In 1831 Eastcotts was described as a chapelry in the parish of Cardington, in the hundred of Wixamtree, 3+1⁄2 miles south-east of Bedford.[5] It became a separate civil parish in 1866.[6]
In 1915 Short Brothers bought land in the parish to build airships for the Admiralty and constructed a 700-foot-long (210 m) airship hangar to build the two R31 class airships. They also built a housing estate for workers which they named Shortstown. The site was nationalized in 1919 and became known as the Royal Airship Works.
The shed was extended in 1926 and its roof was raised to accommodate the R101. A second shed was moved here from RNAS Pulham, Norfolk, in 1928, but after the crash of the R101 in 1930, all work stopped in Britain on airships and the site became a storage station. It became known as RAF Cardington in 1936 and started building barrage balloons and became the No 1 RAF Balloon Training Unit. The site has since been used for a variety of other purposes by a number of organizations including the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the Building Research Establishment, the Meteorological Research Unit, Airship Industries and Hybrid Air Vehicles. The sheds are both listed buildings,[7][8] but Hangar Number 1 is at risk, needing complete repair and refurbishment.[9]
On 1 April 2019 the parish was abolished and split to Cotton End and Shortstown.
Population
As a result of the building of Shortstown, the population of Eastcotts rose from 848 in 1911 to 2,065 by 1921.[10]
With the ending of National Service and cuts in the armed forces the RAF’s presence at Cardington began to dwindle and largely disappeared in the 1970s. As a result, the population of Eastcotts declined from 3,675 in 1951 to 1,710 in 1981.[11]
The majority of the population of the parish, which was 4,004 in 2016,[12] lives in Shortstown in the northern part of the parish, which was built-in in the early 20th century to house workers from the Cardington airship works.
The population of the ward is expected to rise substantially in the near future, as planning permission for the development of 1,100 homes on the new site built in 2011 named New Cardington. 42 hectares (100 acres) site of the former RAF camp in Shortstown was granted in November 2005.[13]
Population table
Year
Eastcotts
Shortstown
Cotton End
1911
848
-
-
1921
2,065
-
-
1951
3,675
-
-
1981
1,710
-
-
2001
2,431
1,745
686
2011
3,239
2,401
838
2016
4,004
2,392
1,612
Community facilities
Eastcott's open spaces include Shortstown Playing Field near Southcote, Shocott Spring between Cotton End and Shortstown and Exeter Wood which is south-east of the parish.
Education
A boarding school was established as a result of the Elementary Education Act 1870. The school was built in 1874, at a cost of £1,174, for 140 children with a schoolmaster’s house attached.
A primary school was built in Shortstown around 1957, which was then demolished in 2012 to create a new primary school, located in New Cardington, that was completed in September 2013.
There is currently two schools in Eastcotts. One in Shortstown, and another in Cotton End.
References
^"Civil Parish pop 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
