BED 



135 



S E D 



a voluntary aid to the king, and for every hide of their lands 

 furnished two labourers to work the engines employed in 

 the siege. Camden quotes from the Chronicle of Dun- 

 staple a curious account of the siege, written by an eye- 

 witness, from which it appears that the engines employed 

 in that age for the destruction of man were little less inge- 

 nious and effective than those now in use. Faukes de Brent 

 felt great confidence in the strength of the castle, and dis- 

 puted the ground by inches ; but after a vigorous resistance 

 of sixty days, no alternative remained but to surrender at 

 discretion. The success of the besiegers is attributed chiefly 

 to the use of a lofty wooden castle, higher than the walls, 

 which gave them an opportunity of observing all that passed 

 within. Faukes himself was not in the castle when it sur- 

 rendered ; he took sanctuary in a church at Coventry, and, 

 through the mediation of the bishop of Coventry, obtained 

 the king's pardon, on condition of abjuring the realm. His 

 brother William, the acting governor of the castle, with twenty- 

 four knights and eighty soldiers, were hanged ; but Culmo, 

 another brother, received the king's pardon. The king, acting 

 on the determination to uproot this ' nursery of sedition," as 

 Camden styles it, ordered the castle to be dismantled, and 

 the ditches to be filled up. The barony was restored to 

 William de Beauchamp, with permission to erect a mansion- 

 house on the site of the castle, but with careful stipulations 

 to prevent him from construing this into leave to build a 

 fortress. The king's intentions as to the demolition of the 

 castle do not seem to have been executed to the letter ; for 

 the ' ruinous castle of Bedford' is mentioned about 250 years 

 later; and Camden speaks of its ruins as still existing in 

 his time, overhanging the river on the east side of the town. 

 At present not one stone of the fabric remains ; but a few 

 years ago its site might be very distinctly traced at the 

 back of the Swan Inn. It forms a parallelogram, divided 

 by a lane ; and the site of the keep now makes an excellent 

 bowling-green. The domain first became a dukedom when 

 given to John, the third son of Henry IV. 



Bedlbrd is considered a borough and corporation by pre- 

 scription, and is so called in all legal proceedings. The 

 first charter on record was granted to the town by Henry 

 II., and the last by Charles II. The corporation eon- 

 SI-.N of a mayor, recorder, two bailiffs, thirteen common- 

 Oooncilmen, and an uncertain number of aldermen, as every 

 one who has served the oflice of mayor is afterwards reputed 

 an alderman. The manor of Bedford is vested in the corpo- 

 ration by virtue of antient grants, the earliest of which is 

 that of Henry II., which subjected the burgesses in return 

 to the payment of a fee-farm rent of 40l. per annum. This 

 was afterwards raised to 161.; but in the end was gradually 

 reduced to the sum of 16/. 5s. tid., which is now payable to 

 the representatives of persons who bought the rent of the 

 crown. The bailiffs for the time being are lords of the 

 manor, and have the right of fishing and taking game to 

 the extent of the bounds, which contains a space of upwards 

 of nine miles in circumference, comprising an area of 2200 

 acres. The Boundary Commissioners, in 1831, recommended 

 no alteration of the antient limit. The town has sent two 

 members to parliament ever since the year 1295. The right 

 of election was determined, in 1690, to be in the burgesses, 

 freemen, and the inhabitant householders not receiving 

 alms. Under this franchise, the greatest number of electors 

 polled in the first thirty years of this century was 914. In 

 1831 the borough of Bedford contained 1446 houses, with a 

 population of 6959 persons, of whom 3757 were females. 

 The neighbourhood of Bedford being very productive in 

 wheat anil barley, much business is done there in the corn 

 tr;id : there is also a very considerable trade, by means of 

 the Ouse, between Bedford and Lynn, in mat, coals, timber, 

 and iron. Lace-making affords employment to a great 

 number of poor females and children. The principal market- 

 day is Saturday, when the average sale of wheat is about 

 60u quarter* ; there was also a Tuesday market, but it has 

 been discontinued, and one on Monday for the sale of pigs 

 instituted. Fairs are held on the first Tuesday in Lent, 

 April 21, July C, August 21, October 12, November 17, and 

 December 19. That held in October is of the most import- 

 ance, and is called the Statute Fair ; that in April is also a 

 pleasure fair; the others are only for the sale of cattle. 



The town of Bedford lies nearly in the centre of the 

 biirimgli, with a broad belt of pasture-land on every side. 

