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The monks of Woburn Abbey were first granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair by a charter of King Henry III in 1242. The charter was confirmed by King Edward I in 1287 and in 1530 by King Henry VIII, who also granted the monks the right to hold a further three annual fairs.
Henry III’s charter stated that the market and fair were to be held near the “Old Chapel” in Woburn, at that time the parish church was at Birchmore and the Old Chapel was on the site of the present Woburn Heritage Centre. In medieval times it was common for activities to take place in churchyards, including fairs and markets and sports like football and archery, so it is quite possible that the first markets were held on the present graveyard. After Edward I had the memorial cross for his wife Eleanor built, at the crossroads in 1292, it is possible it became the focal point for the village and the market moved to be near it.
At first, the market would have consisted of a few local people selling their surplus goods, but it gradually attracted traders from a wider area, including London. It also became a livestock market, interestingly Duck Lane is the only road/street mentioned by name in the records of the Court of Augmentation, the audit of Woburn Abbey’s property at the dissolution of the monastery, it was where the ducks, geese and poultry were penned on market days’. The bullring, to which the larger animals were tethered, can still be seen, set in the cobbles to the rear of the Town Hall.
The centre of Woburn became so congested on market days that traffic, travelling between Leighton Buzzard and Ampthill, wishing to pass through and avoid the market would use Caswell Lane, which runs from the Leighton road to opposite Crawley road.
With the number of people visiting the market, especially from outside Woburn, there was a demand for accommodation and refreshment and there is a list 27 inns and beer houses, although these were not all operating at the same time. Some names were used more than once and some premises were re-named.
A Market House was erected in 1737 in the centre of the town, it had three stories, the upper floor was used for parish council meetings, the assizes and for entertainments, the two lower floors were used as shops, especially the butchers on the ground floor. The Market House was replaced by the Town Hall in 1830, this was enlarged in 1912.
With the coming of the railways and the easier transport of animals, the livestock market gave way to those in Leighton Buzzard and Bedford. Likewise, the general market gradually ceased between the two World Wars.
A Sunday Market has been revived, it is held on the third Sunday of each month and attracts both traders and customers from a wide area.
By John Clarke |
