1869 Kellys Directory

Woburn Sands, one mile to the south, [of Wavendon] is a railway station on the London and North Western Railway, in the Leighton Buzzard county court district. A new ecclesiastical parish has been formed, partly out of the parish of Aspley Guise, in the county of Beds, and partly out of the parish of Wavendon, in the county of Bucks, to be called the Woburn Sands district, in the rural deanery of West Fleete, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely. The new church of Woburn Sands is of stone, in the French Gothic style; Henry Clutton, Esq., was the architect; it consists of chancel and nave connected by 5 arches on either side with the aisles: it has a small circular tower with spire and 1 bell: it stands In Aspley Heath, Beds. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £166 13s. 4d, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, and held by the Rev. Hay Macdowall Erskine, M. A., of Christ Church, Oxford. A very handsome school, substantially built of red brick with stone facing, was erected in 1868, at the cost of the Duke of Bedford; it consists of a school-room, 60 feet by 30 feet, with large class-room and other suitable offices. The former National school is now used as an evening school and parish library, and for other purposes. In this hamlet are a Wesleyan chapel, a Friends' meeting-house, and a chapel of the Primitive Methodists. This part of the parish is particularly salubrious, being situated on the sand hills and in the vicinity of the beautiful Aspley Guise plantations.

Clerk, Charles Beasley.

Post office, Wavendon - Samuel King, receiver. Letters arrive from Woburn about 8 a.m.; dispatched at 5 p.m. week days, & on Sundays at 11.30 a.m. Fenny Stratford & Woburn are the nearest money order offices.

Post Office, Woburn Sands - Thomas Hudson, receiver. Letters arrive from Woburn at 6.45 a.m.; dispatched at 5.35 p.m. & on Sundays at 10.30 a.m. Woburn is the nearest money order office.

Assistant Overseer & Collector of Taxes, William Harris

Schools:-
National, Wavendon, Frederick Greenfield, master
National, Woburn Sands, Miss Barbara Mann Erskine, mistress
Railway Station, Woburn Sands, John Worrell, station master
Carrier to Leighton Buzzard: G. W. Paternoster, every tuesday

The Square in the early 20th century....

Woburn Sands

William Edward Clarice, Mr.
William Henry Denison, esq. Hardwick Cottage
Down Mrs. Haydon house
Rev. Hay Macdowall Erskine, M. A. [vicar]
Samuel Milliner, Mr. 
John Pain, Mr.
Charles Pole Stuart, esq. J.P. Sandy Mount House

Commercial

Robert Bailey, Weathercock Inn
Joseph Buswell, beer retailer
Carter -, beer retailer
Eli Clark, grocer
Gregory Odell Clarke, coal merchant, office & yard, & at Fenny Stratford
William Edward Clarke, corn merchant, & at Fenny Stratford
James Collins, beer retailer
John Collins, baker
Dickens -, beer retailer
Down & Co. proprietors of the "Farmers' Friend" for the prevention of smut in wheat, & at Woburn

Another view further north in the early 20th century....

Charles Featherstonhaugh, rope maker
Thomas Gadesden, farmer
John Giles, timber merchant
Goding -, beer retailer
Frederick Hutton, builder
Charles Inwood, tailor
Henry Kent, wheelwright & machinist, & agent for all the principal manufacturers of agricultural implements &c
John Litchfield, Fir Tree Inn
John Munday, timber merchant
George William Paternoster, grocer & carrier
Perkins -, draper
Jeremiah Perry, baker
William Scrivner, Swan Inn
Alfred Smith, horse dealer & farmer, & licensed to let horses for hire
Jesse Smith, beer retailer
John Sollom, lath render
William Tansley, lath render