Bedford
Bedford maps (2 available)
Map of Bedfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Bedfordshire
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Bedford books (5 available)
- 81 photos on Bedford appear in 6 Frith books - View photos of Bedford
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Bedford and Bedfordshire
Bedford memories
Read and share memories of Bedford and Bedfordshire inspired by Frith photos
Working memories.
I was the main weekday driver of the launch photographed during the student holiday periods of 1955-1958. When I drove it, the name was 'Silver Stream'. It was the largest of a set of three electric launches which carried paying passengers for trips of about 40 minutes duration from the steps on the downstream, north side of the town bridge. Typically this launch would carry about 40 passengers maximum. Silver Stream was a magnificent launch to drive, giving a silent drive, almost no water disturbance up to the 6 knots maximum for the river, and had a tubular rudder form which surrounded the propeller. This permitted a very tight turning such that most of us could turn round in places where ...read more here
Contributed by Mr PC Hedgecock
Bedfordshire memories
Working memories.
I was the main weekday driver of the launch photographed during the student holiday periods of 1955-1958. When I drove it, the name was 'Silver Stream'. It was the largest of a set of three electric launches which carried paying passengers for trips of about 40 minutes duration from the steps on the downstream, north side of the town bridge. Typically this launch would carry about 40 passengers maximum. Silver Stream was a magnificent launch to drive, giving a silent drive, almost no water disturbance up to the 6 knots maximum for the river, and had a tubular rudder form which surrounded the propeller. This permitted a very tight turning such that most of us could turn round in places where ...read more here
A memory of Bedford contributed by Mr PC Hedgecock
Swimming in the river at Kempston
Great times were had at the river at the bend as we children called it, we would make mud slides down the banks. What fun we had. There was always a good crowd there on a Sunday afternoon, but now its all quiet, no swimmers, the bend has long since gone.
A memory of Kempston contributed by jackie fleming
39 Mill Lane
The gable end of the house on the left is 39 Mill Lane and Back St starts at the junction over the hill and not visible here. My father built the house about 1935 when he was about 21 years old. I grew up there until 1955 when it was sold and we moved from Clophill for a short time. We returned in 1957 and lived in the Old Police House in The Slade until I married in 1966 and brought my first home in Back St. I have traced my family's time in Clophill from about 1750 until 1980 in a new book which will shortly be available.
A memory of Clophill contributed by paul nichols
Extracts From Bedford & Bedfordshire books
In the far distance is the old Harpur School, now the Town Hall. It was supplemented by this fine Tudor-style battlemented building when the Harpur Trust built the Modern School, or the Harpur Schools, in the 1830s; the building was designed by the renowned local architect John Wing, whose son was a pupil, but was completed by John Blore. No longer a school, it was preserved as a frontage to a shopping centre. The railings have long gone, but two of the ornate cast- iron lamp-posts survive in what is now a pedestrianised street.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
Now Bedford High School for Girls, this fine building originally housed both the High School and the girls’ Modern School. Opened in 1882, it was designed by the leading architect Basil Champneys in a Jacobethan style, with numerous shaped gables and mullioned and transomed windows. The Modern School moved out in 1892. This east front faces the high walls surrounding Bedford Prison on the other side of Adelaide Square, which is itself a collection of fine buildings, some of 1801 by Bedford’s own John Wing.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
Our look at the fine schools of Bedford moves north beyond St Peter’s Square to Bedford School. This had its origins in the free school founded by Sir William Harpur in 1566. The Harpur Trust, following the decay of its school in the 18th century, made ample amends in the 19th with the Harpur Schools in the 1830s; then after 1873 it had three further schools built. Here we see the south front of the grammar school; it is now Bedford School, and from the start took boarders as well as day boys.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
South-west of the town centre, along the Ampthill Road, on a large site between it and the railway line, the County Schools were built in the 1880s on a grand plan with a massive tower and, to the left, a fine chapel. Long demolished, its site is now occupied by Technology House, a rather good 1960s building, long and well-proportioned and in generous grounds, the remnants of the school site.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".
The old Infirmary, designed by John Wing and opened in 1803, fronted Ampthill Road; it was later expanded to be the Bedford General Hospital (South Site). Founded with a bequest from Samuel Whitbread, it had fifty beds - and a budget of £50 a year for leeches. In 1899, two years after this view was taken, it was replaced by fiery red brick and terra cotta buildings; its site is now occupied by an uninspiring Accident and Emergency building opened in 1964. It is a sad loss to the architectural heritage of the town.
An extract from from"Bedford Photographic Memories".