Leagrave Park sits on the north-western edge of Luton, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, where the suburb of Leagrave borders the open ground that takes its name. The park is bounded roughly by Marsh Road to one side, with the M1 motorway forming a western boundary to the wider ward. Leagrave station, originally built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St Pancras, lies nearby and its original Victorian buildings survive, having been carefully restored during the 1980s.
Waulud’s Bank and the Source of the River Lea
The park’s most significant feature is Waulud’s Bank, a Neolithic D-shaped enclosure built at the source of the River Lea and now a protected monument. The earthwork covers around 7 hectares, with a turf-revetted chalk and gravel bank constructed from material dug out of an external ditch approximately 9 metres wide and 2 metres deep. Archaeological finds at the site include Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery and flint arrowheads, placing it in the same category as well-known monuments such as Durrington Walls and Marden. The site was later reused during the Iron Age and again in the Roman period. The Icknield Way, a pre-Roman road, also passes through Leagrave, and local street names – Roman Road, Icknield Road, and Icknield Way itself – trace its route through the area.
Local History and the Hatmaking Connection
The River Lea, which rises within the park, once formed part of the boundary of the Danelaw. In earlier centuries, Leagrave Marsh was a well-used retreat for workers in Luton’s hatmaking trade, earning the affectionate local nickname ‘Blockers’ Seaside’. The hat industry depended on straw plait produced by farmers’ wives and collected by travelling dealers known as plaitmen, before being brought into Luton’s factories to be shaped into straw hats. A public artwork has since been installed in the area in reference to this history. The manor of Leagrave was held by the Lucy family between 1305 and 1455, and their name is preserved in the neighbouring suburbs of Lewsey, Lewsey Farm, and Lewsey Park. In 1914, an aircraft manufacturing business called Hewlett and Blondeau Limited opened a factory in Leagrave known as The Omnia Works, adding an industrial chapter to the area’s long history.