BEDFONT, EAST. 219 BEDFORD. of 'uSolk, 4 miles to the N.E. of Debenham, and 17 fr- L Ipswich. Framlingham is its post town. The vil- la , which is a large straggling place, is entirely agri- cmiral. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Norwich, of lie val. of 286, in the patron, of Earl Stradbroke. Ti church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a spacious old Btcture in the Gothic style, with chancel and square to T. The register dates from 1538. EDFONT, EAST, a par. in the hund. of Spelthome, in he co. of Middlesex, 13 miles to the W. of London. Ito situated on the great west road, about 3 miles fri Staines, and the same distance from Hounslow, its pc town. It includes the hmlt. of Hatton. The lius* is a vie.* in the dioc. of London, val. 300, in iding fees, &c., in the patron, of the bishop, who is in ropriator of the great tithes. The church, an an- ciit building with a Saxon porch, is dedicated to St. Jl y. It has latterly been enlarged, and the interior m b. improved ; it also contains several ancient monu- Opposite the porch is an arch formed by two s trimmed to represent two peacocks fighting ; th one bears the date 1704, and the other the letters 1 II. J. G. E. T.," supposed to be the initials of the
- ir and churchwardens. A handsome National
"1 for the education of 120 children was erected here s 1 7 by subscription. KDI-'ONT, WEST, a hmlt, in the par. of Stairwell, hund. of Spelthornc, in the co. of Middlesex, 1 mile
- L-I EastBedfont.
EDFORD, the county town of Bedfordshire, a mn- ial and parliamentary borough constituting a liberty i self, 4" miles to the N. of London, by the Midland an Great Northern railways ; on the former of which it ion. It is also connected with the London and ., ill-Western railway by a branch line to Bletchley, distant. It is seated on the banks of the river ur an ancient ford, from which circumstance it its name. The Saxons called the town Sedan- which signifies " town at the ford." The Britons red a defeat here, in the year 571, by the Saxons i r Cuthwulf. The town was frequently attacked by
- Danes during the wars, of the 10th century, and in
s burnt down by them. The barony was granted tlie Norman conquest to Payne de Beauchamp, ted next the town a great fortress, doubly de- <1 l>y a wall and an entrenchment. This castle M 1 many a storm of war. In 1138 it was besieged an taken by King Stephen. In 1215, possession of the ca e was delivered by William de Beauchamp to the in:rgent barons, whoso part he took against King .1 1. 1 ; bnt it was besieged and taken by Fulk de Brent. Fi this service the king conferred on him the barony
- i. the castle. In consequence of his arbitrary and
' 's.-iive proceedings, De Brent was fined heavily by the 'e justices in 1224. Having captured one of the jus- . and confined him in the castle, it was besieged and i liy the king's forces, and shortly after dismantled. 1 liarony was then restored to its former owner,
- de Beauchamp. During the civil war of the
century, Bedford was garrisoned for the parliament,
- : in 1643 surrendered to the royalists.. The town,
N , h consists of one principal street about a mile long, -id by several smaller ones, stands in the midst of a til of rich and beautiful meadow land, in the broad v::: y of the Ouse. It contains many ancient houses, .11 paved and lighted with gas, and has been greatly iiij-ovcd within the last tliirty or forty years. The ri* is crossed by a handsome stone bridge of five lines, which was completed in 1813, and occupies the si' 1 of a very ancient one of seven arches, built, it was sa by sonic, of the materials of the castle ; by others, otlhose of a church. Tie river is navigable to Lynn li ;is, in Norfolk, where it falls into the German Ocean. A(x>d trade is carried on with Lynn, and other towns iver, in corn and malt, coals and timber. The lures of lace and straw-plait are carried on, and gi employment to many women and children. The si trade employs nearly 300 hands. Among the pi ic buildings of Bedford are the sessions-house, erected in 1753 ; the county gaol, rebuilt in 1801 ; the corn exchange ; the new school-houses, in tho Tudor style ; the lunatic asylum ; the infirmary, erected in 1803, for which 10,000 was bequeathed by Samuel Whitbread, Esq. ; and the Bedford library and subscrip- tion rooms, built in 1835. Bedford is esteemed a borough by prescription. It received a charter from Henry II., and its privileges were confirmed by a charter of Charles II. Under the Eeform Act it consists of two wards, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, under the style of the " mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses of the town of Bedford." The manor belongs to tho corporation. Bedford has con- tinued to return two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I. The mayor is the returning ofllcer. The limits of the municipal and parliamentary borough are co-extensive, and were not altered by the Reform Act, including an area of about 2,200 acres, with 2,754 inhabited houses. The borough revenue is about 1,360, and the population, according to the census of 1861, 13,412, against 11,693 in 1851, showing an increase of 1,719 in the decennial period. The assizes and quarter sessions are held hero. Bedford is the seat of a County Court district, the head of an excise collection, and of a Poor-law Union, the head-quarters of the county miliiia, and a polling-place for the county elections. Bedford is the seat of an archdeac. in the dioc. formerly of Lincoln, but now of Ely. There are five pars, in Bedford St. Cuthbert's, St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Paul's, and St. Peter Martin's. They are in the archdeac. of Bedford, and dioc. of Ely. The living of St. Cuthbert's is a rect.,* val. 145, in the patron, of the lord chancellor. The church is a new building in the form of a cross, erected in 1847. St. John's is a rect.,* val. 149, in the patron, of the corporation. The mastership of St. John's Hospital is annexed to this rectory. The church is in the perpen- dicular style, with a good tower, but it has been much altered and modernised. St. Mary's is a rect.* of the val. of 273, in the patron, of the Master and Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford. The church is a small edifice, with a tower in the perpendicular style, and contains a brass of 1627. St. Paul's is a vie.* val. 230, in the patron, of the Rev. W. G. Fitzgerald, the vicar. The church, which stands on the north side of the Ouse, is the chief ornament of the place. In its different parts it exhibits the early English, decorated, and perpen- dicular styles of architecture, and has a fine tower with an octagonal spire. It contains a stone pulpit, adorned with carving and gilt tracery, brasses of Sir William Harpur and his lady, and other monuments, among which is one to the founder of the priory of Newenham, Simon Beauchamp. St. Peter's is a rect.,* of the val. of 204, in the patron, of tho lord chancellor. The church, an ancient structure with an interesting Norman door- way on the south side, and a central tower, has within tho last ten years been greatly enlarged by the erection of two side aisles. A district church was built in 1841 in St. Paul's parish. It is dedicated to the Holy Tri- nity, and is a perpet. cur., val. 75, in the gift of tho Vicar of St. Paul's. The Baptists, Independents, AVts- leyans, Moravians, and other Dissenters, have chapels in tho town. It was in tho Baptist meeting-house in Mill-lane that John lUmyan preached, as co-paster with Samuel Fenn, for seventeen years before his death, which took place in 1688. The chapel has been re- built, but Bunyaii's chair is religiously preserved in tho vestry. Bedford stands almost unrivalled in the number and importance of its charitable endowments and institutions. Of those the chief is that founded by Sir William Harpur, and known as tho Bedford charity. Sir V. Harpur was a native of the town, and Lord Mayor of London in 1561. He founded a free grammar school here in 1556, and endowed it with lands at Bed- ford and in London, which were vested in the corpora- tion as trustees. The estate in London, which produced at first about 150 a year, increased enormously in valu: , and has become worth about 17,000 a year. Many streets have been built upon it, among which arc Lamb's Conduit -street, Bedford-row, Theobald's-road, New
