Published in 1839, Robson's Directory begins: "Bedfordshire
is an inland county, and one of the smallest in England, bounded on the north by
the counties of Northampton and Huntingdon, east by Cambridgeshire, south-east
and south by Hertfordshire, and west by Buckinghamshire. Its greatest length is
38 miles from north to south, and the extreme breadth 22; in circuit it is about
145...
The county offers but little attraction to the admirers of
picturesque scenery, yet the general flatness of the surface is pleasingly
varied by small hills traversing its entire breadth in three principal chains.
The air is healthy, and the soil chiefly a deep clay, stiff and tenacious, but,
by a due mixture of chalk and lime, susceptible of high cultivation...
The streams are bordered by fine meadows, but the proportion
of pasture land is not considerable. The Ouse intersects the county from west to
east, separating it into two distinct but very unequal portions; the northern
extremely fruitful and woody, the southern and larger less fertile, but under
the most admirable cultivation, affording large supplies of wheat and
barley..."
Family History, Genealogy and
Local History Research Information for Bedfordshire
The
fifth series of
the BBC's acclaimed Family
History programme featured Patsy Kensit, Boris Johnson, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen,
Esther Rantzen, David Suchet, Ainsley Harriott, Jerry Springer and Jodie
Kidd. Further details are on our News page.
Are you descended
from a Viking Warrior, a Saxon farmer or a Norman invader?
Channel 4 television's
" The Face of Britain" showed a
pioneering project by Oxford University and the Wellcome Foundation to use
DNA testing to determine volunteers' ancient roots.
