3rd September 2019
Northampton to Bedford is a very short journey and can be completed on a single bus, so I spent most of the morning after a look around the county town of Northamptonshire in more detail.
I started at the town's large, central market:
Markets have been held at this site since 1285 and after a disastrous fire in 1675 that destroyed most of the town centre it was rebuilt around the focal point of the market square.
The town is known for shoemaking, but nowadays only a few specialist producers survive. There is, however, a memorial to the industry in the market square.
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| The front door to 78 Derngate. |
Highlight of the morning was a visit to 78 Derngate, a terraced house with a remarkable interior designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect who designed the Glasgow School of Art that has burned down twice in recent years!
I was lucky enough to arrive just in time for a guided tour given by a very informative and friendly guide and learnt far more than I would have done by just wandering around by myself.
You can follow the above link for more information.
I also wanted to visit Northampton's main museum to see its remarkable collection of shoes but was frustrated. Firstly, Google maps sent me on a wild goose chase to an address that turned out to be a school on the far side of the town's ring road. Then when I did find the museum back in the town centre I discovered it was closed for refurbishment!
Instead, I enjoyed a walk around the town centre and the wonderful art-deco buildings left over from the 1930s
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| Bedford Mansions (1935) , almost directly opposite 78 Derngate! |
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| Former Co-Op Department Store (1938) |
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| Former Savoy Cinema (1937) |
Finally, it was time to make my way to the town's Bus Station (2014) for the first and only bus of the day - Stagecoach service 41 to Bedford. This turned out to be a fast, main road type of bus route for most of the way. I was pleased to find my bus was a double-decker and even more pleased when I noticed that every other bus on the service that we passed coming the other way was a single-decker! At Yardley Hastings we turned off the A428 to begin a large southerly diversion to serve the much larger village of Olney, briefly entering the north-east tip of Buckinghamshire as we did so.
Bits of the scenery now began to look strangely familiar, although I wasn't sure why.
When we reached the long, narrow medieval bridge over the River Great Ouse at Turvey I realised why, recognising it from the very first long-distance service bus journey I ever made (South Wales to East Anglia) in 1972. I now have no records of that trip apart from memories but the bridge definitely stuck in my mind. The bus I'd been on had started its journey in Oxford and took me to Bedford, passing through Turvey and over the bridge on the way. We also passed right through what later became Milton Keynes, although in 1972 very little of that town had actually been built.
After crossing Turvey bridge I entered the county of Bedfordshire
BEDFORDSHIRE County town: Bedford.
Bedfordshire has been little-affected by the various re-organisations and boundary changes that have affected other counties and still retains most of its original territory and boundaries. The County Council was established in 1889 and abolished in 2009 with governance transferred to the three District Councils in the county.
Service 41 continued on its way to Bedford, but now began to deviate off the obvious direct route to serve a number of commuter villages on the outskirts. Arriving at mid-afternoon I had time to wait until I could check-in to my accommodation and used it by visiting the town's Higgins Museum, which does a reasonable job of explaining the town's largely unremarkable history.
Bedford is also the home of the Charles Wells Brewery. It's now owned by the much larger brewing group Marston's, but I didn't let that put me off going out in the evening to try a few samples.
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