It lay astride the very ancient trackway known as Icknield Way which, unlike today, was not a definite road but a usable route between Norfolk and Wiltshire, and we can imagine some of the traders and travellers who passed through Limbury over the centuries - drovers with their cattle, shepherds with flocks of sheep, pedlars with their packs of trinkets and haberdashery, farm workers looking for work, and thieves trying to evade capture, while messengers on horseback rushed by bearing news of wars or pestilence. Among these would also have been monks and friars bearing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Expansion of Luton
It was early in the 19th century that the straw plait and associated hat trade began to supplant malting as the principal industry in Luton, and the plaiting done by the women and children in their own homes brought relative prosperity to hamlets like Biscot and Limbury. This led, in 1868, to a new church being established at Biscot. After the Second World War Luton began to expand in a northerly direction, forming the suburbs of Runfold and Limbury Mead, until arrested by the farmlands of Little Bramingham Farm. The Marsh Farm estate was created by compulsory purchase of the land (and now has its own Holy Cross Church), while the Bramingham Park development began as a result of negotiation between the owner of the land and a consortium of builders, and lies almost entirely in the parish of Streatley.
Limbury and Runfold Estates
The population of the parish of Biscot continued to grow and by 1961 it had become difficult to accommodate and manage the ever increasing numbers of parishioners. It was therefore considered the right time for a new church to be set up. After much correspondence between the Vicar of Biscot and the officials of the Diocese of St. Albans, it was decided that a daughter church should be built somewhere in the area, to accommodate worshippers from the Runfold and Limbury Mead Estates.
The site chosen was at the corner of Icknield Way and Catsbrook Road. As the new church would take a few years to build, a temporary place of worship had to be established. This was made possible by the loan of a tent by the scout troop at Henlow Camp. The “Tent” was duly erected and pitched alongside the brook in Catsbrook Road. This was used as a temporary place of worship for the few people who were unable to get to Biscot on a Sunday morning; the Reverend Ted Bush, a curate at Biscot, was licensed to take charge of the temporary church. The tent soon proved inadequate for the increasing number of worshippers, and a larger structure was needed. As news of this spread in the Diocese, the PCC at St. Matthew’s offered the parish a large shed. This was accepted and preparation for the erection of the shed began immediately, on the same site as the Tent, which had been dismantled and returned with thanks.
During the time of the erection of the shed, worshippers met at various residences. After much hard work by parishioners laying concrete foundations etc, working weekends only, under the expert supervision of Ted Bush, the shed was completed in 1963. This became the temporary church of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Limbury. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Bedford, the Right Reverend John Trillo on Sunday, 22nd December 1963, prior to a Communion service at which he was assisted by Ted Bush and the Reverend Gordon Wailer, who had succeeded Dick Wailer as vicar of Biscot. There were 82 people present and the collection amounted to £3-12 shillings. The shed, which soon came to be known as “The Hut”, measured about 60 feet by 25 feet and accommodated about 80 people. Chairs were borrowed from St. Hugh’s church and a piano was loaned by one of the parishioners. There was a portable font at the back and also a small tea-bar. Some 20 to 25 people attended Holy Communion Service on Sunday mornings and a slightly smaller number came to evensong. A large number of children, divided into three age groups, attended Sunday School at Limbury Meads Primary School, which was made available for this purpose. Cubs and Brownies also met once a week at the school. Several baptisms took place in the Hut and these are registered at Biscot. Worship in the Hut ended when the new church was completed and consecrated.
Design and Construction
The architects selected to design the new church were the London form of Caroe & Partners, who had had previous experience designing church buildings. From the start, the vicar of Biscot, Ted Bush, and representatives from Biscot and the Diocese were involved in the design and planning of a building that would eventually be the parish church. The main problem, even at that time, was how the money would be raised.
The amount of money originally provided by the Diocese was £33000 but this was later increased to £42000, as rising costs and building modifications became necessary. A sum of £1000 was given for the furnishings by the parish of Radlett, no doubt as a result of the connection with Ted Bush. Our mother church, Holy Trinity, pledged to fund the additional money needed to complete the church and hall and a stewardship scheme raised a considerable sum of money to make the whole scheme viable.
Despite the doubts on how the money would be raised, Ted Bush (as priest-in-charge) drove the scheme forward with enthusiasm and eventually tenders were sent out to several builders. T & E Neville came in with the lowest price and Caroe’s were authorised to accept and arrange for the builder to start work on site as soon as possible.
The foundation stone of the new church was unveiled on Sunday 22nd November, 1964 and was blessed by the then Bishop of Bedford, the Right Reverend John Trillo. It was the moment for which all had worked so hard.
It was about this time that a change resulted in Ted Bush leaving for pastures new and Len Mayes arriving as priest-in-charge, taking over what Ted had so ably started. There followed a period of growth in both church and Christian witness that are the hallmarks of Len’s period at St. Augustine’s.
Why Saint Augustine of Canterbury?
There had been some correspondence over several months about the dedication of the new church. The parish of Biscot favoured St. Mark but the then Bishop of St Albans would not allow this, as the Alban Neve Centre for the Deaf in Luton was already dedicated to St Mark, and he feared that a second St. Mark’s would cause confusion. He suggested instead that, as the church was on the Icknield Way, a saint linked with travellers should be chosen. The Bishop proposed St Augustine of Canterbury, who had been sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Angles and Saxons to Christianity, and this was accepted.
Despite the Bishop’s sound intentions, it has not been possible to avoid all confusion, as there is also a church dedicated to St. Augustine of Canterbury in Dunstable.