Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire
Geography
Status:	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region:	East of England
Area: - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 41st 1,235 kmē Ranked 34th 1,192 kmē
Admin HQ:	Bedford
ISO 3166-2:	GB-BDF
ONS code:	09
NUTS 3:	UKH22
Demographics
Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 36th 573,765 464 / kmē Ranked 32nd 388,600
Ethnicity:	86.3% White 8.3% S.Asian 2.9% Afro-Carib.
Politics
Bedfordshire County Council http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/
Executive:	Conservative
Members of Parliament
Alistair Burt, Nadine Dorries, Patrick Hall, Kelvin Hopkins, Margaret Moran, Andrew Selous
Districts
Bedford Mid Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire Luton (Unitary)

Bedfordshire is a County in England and forms part of the East of England region.

Its County town is Bedford. It borders Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire (with the Borough of Milton Keynes) and Hertfordshire.

The highest Elevation point is 243 metres/797 feet, on the Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. The county motto is "Constant Be."

History

Bedfordshire was historically divided into the nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbournestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and Borough of Bedford.

Luton was part of Bedfordshire until 1997, when it was made a Unitary authority. However, it remains part of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, with a single Lord Lieutenant representing the sovereign throughout this entire area. Except where otherwise indicated, this article relates to the whole Ceremonial County of Bedfordshire, including Luton.

Geography and geology

Most of Bedfordshire's rocks are clays and sandstones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with some Limestone. Local clay has been used for Brick-making at Fletton. Glacial erosion of chalk has left the hard Flint nodules deposited as gravel - this has been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes, at Priory Country Park, Wyboston and Felmersham.

Transport

Roads

• The A1 London to Edinburgh road (The Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy
• The A5 London to Holyhead road (Watling Street), passes through Dunstable
• The A6 St Albans to Carlisle, through Luton and Bedford

To these were added in 1959 the M1 motorway London to Yorkshire Motorway. This has three junctions around Luton, and one serving Bedford and Milton Keynes.

Railways

• The West Coast Main Line has but a short section in the far west of the county. The one station at Leighton Buzzard is served by Silverlink trains to Euston and Northampton.
• The East Coast Main Line has stations at Arlesey, Biggleswade and Sandy, served by Wagn services to King's Cross and Peterborough
• The Midland Main Line serves Luton and Bedford with trains to many destinations operated by Midland Mainline and Thameslink.

Waterways

Air

Towns and villages

Main article: List of places in Bedfordshire

• Ampthill
• Barton-le-Clay, Bedford, Biggleswade, Beeston
• Clophill, Cranfield
• Dunstable
• Eversholt
• Flitwick
• Hockliffe
• Kempston
• Leighton Buzzard
• Luton
• Marston Moretaine, Millbrook
• Old Warden
• Sandy, Shefford, Stotfold, Studham
• Toddington
• Whipsnade, Woburn

Places of interest

Cardington (R101 hanger) Chicksands De Grey Mausoleum Dunstable Downs Elstow Moot Hall Harrold Odell Country Park Houghton House Leighton Buzzard Railway Luton Hoo Marston Vale Community Forest Priory Country Park

RAF Henlow RSPB The Lodge, Sandy The Shuttleworth Collection Stevington Windmill Stockwood Craft Museum Stewartby Lake Whipsnade Wildlife Park Whipsnade Tree Cathedral Willington Dovecote & Stables Woburn Abbey Woburn Wildlife Park Wrest Park Gardens