Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire United Kingdom
Woburn Abbey
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Area:	468 square miles
Population:	602,847
County town:	Bedford
Biggest town:	Luton
County flower:	Bee orchid [1]

The County of Bedford is a shire in southern England, lying between Huntingdonshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east.

The county is generally low-lying, though the southern end of the county is swept by the chalk ridge of the Chiltern Hills, where the county's highest elevation is found, at 800 feet, on the Dunstable Downs. The rest of the shire is part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries.

The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across the county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.

Bedfordshire's soil of clay and sandstone has provided material for brick-making. Flint is extracted commercially too, leaving lakes, at Priory Country Park, at Wyboston and at Felmersham.

Bedfordshire is divided into the nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbournestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and borough of Bedford.

In 2002, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the bee orchid as Bedfordshire's county flower.

The traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is "Bedfordshire Bulldogs" or "Clangers", this latter deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust dumpling filled with meat or jam or both.

Economy

Luton has long been an industrial town, which fuelled its growth into the county's largest town, maintained by its location by the M1 and the A5 and Luton Airport. Other towns on the A1, A5 and M1 corridors have likewise seen commercial development.

Bedford is not on the major north-south routes but has long been a commercial centre in its own right.

Bedfordshire is the location of a number of notable British and international companies which have either headquarters or major bases in the county.

Visitor attractions

Key
	Cathedral/Abbey/Priory
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Zoo

• Bedford Castle
• The Corn Exchange, Bedford
• Bedford Museum and Art Gallery
• Bedford Park
• Cardington (R101 airship hangar)
• Chiltern Hills
• De Grey Mausoleum
• Dunstable Downs
• Elstow Moot Hall
• Houghton House
• Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
• Luton Hoo
• Luton Museum and Art Gallery
• Marston Vale Community Forest
• Mossman Collection
• Priory Country Park
• RAF Henlow
• RSPB: The Lodge, Sandy
• Someries Castle
• The Shuttleworth Collection
• Stockwood Craft Museum
• Wardown Park
• Waulud's Bank
• Whipsnade Wildlife Park
• Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
• Willington Dovecote and Stables
• Woburn Abbey
• Woburn Safari Park
• Woodside Farm and Wildfowl Park
• Wrest Park Gardens

Transport

Although not a major transport destination itself, Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link London to the Midlands and the North.

Roads

Two of Britain's main trunk roads pass through Bedfordshire:

• The A1 London to Edinburgh road (The Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy
• The A5 London to Holyhead road (Watling Street), passes through Dunstable.

To these was added in 1959:

• The M1 motorway, the London to Leeds motorway. This has three junctions around Luton, one serving Bedford and another serving Milton Keynes.

Former trunk roads, now local roads managed by the local highway authority include A428 running east-west through Bedford, and the A6 from Rushden to Luton.

Railways

Three main lines pass through Bedfordshire:

• The West Coast Main Line has but a short section in the far west of the county. The one station at Leighton Buzzard is served by trains to London Euston and Northampton.
• The East Coast Main Line has stations at Arlesey, Biggleswade and Sandy, served by services to London's King's Cross Station and Peterborough.
• The Midland Main Line serves Luton and Bedford with trains to many destinations between London St Pancras and Yorkshire.

There are rural services also running between Bedford and Bletchley along the Marston Vale Line.

Waterways

The River Great Ouse links Bedfordshire to the Fenland waterways. As of 2004 there are plans by the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust to construct a new canal linking the Great Ouse at Bedford to the Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes, 14 miles away.

Air

Luton Airport (now London Luton Airport) has flights to many British, European, North American and North African destinations.

Towns

The hundreds of Bedfordshire

Two towns in the county have populations over 50,000:

• Luton, 203,800
• Bedford, 79,190

Smaller towns are:

• Leighton Buzzard, 37,000
• Dunstable (partly in Hertfordshire), 35,120
• Kempston, 19,440
• Houghton Regis, 16,670
• Biggleswade, 16,420
• Leagrave, 12,910
• Flitwick, 13,370
• Sandy, 11,620
• Ampthill, 6,767
• Stotfold, 6,209
• Arlesey, 5,449
• Cranfield, 5,443
• Shefford, 5,400
• Barton-Le-Clay, 5,000

Bibliographical references

• Bedfordshire Magazine (quarterly)
• Elstow Moot Hall leaflets on John Bunyan and 17th century subjects
• Guide to the Bedfordshire Record Office 1957 with supplements.
• Guide to the Russell Estate Collections Published in 1966.
• Conisbe, L. R. (1962) A Bedfordshire Bibliography (supplement, 1967)
• Dony, John (1953) A Bedfordshire Flora. Luton: Corporation of Luton Museum & Art Gallery
• Dony, John (1942) A History of the Straw Hat Industry. Luton: Gibbs, Bamforth & Co.
• Freeman, Charles (1958) Pillow Lace in the East Midlands. Luton: Luton Museum and Art Gallery
• Godber, Joyce (1969) History of Bedfordshire 1066-1888
• White, H. O. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society (published annually)