Leighton Buzzard as the Grand Union Canal was opened there. More recently, Leighton Buzzard station was the location for part of the film "Robbery", which is based on the so-called "Great Train Robbery" (1963), whereas the actual robbery took place just outside the town, at Bridego bridge, Ledburn. In the "Domesday Book", Leighton Buzzard and Linslade were both called Leestone. Leighton Buzzard contains All Saints' Church, an Early English parish church dating from 1277. The church has a 190 ft spire and has been described as the 'cathedral of South Bedfordshire'. The church was damaged by fire in the 1980s, but has
Woburn Abbey in the area. After visiting them he wrote in his diary "Stowe, Hagley, and Blenheim, are superb; Woburn, Caversham, and the Leasowes are beautiful. Wotton is both great and elegant, though neglected". However in his diary he was also damning about the means used to finance the large estates, and he did not think that the embellishments to the landscape, made by the owners of the great country houses, would suit the more rugged American countryside. From 1941 Woburn Abbey was the headquarters of the secretive Political Warfare Executive (PWE) which had its London offices at the BBC's Bush House.