Welcome to our village and our web-site. I hope you find something of interest
to you on this site whether you live in Blunham, or have an interest in the
village from afar.
Blunham is a small village in Bedfordshire and is where my family and I live.
It is about 45 miles north of the centre of London and about 2 miles north of
the town of Sandy (of RSPB fame). Blunham has about 400 houses of all sorts,
some of which date from the 17th century. Below are links to a series of photographs
of Blunham, starting at the two hump back bridges on Tempsford road leading
from the Great North Road or A1 (the London-Edinburgh road), and then re-starting
at the northern end (Grange Road), then working down the High Street, up The
Hill to the southern end of the village on Barford Road. Unless otherwise stated,
the photographs were taken by me or my family and you are welcome to use them
for your own personal non-commercial use. If you are thinking of using them
for any other purpose, please see the conditions
of use page.
A further view of Barford road
towards the end of the village.
The Blunham Playing Fields Association have their own playing field with Cricket and
Football pitches, and an area for small children with swings and climbing
frames etc.
In the village we have various enterprises: The village store,
the best Fish and Chip shop
for miles around. We had until relatively recently a Post Office and Butcher's shop, but these have now closed.
The old Village
Lock-up, now being looked after as a garden shed.
On a separate page you will find a selection of photographs
showing the old Blunham from 80 to 100 years ago. The old photos were
supplied by various people, including Ionie Brennan (Australia), Charlie Harding,
Joan Skelton and Frank Reed (all of Blunham).
After the completion of the Parish Council Millenium project to restore
the Cemetery Chapel (some people wanted to knock it down rather than spend
the money), an open day and an exhibition of "Bygone Blunham" was
held on the 23rd of September 2000. A total of 155 signed the visitors book
(and not everyone who went signed), and I believe a good day was had by all
who attended. Here are some photographs of the Chapel:
The inside
of the Chapel before the clean-up, showing the coffin trestles and
the lectern etc.
The workers
(Parish councillors) clearing up before the doors open on the open day.
Bill Exley has written an article on Blunham
Pubs (past and present) which he has kindly given permission for me to
publish on this site.
Don't forget that there is another web site dealing with Blunham and maintained by
Steve Harris, which has some more photographs along with short histories relevant
to the village and links to interactive maps showing where the village is.
For the Genealogists or Historians there are also some pages on the Genuki
site dealing with Blunham
of the 19th century including names of some of the people.
If you have an interest in the names Vincent,
Gauge or Barker in the village then Carol Twite would love to hear from
you. Please drop me a line through my email
page and I will put you in contact with her.
If you remember Carl Henderson and his wife Mary ("The Yanks") who lived next to the Village Hall 1991 to 1994,
they would love to hear from you
If you would like a specific house or view in and around Blunham
placed on this site, please drop me a line (or knock on my door
if you are in the village).
My main interest on the World Wide Web is genealogy, and in
particular the Genealogical Service for the United Kingdom and
Ireland (Genuki),
and I maintain and develop the Yorkshire
pages for that service.