page_title: Marston Vale
hierarchical_section_title: Marston Vale
caption_attribution_description: English: View over Marston Vale Looking south from Cranfield footpath towards Marston Vale and Rectory Farm
context_page_description: Marston Vale is an area of Bedfordshire. It lies to the south west of Bedford and Kempston, near Junction 13 of the M1 motorway. Historically it was one of the main brickmaking districts in England, home of the London Brick Company, now a division of Hanson plc. The brickmaking activity left scars across the landscape of the Marston Vale as large tracts of land were dug for clay. Most of the claypits are now exhausted, and most of the brickmaking chimneys have been demolished. The legacy of the abandoned brickworks also adds to the impression that the Marston Vale has been despoiled by decades of industrial activity and it is now searching for a new identity. In more recent years the local authorities have taken the opportunity to reuse the clay pits for landfills at Stewartby and Brogborough, both of which are recently capped and closed down.
context_section_description: Marston Vale is an area of Bedfordshire. It lies to the south west of Bedford and Kempston, near Junction 13 of the M1 motorway. Historically it was one of the main brickmaking districts in England, home of the London Brick Company, now a division of Hanson plc. The brickmaking activity left scars across the landscape of the Marston Vale as large tracts of land were dug for clay.  Most of the claypits are now exhausted, and most of the brickmaking chimneys have been demolished.  The legacy of the abandoned brickworks also adds to the impression that the Marston Vale has been despoiled by decades of industrial activity and it is now searching for a new identity.  In more recent years the local authorities have taken the opportunity to reuse the clay pits for landfills at Stewartby and Brogborough, both of which are recently capped and closed down.
caption: View over Marston Vale, 2009
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "E-300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Version 1.5", "Image DateTime": "2009:05:02 10:29:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2320", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:02 10:29:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:02 10:29:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "925/256", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "14", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "3640"}