Sewell Cutting Nature Reserve

Whilst Sewell is a small hamlet, it is also home to a nature reserve, which was opened in 1981. The nature reserve, which covers eight acres of land is part of the London North West Railway line, which ran from Dunstable to Leighton Buzzard and was closed in 1962. The reserve contains orchids and chalk land flora as well as many types of butterfly. The land is also near to the prehistoric Maidenbower Earthworks, which is also within the parish of Houghton Regis. The Earthworks were surrounded by a series of deep ditches in Neolithic Times and is thought to have been a religious or defensive site.

Houghton Regis was once a much larger parish, which extended on to part of High Street North, Dunstable. This section of the High Street was called ‘Upper Houghton’ and stretched North from Union Street, Dunstable. The hamlets of Sewell and Thorn were also part of the parish of Houghton Regis and are still recorded as such today.

 Sewell Cutting

 

Last updated about 3 years ago