 It has been greatly improved within the present century 

 under the authority of an act of parliament for rebuilding 

 the bridge, and paving, lighting, and watching the town 



it is still increasing, and apparently improving ; many new 

 houses have been recently built, especially towards the 

 north-west. The communication between the parts of the 

 town separated by the Ouse is by a handsome stone bridge 

 of five arches, which was commenced in 181 1, on the site of 

 an old one of seven arches, which was popularly considered 

 to have been built with the materials of the castle demolished 

 by Henry III., but which Grose understood to have been 

 erected in the reign of Queen Mary out of the ruins of St. 

 Dunstan's church, which stood on the south side of the 

 bridge. The town is lighted by gas. 



Bedford is divided into five parishes, with as many 

 churches. Those of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Cuthbert, 

 are on the north side of the river, and those of St. Mary and 

 St. John the Baptist on the south. The living of St. Paul's 

 is a discharged vicarage, endowed with a portion of the great 

 tithes, and valued at 101. in the king's books: patron, Lord 

 Carteret. This church is the principal architectural orna- 

 ment of the town. It is large, with a nave and south aisle 

 divided by early English or early decorated piers and arches. 

 The west door, and the tower and octagonal spire are of 

 the decorated character. The windows are mostly perpen- 

 dicular: all the tracery, except of one or two, had been cut 

 away, but has lately been in part restored. There is one 

 tomb, if not more, with brasses, in the church : the old pulpit 

 is of stone, ornamented with gilt tracery on a blue ground ; 

 but it has been removed to the chancel, and a more conve- 

 nient one of oak substituted. The livings of St. Peter and 

 St. Cuthbert are both rectories in the gift of the crown : 

 the former is rated in the king's books aVll/. 13*. \d., and 

 the latter at 5/. 9s. 4|rf. The church of St. Peter has a cu- 

 rious old Norman door, a fine antique font, and some curious 

 stained glass in the windows. The living of St. Mary, on the 

 south side of the river, is a rectory, charged in the king's books 

 at 1 1/. 4s. 9(/., patron, the Bishop of Lincoln. The church 

 is small, with a plain square tower, and with nave and aisles 

 mostly in the perpendicular style. The living of St. John 

 is a rectory, not in charge, of which the corporation is 

 patron. The tower is in the perpendicular style, but thu 

 windows and the interior of the church have been mo- 

 dernized. It was formerly an hospital, and contained a 

 master and 60 brethren. 



It is calculated that about half the inhabitants of Bed- 

 ford are dissenters. There are, accordingly, several cha- 

 pels belonging to the Independents, the Methodists, the 

 Baptists, and the United Brethren (Moravians) : there is also 

 a small synagogue for the Jews. The old Independent meet- 

 ing-house, in Mill Lane, was established iu 1650, under the 

 ministry of John Gifford, who had been a major in the king's 

 army. John Bunyan, the celebrated author of the Pilgrim? t 

 Progress, was ordained co-pastor of this congregation with 

 Samuel Fenn, in 1671, and continued to fill that situation 

 till his death, in 1 688. His memory is still greatly venerated 

 by the congregation ; and the chair in which he used to sit 

 is preserved in the vestry as a sort of relic. The United 

 Brethren have had an establishment here ever since 1745 ; 

 but the chapel was not built till 1751. Adjoining t3 it is 

 the house for the single sisters, who live in community. 

 They chielly employ themselves in embroidering muslin 

 and cambric. The Moravians have also a female boarding- 

 school attached to their establishment. 



The shire-hall, in which the assizes and sessions are held, 

 is a good stone building, erected in the year 1753. In thu 

 same part of the town a new county gaol was erected in 

 1801, towards the building of which the elder Mr. Whitbread 

 left a legacy of 5001. The prisoners sleep in separate cells ; 

 and the system of tread-mill labour and silence is enforced 

 on tho convicts. In this gaol the town-prisoners are now 

 maintained by contract. The house of industry is a large 

 and handsome brick building, completed in 1796. It is 

 fitted up with every useful accommodation, and great atten- 

 tion is paid to the health and comfort of the inmates ; but, 

 say the Lysons, ' in point of economical contrivance, per- 

 haps it is inferior to some buildings of a like nature.' A 

 handsome building, erecting by the subscription of share- 

 holders, is now (1835) in progress, and is intended to con- 

 tain a public library, news-room, ball-room, billiard-rooms, a 

 savings' bank, and rooms for lectures, &c. 



There is, perhaps, no English town of similar extent, 

 equal to Bedford in the variety and magnitude of its chari- 

 table and educational establishments. Besides the fifty- 

 eight alms-houses under Sir William Harpur's charity, 

 houses for eight poor persons were built by T. Christie, Esq. 



