BEDFORDSHIRE, an inland English county, situated nearly in the centre of the island, but rather towards the eastern side. It is bounded on the north by Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire, on the west by Buckinghamshire, on the south by that county and Hertfordshire and on the east by the latter and Cambridgeshire. Its greatest length is about thirty-six miles, and its greatest breadth only twenty-two miles. Its extent is 463 square miles, or 296,320 English statute acres.

The face of the country is in general level, but with gentle undulations, scarcely deserving the name of hills, except towards Buckinghamshire, from which county a part of the Chiltern Hills enter, but only the lowest portion of that range. The chalk of these hills is found a valuable manure on some of the other soils of the county. From the south-east to the centre of the county is a valuable district of dairy land. The western side is chiefly a sandy soil, but, being well cultivated on the Norfolk system, is productive; near Woburn it is generally sandy, and was sterile till the modern improvements in agriculture, fostered by the late Duke of Bedford, had extended their influence and productiveness. Near to Biggleswade is a portion of land which yields the highest rent and most valuable products. It is cultivated by a kind of market gardeners, and onion and other seeds are grown there for the supply of the shops of the seedsmen in London. Much of the former barren sandy soils has been planted of late years, and the inclosure of many of the largest common fields has improved both the beauty and the fertility of the county.

The land is drained by . many brooks, which contribute to increase the rivers, and, by rendering them navigable, administer to the benefit of the inhabitants. No county is better accommodated with good roads than Bedfordshire, chiefly owing to the exertions of the late Mr Whitbread, before whose time they were in a very bad condition. The river ©use enters this county on its northwestern side, collects the water from a considerable district during a winding course, and becomes navigable at Bedford. In its progress towards Huntingdonshire it receives the waters of the Ivel, which is also navigable S3 high up as Biggleswade, and the united stream runs to the German Ocean at Lynn. A small portion of the western side of the county is benefited by its water communication with London, and with the coal districts of Staffordshire, which it enjoys through the Grand Junction Canal.

As Bedfordshire is merely an agricultural county, and as four fifths of the land are devoted to pasture or to the dairy, and only one fifth to tillage, the increased number of inhabitants has caused a scarcity of employment, and a consequent great advance in the poor rates. The chief occupation of the manufacturing kind consists in plaiting straw and forming it into chip hats, making baskets and other articles; and is confined almost exclusively to females. Dunstable has long been celebrated for this trade, and it is considerably extended over other parts of the county. Besides this, till of late years, the trade of bone lace, made both from silk and thread, afforded employ* ment to the females, and still continues to do so in an inferior degree, though it has been much diminished by the introduction and improvements in machine lace. Some trade is carried on by the rivers and canal, by which corn and butter are conveyed to distant markets, and the inhabitants supplied with fuel. As the great north roads pass through the county in two lines, the traffic on these gi' ,es some activity to its commerce.
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The civil division of the county is into nine hundreds, which contain nine market-towns and 124 parishes. In an ecclesiastical view it forms part of the diocese of Lincoln and the archdeaconry of Bedford; in its judicial relation it is in the Norfolk circuit.

The titles derived from the county are duke to the house of Russell, and baron of Bletsoe to the family of Lord St John. Two members to the house of commons are returned by the county, and two by the town of Bedford, the only borough within it.

The most distinguished residences in this county are, lrf, Woburn Abbey, near the town of that name. It was formerly a Cistertian abbey, granted at the Reformation by Henry VIII. to the family of Russell, the fourth duke of which house erected the present edifice. It is situated in an extensive park, is a very grand and capacious pile, and is furnished with a large and valuable collection of paintings and statues. 2√Zy, Luton Hoo, a mansion which, though not built by John earl of Bute, was by him brought to a regular design under the direction of Adam the architect. A new library, 146 feet in length, furnished with a valuable collection of books, and a large selection of paintings of some of the first masters, chiefly of the Italian school, are its distinguished ornaments. The grounds have received every improvement that art can produce in a situation not naturally picturesque. 3 </(?/, Ampthill Park, formerly the seat of the earls of Upper Ossory, now of Lord Holland. It is a superb edifice, with a good library, valuable collections of paintings, with a museum of natural history, and is placed in a delightful park, adorned with most beautiful spreading ancient oaks.

Besides these there are other mansions which are highly deserving of notice and admiration, especially that of Mr Whitbread at South-hill; Wrest Park, belonging to the Countess de Grey; Ridgemount, to Mr Potter M ’ Queen; Morgenhanger House, to Mr Thornton; Potton, to Sir John Burgoyne; Oakley House, to the Marquis of Tavistock; Colworth House, to Dr Lee; and, though not so distinguished by its extent as many others, Cardington House, the residence of Howard the philanthropist, now of Mr S. C. Whitbread.

The population of the county stood at the three decennial numerations as follows:
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ln the year 1821 the families chiefly employed in trade and manufactures were 4827; those employed in agriculture 10,754; and those not comprised in either of these classes 1792. The towns and their population in 1821 were as follows :—Bedford, 5466; Biggleswade, 2778; Dunstable, 1831; Ampthill, 1527; Luton, 2986; Leighton-Buzzard, 2749; Potton, 1498.

When the Romans landed in this kingdom Bedfordshire formed a portion of a district called Catieuchlana, whose sovereign or chief, Cassibelenus or Cassibelaunus, commanded the united forces which opposed Julius Caesar. V hen, in the year 310, the emperor Constantine ruled the whole island, and divided it into five provinces, Bedfordshire was included in the third division called Flavia Coesariensis, and remained in that location till the final abandonment of Britain by the Romans. Under the Saxon heptarchy it formed part of the kingdom of Mercia, until, with the rest of the island, it was united with the kingdom of the West Saxons, which was divided by Alfred mto counties, hundreds, and tythings; when this county hist received the name it has since retained.

liiere are many remains of Roman, Saxon, and Norman antiquities. Traces of a Roman station are to be seen at

Sandys, near Potton, and at Maiden-Bower, near Dunstable. Leighton-Buzzard, or Beaudesart, is supposed to have ∙been a Roman camp; and vestiges of an amphitheatre of that people may be seen near Bradford Magna. The ancient Icknield and Watling Street roads passed through the county, and the remains of each may be definitely traced, as well as of some others constructed by that people. (g.)