Cranfield

Cranfield church

The village of Cranfield is located about 6 miles east of Milton Keynes in west Bedfordshire. The village is built on a hill which offers good views of the surrounding farmland.

The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book, though the name 'Cranfield' is an earlier Saxon term for a woodland clearing inhabited by cranes. The village church is early Norman, with considerable additions in the 13th century.

Cranfield University is housed in a former RAF training facility. Marson Thrift Nature Reserve is quite close to Cranfield and provides good walks and opportunities for viewing wildlife and woodland plants.

For a different sort of outdoor experience in Cranfield, you could try walking along Wood End Road on a moonlight night. There you might meet the headless ghost of Lady Snagge, who is said to have been on her way to meet her lover when she was decapitated by robbers.

Cranfield airport saw use as an air base during WWII. Several airmen who died while stationed at Cranfield are buried in the churchyard. After the war, the base was converted to use as a College of Aeronautics, which has now been incorporated into Cranfield University.