Bedfordshire
General History
General Description of the County of Bedford

Places > Bedfordshire > General History

Bedfordshire is but a small county, being in length, from north to south, about 25 miles, and in breadth, from west to east, about 12, and about 73 miles in circumference.  It contains about 260,000 acres, nine hundreds, and about 12170 houses; has 124 parishes, 10 market towns, and sends four members to parliament, viz. two for the county, and two for the town of Bedford.

This county is bounded on the east with Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, on the south with Hertfordshire, on the west with Buckinghamshire, and on the north with Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire.  The air is temperate and wholesome; on which account it is very populous and crowded with gentry.  The soil is generally fertile, producing plenty of sorts of grain, especially wheat and barley, which are very good. 'Tis in general a champain county, intermixed with pasturage and woods.  The pastures feed very good cattle, but their sheep deserve no great commendation. The north and north east sides of the county are a deep clay, the south a chiltern, and in the midst, from Potton to Dunstable, runs a sandy ridge of hills, which are pretty well cloathed with wood, both for timber and fuel.  It is watered with two rivers, the Ouse and the Ivel.

Historical descriptions of new and elegant picturesque views of the antiquities of England and Wales, by Henry Boswell, London, 1786 (Extract)

Page last updated: 23rd January 2014