Ampthill – A small market town of around 7,000 inhabitants, Ampthill traces its history back to Anglo-Saxon times and its name in fact comes from the Anglo-Saxon language (meaning “ant hill”). Ampthill has held a street market since 1242 and market day in Ampthill is on Thursdays. The town once had a castle which has long since disappeared, though in the 16th century was regularly visited by Henry VIII. The St Andrew’s parish Church in Ampthill has a monument to the 1st English Governor of Long Island in New York. Ampthill is in the county of Bedfordshire between Bedford (to the north of Ampthill) and Luton to the south.
October 13, 2011
August 27, 2009
Dunstable Houghton Regis and Toddington Bedfordshire
To the south-west of Bedford in the county of Bedfordshire, England, you will find the 2 historic towns of Dunstable and Houghton Regis and the ancient village of Toddington. Dunstable was originally established by the Romans as a posting station on Watling Street, an important road at this time, though it was probably settled much earlier than this as evidence of Palaeolithic flint implements and an Iron Age Fort have been found in its environs. Dunstable was one of the twelve sites chosen in 1290 for the erection of Eleanor Crosses after the death of the wife of Edward I. Close to Dunstable and possibly even older is the town of Houghton Regis, until recent years just a small village. Getting its name from the Saxon “hoe” (spur on a hill) and “tun” meaning village, Houghton became Houghton Regis during the time of Edward the Confessor, it remained a village until the 1950’s and 1960’s, when London overspill caused it to grow into the town it is today. Near to Dunstable and Houghton Regis, the pretty village of Toddington is gathered around its spacious village green, where you will find its parish church and 4 of its public houses.
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