Sand quarrying has been an important feature of Leighton Buzzard, and Heath and Reach, for around two hundred years. Sand is still extracted in the town and some of the scars of past quarrying are still visible, though others have now been covered by modern building.
Many sand and clay quarries in Leighton Buzzard are identified on the 1925 Rating and Valuation Act survey maps such as the south side of Stanbridge Road just west of the junction with South Street, for example, which was owned by B. A. Brown
One of the principal firms in the area – J. Arnold & Sons Limited - was established by John Arnold who began to quarry sand in Heath & Reach around 1860. By 1964 they had eight quarries in the locality, including two in Leighton Buzzard; Chamberlain's Barns Quarry on Heath Road, and Pratt's Quarry on Billington Road, just to the south of Pages Park.
The firm produced over forty different grades of sand for uses such as: foundry sands; building sand for mixing with cement; glass manufacture; water filtration at water and sewage plants; horticulture; sand blasting. Ironstone extracted during the quarrying process could be used for building houses and rockeries; shingle extracted for use in road work (Cement, Lime & Gravel magazine, May 1934).
Arnold’s used the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway from its opening in 1919 until it closed as a working railway in 1982 to convey their product to Billington Road sand washing plant. Main line railway sidings connected, via the Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable railway, with the main line from London to Glasgow for transportation throughout the country.
J. Arnold & Sons Limited was dissolved in June 1989 and many of their pits were subsequently worked by WBB Minerals Limited. Bedfordshire Archives holds material on the company and also on another of the principal sand quarrying firms in the area, George Garside (Sand) Limited. the company owned Churchways Pit, between Woburn Road and Watling Street, and Grovebury Pit along with others in Heath and Reach. George Garside (Sand) Limited is now called Garside Sands and is still in operation as a part of Aggregate Industries UK, part of the Holcim Group.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded the Greensand Trust a grant for a sand history archive project to collate information and celebrate the history of the Leighton Buzzard Sand industry. This project recorded the stories of the sand and related industries in Leighton Buzzard and Heath and Reath, Bedfordshire through a series of oral history interviews. As part of its work, it also collected supporting research information and photographs. The project ran from 2007-2010. A walking trail was created around Leighton Buzzard with extracts from the recordings and information about the industry. The oral history recordings, transcripts, research material and photographs of interviewees from the Sands of Time project were deposited with Bedfordshire Archives (reference X692)
To visit the archives or for further information generally about the service email archive@bedford.gov.uk or phone 01234 228833.