The first settlement in the area was
Waulud's Bank which is a
Neolithic D-shaped enclosure in Leagrave Park at the source of the River Lea and is now a protected monument. Waulud's bank consists of a bank and external ditch of around 7 hectares with a turf revetted chalk and gravel bank (built from the excavated ditch material). The ditch itself is about 9 m wide and 2 m deep. Finds at the site have included neolithic Grooved Ware and flint arrow heads. It is a similar site to
Durrington Walls and
Marden and the site was later re-used in the
Iron Age and during the
Roman occupation. The
Icknield Way, a pre Roman road, passes through Leagrave. Local road names give away its location, 'Roman Road' runs from Oakley Road to Marsh Road. On the other side of Marsh Road as the road enters
Limbury it continues as 'Icknield Road' where there is a gap before the road continues as Icknield Way. The River Lea which flows through the area once formed one boundary of the
Danelaw.
Leagrave Marsh used to be a popular place for the
Luton hatters on their (rare) days off and was, consequently, known as "Blockers' Seaside". The
hatmaking industry originally relied on
straw plaits, made by farmers' wives, bought and collected by a "plaitman" and brought into the Luton hat factories to be made into
straw hats. A new artwork has been unveiled in the area, reflecting on this former activity. The manor of Leagrave was held by the Lucy family from 1305 to 1455. The Lucys gave their name to the neighbouring suburbs of
Lewsey,
Lewsey Farm, and
Lewsey Park. Leagrave station was built by the
Midland Railway company in 1868 on its extension to
St Pancras. The original Midland station buildings still exist, having been carefully restored in the 1980s. In 1866, the villages of Leagrave and
Limbury were formed into the
ecclesiastical parish of 'Holy Trinity, (Biscot)'. Thirty years later, on 1 April 1896 Leagrave
civil parish was formed from
Luton Rural under the provisions of the '
Local Government Act 1894', in the ecclesiastical parish of Limbury-cum-Biscot. In 1914,
Hewlett & Blondeau Limited, an aircraft manufacturing business, opened a factory at Leagrave called The Omnia Works. The company was managed by
Hilda Hewlett who lived on site. During the
First World War the factory produced more than 800 aircraft and employed up to 700 people. The business closed in 1920 and in 1926 the factory site was sold to
Electrolux. In 1921, the parish had a population of 1643. The area grew significantly in between the wars and on 1 October 1928 the parish was abolished when the boundaries of
Luton were extended to include Leagrave, as well as Limbury and
Stopsley. Parts of Leagrave parish went to
Houghton Regis and
Sundon. Further expansion of the area took place during the 1930s. Much of the housing stock of the area dates from the 1920s and 1930s and is typical of the era, with large bay-fronted semi-detached and terraced houses the typical housing built at this time. Some of the old farm names live on in the modern road names, Strangers Farm lends its name to the current Strangers Way, and Grange Avenue (Grange Road until the 1920s) takes its name from The Grange Farm. Until the 1990s, Electrolux was one of the larger employers in the area; however, much of the old factory site was sold off in the early 2000s for redevelopment into housing. The most recent development on the site was Saxon-Gate. The current site of the
McDonald's restaurant on Marsh Road was the site of the Three Horseshoes pub, which was demolished in 1994. The roundabout next to McDonald's takes its name from the old pub, with the old pub sign incorporated in the planting scheme. The Sugar Loaf pub was also located on the high street, but this has since been converted into a restaurant and then more recently renovated into flats. Following Leagrave village becoming part of the larger town of Luton in 1928, many local roads were renamed to avoid confusion with existing Luton road names. For example, Oak Road became Oakley Road, Cumberland Avenue became Compton Avenue and Salisbury Road became Sarum Road (Sarum being the Roman name for Salisbury). ==Local area==