Bedford

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Bedford
Bedford shown within Bedfordshire
Population	79,190
OS grid reference	TL055495
- London	57.4m
District	Bedford
Shire county	Bedfordshire
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BEDFORD
Postcode district	MK40, MK41, MK42
Dialling code	01234
Police	Bedfordshire
Fire	Bedfordshire and Luton
Ambulance	East of England
European Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Bedford
List of places: UK • England • Bedfordshire

Coordinates: 52°08′01″N 0°27′28″W / 52.1337, -0.4577

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the Bedford borough. According to Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town of Kempston. The wider borough, including a rural area, had a population of 153,000.

[edit] History

Bedford was a market town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages. In 886 it became a boundary town separating Wessex and Danelaw.^[1][2] It was the seat of the Barony of Bedford. In 919 Edward the Elder built the town's first known fortress, on the south side of the River Ouse and there received the area's submission. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes. William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp who built a new, strong castle. The new Bedford Castle was razed in 1224 and today only a mound remains.^[3]

Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II^[4] and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons.

Bedford remained a small agricultural town, with wool being an important industry in the area for much of the Middle Ages. From the 1560s Bedford and much of Bedfordshire became one of the main centres of England's Lace industry, with skilled lace-makers such as the Flemings, and then later the Huguenots emigrating from Europe to settle in the town and surrounding county.^[5] Lace continued to be an important industry in Bedford up until the early 20th century.^[6]

The River Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689. Wool declined in importance with brewing becoming a major industry in the town.

In 1660 John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years in Bedford Gaol, it was here that he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress.^[7]

The 19th Century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub. In 1832 Gas lighting was introduced, and the railway reached Bedford in 1846. The first Corn Exchange was built 1849,^[8] and the first drains and sewers were dug in 1864.^[9]

Bedford in 1611

Bedford Bridge in 1783. This version of the bridge was replaced in 1813.

Bedford in 1806

Bedford Castle mound

[edit] Features and events

River Great Ouse in Bedford from Town Bridge,looking downstream. The old Coaching Inn, the Swan Hotel is on the left behind the tree. Bedford Rowing Club and the multistorey Bedford Park Inn are on the right.

Bedford War Memorial

The River Great Ouse passes through the town centre (see also ford (crossing)), and is lined with attractive gardens known as The Embankment. Within these gardens stands a war memorial to the fallen of the First World War, opposite Rothsay Gardens^[10]. The memorial was designed in 1921 by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger and depicts a Knight vanquishing a dragon.^[11]. The inscription reads

St Paul's Church

Bedford's principal church is St Paul's Church, Bedford, in the square of the same name at the historic centre of the town. It has a tall spire which is one of the main features of the town. There was a church on the site by 1066 and work on the present structure began in the early 13th century, but little remains from that period. John Bunyan and John Wesley both preached in the church. In 1865-1868 the tower and spire were completely rebuilt and the two transepts added and lesser alterations have been made since. From 1941 to the end of the Second World War the BBC's daily service was broadcast from St. Paul's. Another church of note is St. Peter's Church, Bedford (Situated on St Peter's Street) which contains some of the oldest architectural remains in Bedford, the most ancient being the two monoliths.

The Cecil Higgins Gallery, housed in the recreated Victorian home of the Higgins family of Victorian brewers and in a modern extension, has notable collections of watercolours, prints and drawings, ceramics, glass and lace. Adjacent to the Cecil Higgins Gallery is Bedford Museum, which has local history collections.

Bedford Hospital is a district general hospital that operates from two sites in the town, providing a wide range of services, although patients requiring highly advanced treatment are referred to specialist units, elsewhere, principally in Cambridge and London. Its catchment area is based on the Borough of Bedford and Mid Bedfordshire. In 2006 there was controversy in the local media about alleged plans to downgrade Bedford Hospital's provision of acute care, as the government's current policy is that full service hospitals require a catchment area population of 300,000. Bedford Hospital's catchment population was less than that at that time, but it is expected to exceed it in the medium term as the area is experiencing above average population growth. Health secretary Patricia Hewitt visited the town and made assurances about the future of the hospital, but failed to fully satisfy local concerns as to the government's intentions.

Every two years, an event called "The River Festival" is held near the river in Bedford during early July. The event lasts for two days and regularly attracts about 250,000 visitors. The event includes sports, funfairs and live music. It is the second largest regular outdoor event in the UK beaten in numbers only by the Notting Hill Carnival.^[12] The Bedford Regatta each May is Britain's largest one-day river rowing regatta.

Other annual events include 'Bedford By The Sea' (when large quantities of sand are deposited in the town centre) and the 'Bedford Kite Festival' in June. 'Proms In The Park', held in early August, is a popular musical event.

