Bridleway 25
Distance:
1,650m. Direction N –S + 350 m E-W
49 50
Bridleway
25 starts on the eastern side of the railway line in Sandy, about 250 metres
north of the railway bridge at the end of Cambridge Road. The mainline railway between
London and Edinburgh was constructed through Sandy in 1850. The branch line to
Potton, funded by Robert Peel, the landowner of Sandy Warren (now the RSPB),
was completed by 1857. Barry Groom, the Sandy historian, pointed out a
discrepancy over who opened the line. In most articles it is written that
Julia, the widow of Sir Robert Peel undertook the ceremony in the absence of
her son, William. But in a 1925 local newspaper article reporting the death of
Edward Leeds Smith, the founder of the firm of Sandy solicitors, it says that
in the absence of Lady Peel, it was performed by his mother.
The branch line to Bedford was completed by 1861. By this time
the line had been extended east through Gamlingay and on to Cambridge. This
allowed through traffic between Cambridge, Bedford and Oxford. Footpath 21 is a
150m. track from the junction of Sunderland Road and Brickhill Road which takes
you east (underneath the railway junction) into the Sand Hills or north along Bridleway 25.
21 22
There are a number of
paths in the woods around Cox Hill which was excavated for sand during the 19th
century when Victorian Sandy was being built. Postcards from 1900 show an
almost vertical cliff face, dotted with tiny holes. There were reports of
hundreds of sand martins nesting on the sheer cliff. Following the end of World
War Two much more large-scale sand extraction virtually removed the hill. It is definitely worth a detour round. A
huge flat-bottomed pit, the size of several foot pitches, is surrounded by
trees on gentle to steep sandy slopes and covered in gorse. It has been and
still is an attractive site for motorbikes, mountain bikes and racing stolen
cars. Over a dozen, burnt-out and rusty hulks were found dotted around the site
in 2005. The Council removes them. Further north, away from the road, there are
some flooded clay pits and overgrown remains of 19th century
brickworks. During the winter, some of the lower parts of the wood are very
water-logged but during the drier weather in the summer there are a host of
marsh plants, insects and birds.
The track follows the side
of the Sandy to Cambridge railway line past the
former Morgan/Matroc factory (TL 177496).
Before it closed down in the late-1990s it manufactured lighting
components and glass-bonded mica components under the trade-name Micatherm.
According to their website “Matroc Bioceramics, a subsidiary of the Morgan
Crucible Company plc, designs, manufactures and markets ceramic implant devices
for a variety of orthopaedic reconstructive and surgical applications. These
include ceramic femoral heads and cup inserts for ceramic on polyethylene and
ceramic on ceramic hip replacement bearings, knee prostheses, spinal fusion
devices and orthopaedic instrumentation. Custom designed components are also
manufactured for cardiovascular devices, diagnostic equipment and trauma
products.” When work was in full swing, it employed about 700 people. Buses used
to bring in workers from as far away as Bedford. There is planning permission for four new industrial units and refurbishment of
the old factory but a proposal to develop the site as a luxury housing estate
with five-bedroomed homes has been refused.
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About
200 metres further north you meet the junction with Bridleway 26 (TL 177497).
This dirt track takes you roughly northeast, past Lowfield Farm, to meet
Bridleway 27 on the Roman Road. The track continues north along the edge of two
fields for about 800 metres until you meet Bridleway 23 which comes underneath
the railway embankment from the Middlefield Industrial estate on Sunderland
Road. It continues north for a further 500 metres and crosses a footbridge over
the railway line. It then continues westwards for a further 500 metres
alongside the northern limits of Sandy Business Park until it meets Bridleway
23 at the roundabout on Sunderland Road (TL 173509).
21 20
Back
to map
Much of the land to the
northeast was RAF Tempsford, Bedfordshire’s Secret Airfield. In Freddie
Clarke’s book, Agents by Moonlight, a
day by day account of the missions flown out of Tempsford, he said that
there were three ‘Air Raid Red’ alerts in January 1944.
There must have been others later since I well remember flares dropping and
shadows of low flying German aircraft turning towards London. Wisely the
defences of Tempsford kept as quiet as a mouse. They were using the cooling
tower to the north of the aerodrome as a turning point and the railway line to
London as their Iron Beam.
Ted Smith told a story of
‘Scorcher’ Wisson. He used his double-barrelled shotgun to take a shot at a
Dornier 129 flying very low over the flat fields of sugar beet and kale near
the railway. It had bombed the power station at St Neots, just 5 miles (8 km)
north of Tempsford, but was shot down and crashed at Little Barford. He always
wondered whether he’d done it.
Two spies were reported as managing to get as close
as Tempsford railway station before suspicions were aroused and they were
apprehended. They were dressed as British air crew and had walked along the
railway line and presented themselves at the guard house. They argued that they
had just been shot down near Sandy and had urgent papers which they needed to
take by plane to an airfield in the north. The duty officer who was called saw
through their story as there had been no flights that day and all crews had
been grounded. On being arrested one was found to have £3,000 strapped to him
(worth about £67,480 today)! Both were claimed to have been sent to the Tower
of London and then executed as spies. Whether they were or the British Secret
Service managed to turn them to act as double agents is unknown.
Another
railway-related story was told by a Sandy man. Those local men who did not get called up had to join the Home
Guard, the ARP (Air Raid Protection) or
the Special Police. Under the command of Major Ream of Carthagena Farm, Potton,
they had to look after Potton, Gamlingay, Sandy, Sutton and Everton. Their once
weekly duty started at 1800 and finished at 0500 hours. There was just enough
time to cycle home, grab a piece of toast and then go to work!
The Home Guard played a part in the defence of Tempsford Airfield. Their
headquarters was at Girtford Manor, a half-timbered medieval house just south
of Sandy which was demolished after the war. In the fields between the airfield
and Sandy a number of air raid shelters can still be seen today. They provided
shelter for those on night duty. The ammunition dumps in woods needed
protecting and the petrol dump near Deepdale. The main railway line was the
focus of their defence, in particular the bridge carrying the Cambridge to
Oxford line over the Great Eastern from London to Edinburgh. Atrhur Walker, a
captain in the Home Guard on the staff of Bowes Lyon, commended Mr Backhouse, a
signal man on the railway, for bravery for directing train drivers following a
bomb attack on the railway line. As the line had been damaged, Backhouse
signalled train drivers to stop and he walked up the line to direct them to use
the other track.
Using the side of the railway track to get into Sandy from the base was
not done. They would likely get shot by the Home Guard. The Roman Road was the
main route used and then a footpath (Bridleway 37) southwest across the field
to Lowfield Farm. From there they followed the farm track which ran alongside
the railway towards the Midland Line bridge. Mr Walker of Biggleswade recalled
a story told by his father, how, on some nights, there were special operations
when the Home Guard and the local police were put on alert to stop anyone
trying to get back to the airfield. There were occasions when men were taken
out at night and dropped off at various points around the airfield and their
aim was to get back to base undetected. Whether they were agents given extra
evasion exercises or pilots and crews given practice to avoid detection should
they be forced to land in occupied territory is unknown. It was said that a
prize kitty of up to £50 could be shared by those who managed to get back undetected.
Mr Walker recalled how he was lying in a ditch near the railway line and
hearing someone approach. He waited until the last minute and just tapped the
man on his arm with his gun. All those who were caught were taken to Sandy
Police Station for transfer back to camp in the morning.
Bernard O’Connor’s ‘RAF Tempsford
– now the story can be told’’ can be found in the library. Copies of his
updated ‘RAF Tempsford - Bedfordshire’s
Secret Airfield’’ are available. Email fquirk202@aol.com