Silsoe, United Kingdom

The Wrest Estate, in turn, provided the village with a church – St James's, a school and a row of almshouses, so sited that a row of cottages was hidden from the gentry's view as they drove from the Park to the church in nearby Flitton. Silsoe's position on a main road to London and halfway between Bedford and Luton made it a favourite halt for drovers and travellers stopping at the George coaching inn (first mentioned in 1624) on the High Street.

Silsoe had many inns including The White Hart, The Ragged Staff, Duke of Kent's Arms, The Bell, The Battle of Alma (or known as The Mouse's Hole in West End Road), Lord Nelson (Newbury Lane) and The George (High Street). The latter was converted into apartments in 2018. Now only the Star and Garter in the High Street remains. During the First World War Wrest House was used as a military hospital until 1916 when the house was damaged by fire. Lady Lucas, the last member of the de Grey dynasty, sold the House and estate before an auction that was to have been held at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London EC2 on 17 July 1917.

Wrest Park's house and gardens are now part of English Heritage and have been restored and opened to the public from 4 August 2011.

The village was, until 2007, the location of the Silsoe Research Institute, a BBSRC-funded body, in Wrest Park. The village also was home to Cranfield University's Silsoe campus for agricultural engineering. The former campus grounds are being redeveloped for housing, community and business use. The college was founded as the National College of Agricultural Engineering.

Since 2007 three property developers, Miller Homes, Bloor Homes and Bellway, have produced several hundred family homes. Stringent adherence to reflect the character of the village was followed, thus attracting new families and residents seeking village life. This area is often referred to as the "New Estate".

The church stands on the site of a much earlier free chapel of St. Leonard, first mentioned in the Liber Antiquus (1209–35), that became a chapel of ease in the 17th century. The chapel belonged to the abbey of Elstow. Eventually the chapel had a central tower. In the fourteenth century two chantries were founded in the chapel. In the early 19th century Thomas Philip Robinson, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781–1859), wished to construct a spire but the weight of the structure proved too much for the supporting walls and the whole building collapsed. The church was rebuilt between 1829–1831 and opened on 20 February 1831. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a tower containing three bells. Nikolaus Pevsner admired it as 'an astonishing job for its day'. The architect was Smith of Hereford who achieved 'an antiquarian accuracy here extremely rare ten years before Pugin'. Other sources such as Arthur Mee suggest that the architect was Earl de Grey, confirmed by Charles Read. Built in local ironstone, all embattled. The altar rails are made from 17th century oak taken from the chapel of the original Wrest House. Most of its stained glass windows represent the families of Wrest House. On Sunday, 25 July 1909 King Edward VII attended the church service here and made a donation towards the clock fund.

The War Memorial outside the church is of stone. The church also has an inscribed board with a further list of men.

In Church Road, is an ironstone lock-up erected 1796, octagonal, with a pointed head to the doorway. It was used as a temporary place for stray animals or drunks, and its central pole, now removed, was used to chain prisoners in transit between Bedford and Luton.

The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

The Millennium Green is a 4.94-hectare amenity space located off the High Street. Cranfield University landscape engineering students drew up designs in collaboration with residents of the village and won a grant of over £45,000 to form the Green, a tranquil centrepiece for the village. As an integral part of the village, Cranfield University had also been invited to contribute to Silsoe Parish Council's Millennium Time Capsule which was placed there in March 2000.

Ron Baynham (1929–2024), a former England international footballer, retired to the village.