BEDFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England. When the Romans landed in Britain, 55 years before Christ, it was included in the district inhabited by the Catuechilani, whose chief or governor Cassibelinus headed the forces of the whole island against Cæsar, and the year following was totally defeated. In 310 the emperor Constantine divided Britain into five Roman provinces, when this county was included in the third division, called Flavia Cæsariensis; in which state it continued 426 years, when the Romans quitted Britain. At the establishment of the kingdom of Mercia (one of the divisions of the Saxon heptarchy) it was considered as part of that kingdom; and so continued from 582 to 827, when with the other petty kingdoms of the island it became subject to the West Saxons under Egbert, and the whole was named England. In 880, Alfred held the sovereignty, when England was divided into counties, hundreds, and thythings, and Bedfordshire first received its present name. It is in the Norfolk circuit, the province of Canterbury, and bishopric of Lincoln. Its form is oval, being about 33 miles long, 16 broad, and nearly 73 in circumference; containing an area of about 323 square miles, or 260,000 square acres. It supplies 400 men to the national militia. It contains 124 parishes, 58 vicarages, and 11 market-towns, viz. Bedford, Ampthill, Biggleswade, Dunstable, Leighton, Beaufort, Luton, Potton, Shefford, Tuddington, and Woburn, and 55 villages. The total number of inhabitants, in 1801, amounted to 63,393, and the number of houses to 11,888, occupied by 13,980 families. It is divided into nine hundreds, sends two members to parliament, and pays seven parts of 513 of the land-tax. Its principal river, the Ouse, is navigable to Bedford; and divides the county into two parts, of which that to the south is the most considerable. In its course, which is very meandering, it receives several small streams; the principal one is the Ivel, which takes its rise in the southern part of the county. The air is healthy, and the soil in general a deep clay. The north side of the Ouse is fruitful and woody, but the south side is less fertile: yet producing great quantities of wheat and barley, excellent in their kind, and woad for dyers. The soil yields plenty of fullers earth for our woollen manufacture. The chief manufactures of the county are thread, lace, and straw ware. In this county there are many remains of Roman, Saxon, and Norman antiquities; and a few Roman stations, viz. Sandys near Potton, and the Magiovinum of Antoninus, by others supposed to be the ancient Salene, containing 30 acres, where many urns, coins, &c. have been dug up. Another at Madining-bowre, or Maiden-bower, one mile from Dunstable, containing about nine acres, which Camden supposes to have been a Roman station, from coins
of the emperors having been frequently dug up there, and calls it Magintum. Leighton Beaufort is supposed to have been a Roman camp. There is another at Arlesey near Sheffield; and a Roman amphitheatre may be traced near Bradford Magna. The Roman road, Icknield-street, crosses this county, entering at Leighton Beaufort, from whence it passes Dunstable, where it inclines northward, over Wardon-hills, to Badlock in Hertfordshire. The Watling-street enters this county near Laton from St Albans, passes a little north of Dunstable, where it crosses the Icknield-street, and from thence to Stoney Stratford in Buckinghamshire. A Roman road also enters near Potton, passes on to Sandy, and from thence to Bedford, where it crosses the Ouse, and proceeds to Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire. The following antiquities in this county are worthy of notice: Bedford Bridge and Priory; Chickand Abbey near Sheffield; Dunstable Priory near Luton; Eaton Park House or Eaton Bray; Five Knolls near Dunstable; Newnham Priory near Bedford; Northill Church, three miles from Biggleswade; Summer Tower near Luton; Wardon Abbey near Sheffield; Woburn Abbey; Woodhill Castle, or Oldhill Castle, near Harewood.