Bedford town centre

The Bedford Corn Exchange is the largest entertainment venue in the town and plays host to a variety of performances, meetings, conferences, concerts and private functions. The Corn Exchange also operates the Harpur Suite exhibition hall and the Bedford Civic Theatre which plays host to the 'Bedfringe festival', a pre-Edinburgh Fringe festival. The University of Bedfordshire Theatre is the largest theatre in Bedford and hosts many larger productions as well as projects from the university. There is an active amdram (community theatre) scene, with groups such as the Swan Theatre Company, Bedford Dramatic Club (BDC), Bedford Marianettes and ShowCo Bedford producing plays and musicals in venues like the Civic Theatre and the Corn Exchange. The Bedford Pantomime Company produces a traditional pantomime at the Civic Theatre each Christmas. Esquires (one of the town's premier live music venues) regularly plays host to many notable bands and acts from all over the UK as well as showcasing local live music.

Bedford has two rugby union teams called Bedford Blues and Bedford Athletic. Bedford Blues are currently in the second tier of English rugby, but has previously been in the top division. Taking into account the size of its overall urban area, it is one of the largest towns in England without a fully professional football team. Bedford Town F.C. currently plays at the seventh level of the English football league system and Bedford Valerio United F.C. play at the 11th level.

[edit] Film and TV links

• The popular BBC TV series Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was filmed in and around Bedford during the 1970s. Also One Foot in the Grave was also filmed around Bedford during the 1990s - 2000s.
• In the 2006 Comedy Central and DVD versions of Russell Peters' Outsourced, a good natured Bedfordian bears the brunt of Russell's comedic segment "I'm From England".
• In the 2005 motion picture Batman Begins scenes were filmed at the Cardington Hangers in Bedford and featured extras from Bedford.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Trains

Bedford has two railway stations:

• Bedford (Midland) is located on the Midland Main Line. It is the northern-most stop on the First Capital Connect rail service to Brighton. East Midlands Trains intercity trains also serve the station, Providing trains to St. Pancras, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds. It is also the terminus of the Marston Vale Line from Bletchley.
• Bedford St Johns is the penultimate stop on the Marston Vale line.

[edit] Roads

Bedford lies on the A6 trunk road, and two of the most important north-south routes in Great Britain, the A1 and the M1 motorway pass a few miles to the east and west respectively. Two road improvement schemes are currently in process to link the town to the M1^[13] and A1^[14] via dual carriageway. This will significantly improve access to the town, which currently requires the use of frequently congested single carriageway roads. Bedford has a southern bypass along the A421 and in September 2007, work started on the long awaited western bypass.^[15]

Bedford also has its own Park and ride operation situated to the south of the town near Elstow. Currently this is the only site which has been completed, but there are plans to develop more sites around the town.^[16]

[edit] Buses

Prior to bus deregulation in 1986, bus services in and around Bedford were run by the United Counties subsidiary of the National Bus Company. The United Counties business was bought by the Stagecoach Group in the late 1980s ^[17] and has since been branded Stagecoach in Bedford.

The town's bus services and major bus routes run to Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Oxford and other towns in the region. Most of these services depart from the main bus station in the town. The bus station itself is due for major redevelopment as part of a scheme to renovate the town centre.^[18]

Local transport company, Cedar Coaches also runs services from Bedford to surrounding areas.^[19]

[edit] Demographics

Bedford is home to one of the largest concentration of Italian immigrants in the UK. According to a 2001 census, 2 in 7 (1 in 3.5 or almost 30% of the town's population) of Bedford's population are of at least partial Italian descent. This is mainly as a result of labour recruitment in the early 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of Puglia, Campania, Calabria, Molise, Abruzzo and Sicily.^[20] Bedford's Little Italy feel is enhanced by a wide variety of Italian bars, restaurants and social clubs throughout the town. as well as a large number of delis and grocery shops selling Italian and continental produce - and by the large Italian mission church run by the Scalabrini Fathers order. Bedford has, since 1954, had its own Italian vice-consulate.^[21]

A map of Bedford and Kempston

In addition to Italian immigrants, Bedford has also been the recipient of significant immigration from South Asia (8.1% of Bedford's population^[22]), Eastern Europe (particularly in the last few years), Greece, Cyprus, the Middle East and Africa (3% of Bradford's population is of Sub-Saharan descent ^[23]), making it one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse towns in Britain and the world, particularly in proportion to its size. Bedford is home to over one hundred immigrant languages, including Italian, Punjabi, Turkish, Polish, Portuguese and both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.^{[citation needed]}

Bedford also has a high number of Christian churches including four from the Newfrontiers network, several Polish and Italian Roman Catholic churches, and various independent churches that cater to the different ethnic and language groups. There are also Sikh, Muslim, Wiccan, Jewish and Jehovah's Witness communities. There is no longer a synagogue in Bedford, but Bedfordshire Progressive Synagogue[3], based in Luton, meets in Bedford once a month. The nearest Orthodox synagogue is the Luton Hebrew Congregation, a Lubavitch synagogue in Luton.

[edit] Education

Bedford is home to five public schools run by the Harpur Trust charity, endowed by Bedfordian Sir William Harpur in the sixteenth century. These are:

• Bedford School for boys aged 7-18
• Bedford Modern School, a former boys' school which became co-educational in 2003 for pupils aged 7-18
• Bedford High School for girls aged 7-18
• Dame Alice Harpur School for girls aged 7-18
• Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School.

