BEDFORD, municipal borough, and county town of Bed fordshire, England, 5om. N.N.W. of London by the L.M.S. rail way. Pop. (1931) 40,573. It lies in the fertile valley of the Ouse, mainly north of the river, where stands the mound which marks the site of the ancient castle. Near the site was a small Roman station controlling the ford; while the rich cemetery of Kempston indicates early Saxon occupation. Bedford (Bedcanforda, Bedan forda, Bedeford) is first mentioned in 571, when Cuthwulf de feated the Britons here. It subsequently became a Danish borough and was captured by Edward the Elder in 914. Owing to its cen tral position and fordable river site it became the capital of the nascent shire to which it gave its name (see BEDFORDSHIRE). In Domesday, as the county town, it was entered apart from the rest of the shire, and was assessed for ship service. The prescriptive borough received its first charter from Henry II. The privileges included a gild-merchant, all tolls, and liberties and laws in com mon with the citizens of Oxford. This charter was confirmed by successive sovereigns down to Charles II. The castle, first mentioned in 1136, was destroyed in 1224. During the i5th cen tury, owing to the rise of other market towns, Bedford became less prosperous. Henry VIII. granted a November fair to St. Leonard's hospital, which was still held in the loth century at St. Leonard's farm, the site of the hospital. Mary granted fairs in Lent and on the Feast of the Conception, and also a weekly mar ket. In the I7th century Bedford carried on trade in coal, brought by the Ouse from Lynn and Yarmouth. The town was also one of the earliest centres of the lace trade, to the success of which French refugees in the I7th and 18th centuries largely contributed.
Bedford was represented in the parliament of 1295, and after that date two members were returned regularly until 1885.
The church of St. Paul, mainly Decorated and Perpendicular, contains the tomb of Sir William Harper or Harpur (c. 1496 15 73) , lord mayor of London, a notable benefactor of his native town of Bedford. Portions of the tower of St. Peter's church are probably of pre-Conquest date ; St. Mary's is in part Norman, and St. John's Decorated; but the bodies of these churches are largely restored. There are some remains of a Franciscan friary of the 14th century. The Congregational chapel called Bunyan's or the "Old Meeting" stands on the site of the building in which John Bunyan preached from 1656 onward. In the town he under went a long but in part nominal imprisonment. In the panels of a fine pair of bronze doors in the chapel are scenes illustrative of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Bedford is noted for its grammar school, founded by Edward VI. in 1552, and endowed by Sir Wil liam Harper. The existing buildings, however, date from 1891 and later. The Harper Trust also supports other educational establish ments. There are statues of John Bunyan (1874) and John Howard (1894) the philanthropist. There are two parks. Bedford has a large trade as a market town for agricultural produce, and extensive engineering works and manufactures of agricultural im plements. The municipal borough is under a mayor, six aldermen and 18 councillors. Area 2,223 acres. Bedford remained a parlia mentary borough until 1918 and now forms, with Kempston and some rural areas, the Bedford parliamentary division.