Recommended Literature

1."Old Kempston" by V.Walker, 2001

Old Kempston boasts a stunning array of photographs and interesting local information from author Victoria Walker, whose family lived in the town for centuries. Local industries photographed include Henman's Hygienic Laundry, lace-making, agriculture, public houses such as the Half Moon Inn and The Shoulder of Mutton, blacksmiths, Whitworth's butchers, Ann Ellison's brewery business and Kempston Mill. School photographs include the children of Church End School and Up End Boys' School. Local leisure is strongly covered with photographs of the Kempston Stars FC, Kempston Rovers FC, and the quaint 'Sporting Beard Brothers' of Wood End. You can also see the volunteer fire brigade from the early twentieth century and, soldiers billeted at Kempston Barracks during the first world war, local strong-man 'Buster' Morris and a crowded baptism ceremony in the River Ouse in 1906.

2. "Eight Thousand Years: a Kempston History" by H.A.Carnell, 1966