Houghton Conquest

Houghton House sits on a hill facing towards Ampthill. Lady Pembroke, Sir Philip Sidney’s sister, built the house between 1615 and 1621. The Bruce family bought it in 1624 and lived there for nearly 70 years. It came into the possession of the Dukes of Bedford in 1738, and in 1794 the then Duke removed the roof and most of the fittings. The reason is not recorded. The staircase from Houghton House, carrying the date of 1688, is in the Swan Hotel at Bedford. An 18th-century gateway with screen is located at 28 Church Street in Ampthill, and panelling is alleged to be installed in the White Hart hotel. The ruin is now scheduled as an ancient monument. Houghton House is reputed to be the ‘House Beautiful’ of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. Visitors viewing even the lessened magnificence of the present building will not doubt the accuracy of the legend.
An extract from from"Bedfordshire Photographic Memories".

This view of the ruinous west front of John Bunyan’s ‘Palace Beautiful’ atop the ‘Hill of Difficulty’ shows why historians are excited by the building. It has classical features: in this view we see the Tuscan colonnaded loggia, which originally had two further storeys of loggias. This design was extremely advanced for England, and led to its being attributed to Inigo Jones, the King’s architect, on no basis at all. Now the roofless romantic ruin stands where once stood the mansion of the ‘fair, and wise and good’.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".

Sandy was originally a modest Roman settlement on the Roman road between St Albans and Godmanchester; in the 18th century the town became important for its coaching inns servicing the Great North Road. However, it is a somewhat bitty town, and the market square is a distinct disappointment. Here, a little further north up High Street, we look west along Bedford Road. The late 19th-century town hall is on the left. By 1925 it was the Astor Cinema, and is now the Roundabout Club, for there is now a roundabout roughly where the photographer is standing.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".

Going east from Market Place along Church Street, we reach the small square with the brown stone church on its north side, a curiously villagey one for a town. On the left is the cliff-like Dynevor House, with 1725 on the rainwater hopper-heads, three storeys of box sashes and a corniced parapet. No 36a on the right is late Georgian, while the Feoffee almshouses are late 16th- century timber-framed under the render.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".

The riverside willows on the north bank have only recently been pollarded in this view, in which an eight rows past. The opposite bank is Long Island. The small landing stage on the right was built here to close off the boat slide, which is just behind it.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".