Bedfordshire
General History
Places > Bedfordshire > General History
The Beauties of England and Wales: A topographical and historical description of the county of Bedford by John Britton, Esq F.S.A. and Mr E.W. Brayley, London, 1801 (Extract)
BEDFORDSHIRE, and the adjoining counties of Buckinghamshire and Hertford, were inhabited at the time of the Roman invasion, by the people named the Cattienchlani, or Cassii; whose chief CASSIVELLANUS, was chosen by the unanimous consent of the Britons to lead their armies against the arrogant CAESAR. Why the inhabitants of these parts were thus denominated, is not easy to determine; neither, in fact, is the exact reading of the term known to us, a variation being observerable both in the copies of Dio and Ptolemy. To attempt explaining its meaning, therefore would seem like a desire to amuse by visionary conjectures, rather than to instruct by warrantable deduction. Camden supposes they obtained the name of Cassii from Gessi, which, in the language of ancient Gaul, signified Brave or Warlike. That they had the reputation of good soldiers, he adds, is plain from their having reduced part of the Dobuni.
When the Emperor Constantine, in the year 310, divided Britain into the Roman provinces, this county was included in the third division, called FLAVIA CAESARIENSIS. At the establishment of the kingdom of Mercia, it was attached to that government, and so continued till the year 827, when, with the other divisions of the Island, it became subject to the West-Saxons, under Egbert.
On the more accurate division of the kingdom into shires, &c. by the great ALFRED, this county was called Bedfordshire; probably from the name of its chief town, which the Britons are said to have named Lettidur; in English, Bedford. Lettuy, signifying Public Inns; Dur, a Ford; and by easy transition Beds on a Ford. Such is the ridiculous etymology which have given us of this name. In our account of Bedford, the reader will find one more consonant with rational conjecture.
This county is bounded on the north by the shires of Northampton and Huntingdon; on the east by the latter, and that of Cambridge; on the south, and south-east, by Hertfordshire; and, on the west, and south-west, by Buckinghamshire. In the accounts of its size there is a considerable difference: some authors estimating its length at 26 miles, and its breadth at 18: others at 32 by 22. In AIKIN'S England Delineated, its greatest length is computed at 35 miles, and its utmost breadth at 20: and these dimensions appear as near to the truth, as an acquaintance with the best maps and surveys will enable us to determine. Its circumference may be between 90 and 100 miles. It contains about 260,000 acres, 9 hundreds, 10 market towns, 124 parishes, 58 vicarages, 550 villages, about 12,000 houses, and nearly 64,000 inhabitants.
The limits of the county are very irregular: its only natural ones are , the river Ouse for a short distance on the east and west sides, and a rivulet on the south-west border. The face of the country is pleasingly varied, being broken into small hills and vallies. Southwards a range of chalk eminences rises to a considerable height, and sometimes projects into the lower grounds in a bold and abrupt manner. Beneath these hills is an extensive tract of hard, steril land, appearing cold, dreary and uncomfortable. Some very rich dairy ground, terminated on the north by sandy hills, extends in a line from the middle of the county to the south-east corner. The western side is mostly flat, and sandy; yet, being well managed, it produces great quantities of beans. On the north and north-east, the soil is a deep loam, famous, from the goodness of the cultivation, for growing large crops of corn, particularly barley. A great proportion of the land is in open or common fields, that unconquerable impediment to the progress of agricultural knowledge. A number of fine woods are interspersed throughout the county; the timber of which is occasionally felled, and most part of it sent down the river Ouse to the sea-coast.
The county partakes as little of the advantages and disadvantages of manufacturers and trade, as any in the kingdom. The chief employment of the lower classes is agriculture and lace making. The manufacture of straw hats has considerably increases of late years, and is now a source of livelihood to the poor of many towns. The agricultural produce is principally corn and butter: yet some of the parishes supply the surrounding country, to a considerable extent, with large quantities of vegetables. The barley is chiefly disposed of in Hertfordshire; and wheat, in the counties of Warwick and Leicester. Several waggon-loads of matting, manufactured from the rushes of the Ouse, at Stevington, are annually sent to London, where it meets with a ready sale.
The principal rivers are the OUSE and the IVEL: the former enters the county on the west, between little villages of Brayfield and Turvey, and, after a very devious course through a number of meadows, to which its waters give beauty and fertility, passes through Bedford, where it becomes navigable, and then flowing east, leaves the county at St. Neot's on the confines of Huntingdonshire. This river is remarkable for the slowness of its motion, and for the many windings which it makes in so short a distance. From Turvey to St. Neot's is hardly nineteen miles; yet the meanderings of the Ouse are supposed to extend to the length of seventy. It divides the county into two parts; and in a wet season is liable to sudden and great inundations. The river Ivel rises in Hertfordshire, and passing Baldock and Biggleswade, falls into the Ouse a little above Tempsford.
Bedfordshire is in the diocese of Lincoln, in the Norfolk circuit. It sends four members to parliament; viz. two for the shire and two for Bedford; pays seven parts of land-tax, and provides 400 men to the militia. It is one of seven counties that lie together without a city among them. These are Huntingdon, Bedford, Bucks, Berks, Hertford, Essex and Surrey.
The Beauties of England and Wales: A topographical and historical description of the county of Bedford containing an account of its towns, castles, churches, monuments, antiquities, public edifices, picturesque scenery, the residences of the Nobility , Gentry &c. Accompanied with Biographical notices of Eminent and Learned Men to whom this county has given birth by John Britton, Esq F.S.A. and Mr E.W. Brayley, London, 1801 (Extract)
Page last updated: 23rd January 2014