Biggleswade ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the River Ivel, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bedford. Its population was 16,551 in the 2011 United Kingdom census, and its estimated population in mid-2019 had increased to 21,700, its growth encouraged by good road and rail links to London. The King's Reach development, begun in 2010, will provide 2,000 new homes to the east of the town. Highlights Evidence of settlement in the area goes back to the Neolithic period, but it is likely that the town as such was founded by Anglo-Saxons. A gold Anglo-Saxon coin was found on a footpath beside the River Ivel in 2001. The British Museum bought the coin in February 2006 and at the time, it was the most expensive British coin purchased. A charter to hold a market was granted by King John in the 13th-century. In 1785 a great fire devastated the town. The Great North Road passed through until a bypass was completed in 1961. A railway station was opened in 1850. From the 1930s to the late 1990s, manufacturing provided a significant amount of employment. The town centre is designated as a conservation area. Geography Biggleswade lies about 40 miles (60 km) north of Central London and 20 miles (30 km) west-south-west of Cambridge. Biggleswade civil parish includes the nearby hamlet of Holme. From Biggleswade station on the East Coast Main Line trains take about 45 minutes to reach London. The A1, Britain's Great North Road, bypasses the town; its old course is numbered A6001. The B1040 road leads north to Potton and St. Ives and the B659 south to Langford and Henlow. Elevation The town centre is about 28 m (92 ft) above sea level. The land rises to 78 m (256 ft) at the parish's southern boundary near the water tower on Topler's Hill. Soil and geology The area's soil is mostly freely draining and slightly acid, but with a base-rich, loamy texture of sand, silt and clay particles. Fertility is high. The underlying geology of the Ivel Valley is alluvial. The town centre stands largely on river gravel but with smaller areas of green and brown sands and sandstones, and glacial gravel. Boulder clay dominates the outlying southern and eastern parts. Landscape Biggleswade Common is an area of grassland that extends northwards along the eastern bank