation of Aspley Heath from part of Aspley Guise. The population rose significantly between 1931 and 1981 as many new houses were built. Latterly the population has fallen and remained steady due to Aspley' being in an area of Green Belt and due to rapidly rising house prices meaning village children often having to move away when they reach adulthood and want a home of their own.

• 1801 - 679
• 1811 - 825
• 1821 - 848
• 1831 - 1,014
• 1841 - 1,139
• 1851 - 1,303
• 1861 - 1,437
• 1871 - 1,519
• 1881 - 1,445
• 1891 - 1,230
• 1901 - 1.261
• 1911 - 1,277
• 1921 - 1,231
• 1931 - 1,105
• 1951 - 1,533
• 1961 - 1,921
• 1971 - 2,046
• 1981 - 2,289
• 1991 - 2,171
• 2001 - 2,183