History of Bedfordshire, 1066-1888

by Joyce Godber

Bedfordshire's greatest son, John Bunyan, the visionary preacher and author, lived from 1628 to 1688. He, and a great number of people and places, come to life in this book which covers the period 1066-1888. Apart from Bunyan, it shows the ordinary people, not merely the lord and the gentleman, but the townsman and yeoman; the struggle to gain a living, the way they expressed themselves in buildings and in recreation, and how they formed religious institutions. From the lighterman bringing produce up the rivers to the navvy building the railway. 176 illus.

592 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Joyce Godber (1906–1999) was an English local historian, the county archivist of Bedfordshire and the author of a number of books about the history of that county.

Reviews

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magnum opus covering the history of this middling, doubly-landlocked county which most of history has forgotten. Like Proust, nothing much happens for page after page, although (like Proust) a lot of detail is dwelt on. But this isn't really a criticism of Joyce: she only has the material that she has. Bedfordshire has a brief flurry into the frontline of history around the time of the Vikings when it really was bandit country bordering Danelaw, plus a moment of interest when the lane I live on became the focus of an almost-riot in 1794, but apart from that it really is confirmed as an unmitigated backwater. After the Vikings and Norman Conquest (itself a bit of a damp squib hereabouts) Bedfordshire can best be looked at as a microcosm of the changing social structures and order of Britain. Essentially a precis of the contents of the County Record Office, even Joyce feels like she's getting a bit bored with the job in hand after about 1800...