Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
County of England
Bedfordshire (/ˈbɛdfərdʃɪər, -ʃər/; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Luton (225,262),[2] and Bedford is the county town.
Bedfordshire | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 52°05′N 0°25′W | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | East |
Established | Ancient |
Time zone | UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time) |
Members of Parliament | List of MPs |
Police | Bedfordshire Police |
Largest town | Luton |
Ceremonial county | |
Lord Lieutenant | Susan Lousada |
High Sheriff | Russel Beard (2023-24) |
Area | 1,235 km2 (477 sq mi) |
• Ranked | 41st of 48 |
Population (2021) | 704,736 |
• Ranked | 36th of 48 |
Density | 542/km2 (1,400/sq mi) |
Ethnicity | 72.0% White 16.6%. Asian 5.6% Black Mixed 3.8% 1.9% Other [1] |
Districts | |
Districts of Bedfordshire Unitary | |
Districts | |
The county has an area of 1,235 km2 (477 sq mi) and had a population of 704,736 at the 2021 census.[1] Its other towns include Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, and Biggleswade. Much of the county is rural. For local government purposes, Bedfordshire comprises three unitary authority areas: Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton.
The county's highest point is 243 m (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns.[3]
The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was "Bedanfordscir", meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing).
Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbornestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and the ancient borough of Bedford.
There have been several changes to the county boundary; for example, in 1897 Kensworth and part of Caddington were transferred from Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire.
The southern end of the county is on the chalk ridge known as the Chiltern Hills. The remainder forms part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries. Most of Bedfordshire's rocks are clays and sandstones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with some limestone. Local clay has been used for brick-making of Fletton-style bricks in the Marston Vale. Glacial erosion of chalk has left hard flint nodules deposited as gravel—these have been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes: at Priory Country Park, Wyboston and Felmersham. The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across the county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.
Climate
Bedfordshire, being situated in the east of England, has a relatively dry climate for the UK with regular but generally light rainfall. Average annual rainfall is 608.6 millimetres (23.96 in) at Bedford. October is the wettest month, with 65.3 millimetres (2.57 in), and March the driest, with 37.3 millimetres (1.47 in).[4]
Although temperatures are usually moderate, the county has one of the largest absolute temperature ranges in the UK. Average temperatures in Bedford range from a low of 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) overnight in February to a high of 22.4 °C (72.3 °F) during the day in July.[5] The highest official temperature recorded in Bedfordshire was 39.7 °C (103.5 °F) in 2022.[6] The lowest official temperature recorded in Bedfordshire was −20.6 °C (−5.1 °F) in 1947.[7]
Police and Crime Commissioner
The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner is Festus Akinbusoye who is a member of the Conservative Party.[8]
Local government
For local government purposes, Bedfordshire is divided into three unitary authorities: the boroughs of Bedford and Luton, and the district of Central Bedfordshire. Healthcare in the county is dealt with by a single Clinical Commission Group (CCG), which serves all three local authorities in the county, alongside the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.[9]
Emergency services
Policing and fire and rescue services continue to be provided on a county-wide basis, with Bedfordshire Police governed by the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service governed by a Fire Authority comprising members of the three councils.[10]
Parliamentary constituencies
For elections to the House of Commons, Bedfordshire is divided into six constituencies, each returning a single Member of Parliament (MP):
The present constituencies date from 1997.[11] The boundaries were slightly modified for the 2010 general election.[12]
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Bedfordshire at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Year | Regional Gross Value Added[13] | Agriculture[14] | Industry[15] | Services[16] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 4,109 | 81 | 1,584 | 2,444 |
2000 | 4,716 | 53 | 1,296 | 3,367 |
2003 | 5,466 | 52 | 1,311 | 4,102 |
Bedfordshire is the location of a number of notable UK and international companies who have either headquarters or major bases in the county. Autoglass, Boxclever and Charles Wells Pubs are all based in Bedford, while the Kier Group and Kingspan Timber Solutions are based in Sandy, and Jordans Cereals are based in Biggleswade. EasyJet, Impellam, TUI Airways and Vauxhall Motors are all based in Luton, Whitbread is based in Houghton Regis and Costa Coffee is now based in Dunstable. UltraVision is based in Leighton Buzzard, while Moto Hospitality is based at Toddington service station.
The "Bedfordshire clanger" is a local dish consisting of a suet crust pastry filled with meat in one end and a fruit preserve in the other. It was traditionally a farm labourers' meal, designed so as to produce no waste as well as two separate meals.
Chocolate Toothpaste is another local delicacy.[17] A chocolate tart, Chocolate Toothpaste consists of a gritty chocolate filling (said to resemble the texture of toothpaste) within a pastry tart, commonly finished with a swirl of whipped cream on top.
Key | |
Abbey/Priory/Cathedral | |
Accessible open space | |
Amusement/Theme Park | |
Castle | |
Country Park | |
English Heritage | |
Forestry Commission | |
Heritage railway | |
Historic House | |
Places of Worship | |
Museum (free/not free) | |
National Trust | |
Theatre | |
Zoo |
- Bedford Castle
- Bedford Corn Exchange
- Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum
- Bedford Park
- Cardington (R101 hangar)
- Chicksands Priory
- Chiltern Hills
- De Grey Mausoleum
- Dunstable Downs
- Elstow Moot Hall
- Harrold-Odell Country Park
- Houghton House
- Leighton Buzzard Light Railway
- Luton Hoo
- Luton Museum & Art Gallery
- Marston Vale Community Forest
- Mossman Collection
- Priory Country Park
- RAF Henlow
- RSPB The Lodge, Sandy
- Someries Castle
- The Shuttleworth Collection
- St Paul's Church
- Stockwood Craft Museum
- Swiss Garden, Old Warden
- Wardown Park
- Waulud's Bank
- Whipsnade Wildlife Park
- Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
- Willington Dovecote & Stables
- Woburn Abbey
- Woburn Safari Park
- Woodside Farm and Wildfowl Park
- Wrest Park Gardens
Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link London to the Midlands, Northern England and the rest of the UK.
Roads
Two of England's six main trunk roads pass through Bedfordshire. The A1 London to Edinburgh road (the Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy, and Watling Street, the Roman road between London and Chester, passes through Dunstable. Unt
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