Cranfield

Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001,[2] increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census.[1] and is in Central Bedfordshire.

The hamlet of Bourne End is located just north of Cranfield, and is part of the civil parish. Wharley End was a separate settlement, but now forms the northern part of Cranfield village, by the university.

Cranfield has two public houses, a football club, coffee shop, dog grooming salon, hairdressers, barbers, several take-away restaurants, two small supermarkets and two car dealerships. There is also a surgery and dentist's practice along with a pharmacy. Cranfield has a university, three schools, three parks and a multi-use games area.

The village Post Office is now contained within the Co-op store; previously it was on separate premises near the centre of the village. Cranfield has one of only a small number of Morgan dealerships, in addition to a Ford dealer. There are further facilities at the university campus including a Post Office and bookshop.

The local newspaper is the Cranfield Express.[citation needed ] There is a news hyperlocal website, Cranfield and Marston Vale Chronicle, giving village information, local and national news, etc.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul[3] has records going back at least to 1600 and is notable for its recently restored bells.

Cranfield Court belonged to the Harter family. The last house was built in 1862–4 in the French Gothic style,[4][5] but was later demolished.[6]

From 1992 to 2005 the village had its own amateur dramatics society, the 'Cranfield Players', with many village members.

Cranfield has a Non-League football team Cranfield United F.C. who play at their own ground, The Nest, in Crawley Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AA.

Cranfield's airfield was originally an RAF training airfield and was used after the war by the College of Aeronautics, which has now become Cranfield University. The future of the airfield is uncertain[citation needed ] – one runway was closed to allow the construction of the Nissan Technical Centre and technology park.

Kennett Aviation, who previously operated a range of vintage aircraft from Cranfield, was forced to move to North Weald due to these plans. However, Cranfield is still home to one of the few remaining serviceable English Electric/BAC Lightning jet fighters.

Cranfield University is adjacent to the village, on the other side of the airfield.

The Cranfield Technology Park is west of the University at the entrance to the campus. It is being developed on a phased basis by Cranfield University and its development partner. The park's objective is to encourage knowledge-based companies to locate their activities on the park and to encourage the growth of such companies. A major extension to the technology park was started in January 2007 using land on Cranfield Airport.

In August 2005 a new business incubation centre was opened. It was designed to encourage and support hi-tech and knowledge based pre-start and early start companies during the formative stages of their development.[7]