On the Western boundary of South Bedfordshire is Leighton Buzzard with its street market, Market Cross and Georgian High Street, and the adjoining canalside town of Linslade. Market Cross is a 15th century pentagonal cross with five statues showing Christ, the Madonna and Child, a Bishop, a King, and St John. It was built when the Duchess of Suffolk, Alice Chaucer - grand-daughter of the poet, was the Lord of the manor of Leighton.

Leighton Buzzard today is a busy market town. It is believed that there was a settlement here from around AD600 and that Christianity arrived about AD625, when a church was established perhaps on the site where the parish chuch stands today. In the Doomsday Book in 1086, the name of the town was recorded as Lestone which may be derived from the Saxon word 'Leahton' meaning woodland. The suffix Buzzard is believed to have been taken from Theobold de Busar, and was later added to distinguish the town from Leighton Bromswold in Huntingdonshire, both of which were, at the time, in the Diocese of Lincoln.

Leighton's High Street was established in the middle ages when the town prospered and the present Church was built. During the Civil War troops from both sides were billeted here and may have precipitated the Great Fire in the town in 1645. A petition was sent to Parliament for money for the town after the fire.

The area is surrounded by attractive and diversified countryside, with mixed woodlands and heaths to the north, the river scenery around the town, and the Chiltern Hills rising over 800 feet between Dunstable and Tring giving beautiful panoramic views across the countryside.