Smaller private institutions include Rushmoor School (boys aged 3-16, girls 3-11) St. Andrew's School (girls aged 3-16, boys 3-9), and Polam School, none of which are part of the Harpur Trust.

Bedford hosts a campus of the University of Bedfordshire, which prior to a merger with the University of Luton in 2006 had been a campus of De Montfort University (itself now solely based in Leicester). For further education, the town is served by Bedford College.

Unlike most of the United Kingdom, Bedfordshire operates a three-tier education system which is arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967. The arrangement was put to the vote in 2006 with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but was rejected.^[24] State upper schools include Wootton Upper School and Performing Arts College, Sharnbrook Upper School, Mark Rutherford Upper School, John Bunyan Upper School, St Thomas More Catholic Upper School and Biddenham Upper School, a local Sports Specialist College.

[edit] Twinned towns

Bedford is twinned with:

• Bamberg, Germany
• Arezzo, Italy
• Rovigo, Italy
• Wloclawek, Poland

[edit] Areas within Bedford

The town of Bedford is divided into 10 wards -

• Brickhill
• Castle
• Cauldwell
• De Parys
• Goldington
• Harpur
• Kingsbrook
• Newnham
• Putnoe
• Queens Park

Some of these wards elect their own urban community Council or parish council.

[edit] Relationship with nearby towns and villages

The town of Kempston is adjacent to Bedford. The villages in the Borough of Bedford with populations of more than 2,000 as of 2005 were Biddenham, Bromham, Clapham, Elstow, Oakley, Sharnbrook, Shortstown, Wilstead, and Wootton. There are also many smaller villages in the borough. The villages in the borough are popular with commuters to Bedford, and also with people who commute to Milton Keynes and to London.

Nearby small towns include Ampthill, Biggleswade, Flitwick, and Sandy, all of which are in Mid Bedfordshire. The nearest towns and cities with larger populations than Bedford are Northampton to the north west, Cambridge to the east, Milton Keynes to the south west, and Luton to the south, all of which have urban area populations of 130,000 or more. Milton Keynes and Cambridge in particular are used by Bedfordians for services that are not available in Bedford, especially the shopping and leisure facilities in Milton Keynes, and advanced health services at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, a teaching hospital which has a partnership with Bedford Hospital.

[edit] Notable Bedfordians

John Bunyan's statue at the corner of the High Street and St Peter's street.

It was the home and prison of John Bunyan, the author of the Pilgrim's Progress. Prison Reformer John Howard, although born in London, was high Sheriff of Bedfordshire.

Other prominent Bedfordians include:

• Harold Abrahams, 1924 Olympic 100 metres champion and character in the film Chariots of Fire
• Ronnie Barker, the late comedian
• Matt Berry, comedian, star of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh and The Peter Serafinowicz Show as well as the voice of George the talking volcano in the recent Volvic (mineral water) adverts
• Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby, traveller
• Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Antarctic explorer
• Gail Emms badminton doubles 2004 Olympic silver medallist
• William Fitzhugh, also known as William the Immigrant, founder of an American dynasty that married into the lines of George Washington and General Lee
• Tim Foster, men's coxless fours Olympic gold medallist
• Lil Fuccillo, former footballer and manager
• Sir William Harpur, who became Lord Mayor of London.
• Bishop Trevor Huddleston, anti-Apartheid activist
• Andy Johnson, England and Everton F.C. footballer
• John Le Mesurier, actor and comedian
• Toby Litt, writer, went to Bedford Modern School and lived in nearby Ampthill.
• Alfred Mitchell-Innes, diplomat, who also served on Bedford Town Council for 23 years and resided there from 1920 until his death in 1950.
• John Oliver, Comedian and actor, now based in the United States. Correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
• Dame Bertha Phillpotts, Scandinavian scholar and pioneer of university education for women
• Matt Skelton, heavyweight boxer, commonwealth champion
• Laura Wade, playwright
• Charles Wells, founder of Charles Wells Brewery, a company still located in the town
• William Hale White, a minor Victorian novelist who wrote under the pseudonym, Mark Rutherford

And not born there but associated with Bedford:

• Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, ski-jumping legend
• Paula Radcliffe, the UK's top female long-distance runner and current world record holder for the women's marathon

Schooled in Bedford:

• Paddy Ashdown (now Lord Ashdown), former leader of the Liberal Democrats attended Bedford School
• Alastair Cook, England cricketer attended Bedford School
• Christopher Fry, playwright, attended Bedford Modern School
• Al Murray, actor, also known as The Pub Landlord attended Bedford School
• Monty Panesar, England cricketer, attended Bedford Modern School
• Jean Muir CBE FCSD, fashion designer, attended Dame Alice Harpur School

[edit] References

[edit] External links

England Portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bedford (England)

• The Official Town Centre and BedfordBID Website
• Welcome to Bedford!
• History of Bedford
• Bedford in Old Postcards

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