BATTLESDEN, a parish in Woburn district, Beds, on Watling-street, 3 miles SSE of Woburn, and 4½ NE of Leighton-Buzzard r. station. Post Town, Woburn. Acres, 1,123. Real property, £1,981. Pop., 143. Houses, 31. The manor belonged, in the time of Edward III., to the Firmbands; passed, in the time of Elizabeth, to the Duncombes; was purchased, in 1706, by the Bathursts, to whom it gives the title of Baron; and is now the property of the Turners. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Potsgrove, in the diocese of Ely. Value, £509.* Patrons, the Trustees of the late Sir G. P. Turner, Bart. The church is good.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))