Поттон қаласының тарихы мен географиясы

English town and civil parish
the town in Bedfordshire

Potton is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about 10 mile (16 km) east of the county town Bedford. The parish had a population in 2021 of 5,727. In 1783 the Great Fire of Potton destroyed a large part of the town. The parish church dates from the 13th century, and is dedicated to St Mary. Potton's horse fairs were some of the largest in the country.

The village's name was spelled Pottun in 960 AD and Potone in the 1086 Domesday book. It is derived from the Old English for "farmstead where pots are made". Evidence of early middle Iron Age settlement in the form of ditches, a pit and sherds of pottery was found in 2009 by archaeologists at Vicarage Farm off the B1042 Gamlingay Road. The parish of Potton underwent parliamentary inclosure twice once in 1775, and again in 1832.

Potton was granted a market charter by William II in 1094. A fair was granted by Henry II in 1227. In 1831, fairs were held in January, April, July and October. It was reported to have burned for a day. Local people raised £6,000 to help those most in need. The 13th century parish church, St Mary's, survived. Rebuilding after the fire has left the town with a number of Georgian buildings.

The Sandy and Potton Railway, also known as Captain Peel's Railway, opened on 9 November 1857. It was established by Captain Sir William Peel VC, who resided at The Lodge. When the Great Northern Railway came to Sandy in 1850, Captain Peel had a branch line built to his estate and on to Potton. The railway's locomotive was named Shannon, after the frigate Captain Peel was commanding. He never saw his railway; he died of smallpox on 22 April 1858 in India. The engine itself is in the collection of the National Railway Museum and is currently housed at Didcot Railway Centre. The Potton Barbershop Harmony Club named its male chorus 'Shannon Express' after the locomotive. Potton railway station, which opened in 1862 and served the Varsity Line between Oxford to Cambridge, was closed in 1968. The railway was partly to blame for the decline of Potton market but made London accessible for the district's market gardeners.

On 18 September 1945, a B 24 Liberator bomber crashed on the southern edge of Potton Wood. Four men were killed; the place where it fell can still be seen.

At the time of the 2001 census, Potton had 4,473 inhabitants living in 1,869 households. The ethnic origin of 95.5% was British. 73.9% were Christian, 1.3% followed another religion and 24.9% stated no religion or were not religious.

There are two tiers of local government covering Potton, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Potton Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council, based at Chicksands. Potton Town Council has 15 members and meets at the Community Centre in Brook End. The building was formerly the town's fire station and had been built in 1887. The town is represented by a single councillor on Central Bedfordshire Council and by the Conservative Member of Parliament Richard Fuller for the North East Bedfordshire constituency at the House of Commons.

Centrebus (South) runs an hourly, daytime, Monday to Saturday service to Biggleswade and Hitchin (journey time one hour) via Wrestlingworth and Dunton (service 188) or via Sutton (service 190) and to Sandy direct (service 188) or via Gamlingay and Everton (service 190). Ivel Sprinter runs a return trip each Wednesday to Cambridge (journey time 43 minutes) and every Thursday to St. Neots (38 minutes). The nearest railway stations are Sandy and Biggleswade.

The water supplied by Anglian Water for the Potton Public Water Supply Zone (RW50) is chloraminated and classed as hard. The supply comes from groundwater boreholes. There is a waste water treatment works on Biggleswade Road and a water tower on Hatley Road. The Eastern Power Area of UK Power Networks is the distribution network operator for electricity. Cadent Gas owns and operates the area's gas distribution network. The two nearest general hospitals are Bedford (Bedford Hospital NHS Trust) and Lister Hospital, Stevenage (East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust). Ambulance services are provided by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has a station on Bury Hill staffed by retained firefighters. There is a public library on the Market Square and a post office at Brook End.

A memorial cross to Potton men killed in the First and Second World Wars stands in the cemetery, with a brass plaque bearing the same names in the parish church.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the nearby Sandy Heath TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio on 95.5 FM, Heart East on 96.9 FM and BigglesFM is a licensed community radio station which broadcasts from the town on 104.8 FM and online. Full time broadcasting began in April 2011. The town is served by the local newspaper, The Biggleswade Chronicle.

The Henry Smith Playing Field off Brook End on the eastern edge of the town has a children's play area and skate park. Events such as Picnic in the Park and the bi annual Party on Potton are hosted. Potton has a Non League football club Potton United F. C., which plays at The Hollow. Potton Colts is the local youth football club with teams for children aged 6–16. Potton Town Cricket Club is also based at The Hollow on Biggleswade Road. Both Junior and Senior cricket is played. The adult section runs two teams competing in the Saracens Hertfordshire League on Saturdays and The Bedfordshire Cricket League on Sundays. The club also enter midweek competitions.

There is an active History Society with a membership of over 100. It meets regularly in the Community Centre in Brook End.

The parish church of St Mary's stands a short distance from the town centre on a small hill. It has a chancel, a nave, aisles and north porch, and a western tower with circular turret containing six bells. A separate cemetery was established in 1880, west of the town on the road to Sandy. until 1922 when it was bought by the Bedford brewery of Newland & Nash. This company subsequently closed the brewery in Potton and sold the site to the Co operative Society (the original buildings remain intact). In 1998 brewing returned to Potton when the Potton Brewery Company was re established, This subsequently closed but a new brewery is currently being planned. The town is also home to Potton Homes, who specialise in mock Tudor style property developments. A sand quarry operated by Breedon Aggregates lies off The Heath to the north west of the town. Deepdale Trees operate an extensive tree nursery off Hatley Road and there is an adjacent poultry farm. Despite noteworthy local businesses, the town remains very much a commuter town; the majority of people in Potton commute daily to either London, via rail, or to Cambridge.