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Leighton Buzzard:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1864.

[Transcribed information from Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire - 1864]

"HEATH AND REACH, a hamlet in the parish of Leighton Buzzard, but a separate ecclesiastical parish, one mile north from Leighton Buzzard, in the hundred of Manshead, union of Leighton Buzzard, rural deanery of Dunstable, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Leonard is a plain built structure, of a very modern period, with a low square tower and 1 bell. The register dates from 1813. The living is a perpetual curacy, value £105, in the gift of the vicar of Leighton Buzzard, and held by the Rev. Joseph Orlando Stallard, M.A., of Lincoln College, Oxford. There is a National school, rebuilt in 1863, and opened in 1864; there are also three Sunday schools, a Baptist chapel, and a Wesleyan chapel. There are charities of about £5 annually. Colonel H. Hanmer, K.H. is lord of the manor. The population in 1861 was 953; the acreage is 2,279; the assessment is £3,070. The land comprises arable, woodland and meadow."