Bedford Castle

Bedford Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club in Bedford, United Kingdom founded in 1886.

The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The Bedford built-up-area is the 71st largest in the United Kingdom and comprises the boundaries of the pre-1974 Bedford Municipal Borough, the town of Kempston and the village of Biddenham, with the BUA surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the borough's population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it, which makes up slightly less than 6% of the total land area of the Borough. The borough is also the location of the Wixams new town development, which received its first residents in 2009.

The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum is the principal art gallery and museum in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, run by Bedford Borough Council and the trustees of the Cecil Higgins Collection.

John Bunyan Museum is a museum primarily dedicated to the life, times and works of John Bunyan. The museum is located in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.John Bunyan (1628 – 1688), a Christian writer and preacher, was born in Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford), in the Parish of Elstow, England. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous published Christian allegory. In the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August. In 1672, the congregation led by Bunyan purchased a barn which they used to conduct worship. Eventually, a church, which came to be called the Bunyan Meeting Free Church, was built on the site of the barn. In 1849, a second church was built which is still used for services. A separate museum building was constructed in the compound in 1998 and the Bunyan artefacts and memorabilia formerly housed in a small museum room in the church were moved into it.The museum's displays recreate a number of scenes from Bunyan's life which also show some of Bedford's social history in the seventeenth century. In addition there are artefacts such as Bunyan's iron violin and wooden flute, Bunyan's stoneware jug he used in prison as well as his will and a third edition of The Pilgrim's Progress.

The statue of John Howard, in St Pauls's Square, Bedford, is a bronze of John Howard, erected in 1890, the centenary of Howard's death. The statue is "clothed ... in the travelling dress of the time to denote he was a great traveller." The sculptor was Alfred Gilbert. It stands on an ornate plinth inscribed with his date of birth and death, and the date of the statue's erection. The plinth in turn sits on five octagonal stone steps, raising the total height of the monument to about 20 feet (6.1 m). The statue is a Grade I listed structure.

St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located on St Paul's Square in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Formerly a medieval collegiate church, the large building of cathedral proportions with its later additions and iconic spire dominates the town. St Paul's is the largest Anglican church in Bedfordshire, and the church exercises a ministry of welcome to thousands of visitors and pilgrims from far and wide each year. St Paul's is officially recognised as a Major Parish Church and is a member of the Major Churches Network. Historically, St Paul's has played a key part in the life of the British nation: as the home for the BBC's daily worship during the Second World War; and the Service for the National Day of Prayer in 1941, at which the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang preached, was also broadcast to the UK and wider world from the church. St Paul's is today the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and the County of Bedfordshire; it is a focus for special commemorations and celebrations in the borough, county, and the wider region of the East of England, as well as being a central venue for concerts, recitals and exhibitions. As well as serving a diverse parish and ministering to a congregation of all ages, the church also enjoys fine choral and liturgical worship in the English cathedral tradition. It is a grade I listed building.

The Bedford River Festival is a free festival held biennially in Bedford, England on the banks of the River Great Ouse.

Castle is an electoral ward and area of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The boundaries of Castle Ward are approximately Bromham Road and Goldington Road to the north, Denmark Street to the east, Rope Walk to the south, with the Midland Main Line railway line and Ashburnam Road to the west. Castle Ward includes almost all of Bedford town centre, as well as the eastern section of the Castle Road neighbourhood. Castle is the only Ward in the town of Bedford to be located on both sides of the River Great Ouse. In common usage the 'Castle' area is often synonymous with the Castle Road neighbourhood. Since local government boundary changes in Bedford in 2011, however, the Castle Road neighbourhood has been split between Castle Ward and Newnham Ward.

The Polish Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus & St Cuthbert is a Roman Catholic Church serving the Polish community in Bedford, England. It is a Grade II listed building.

The Shire Hall is a municipal building in St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire. The shire hall, which was the headquarters of Bedfordshire County Council from 1888 to 1969, is a Grade II listed building.

The Panacea Society was a millenarian religious group in Bedford, England. Founded in 1919, it followed the teachings of the Devonshire prophetess Joanna Southcott, who died in 1814, and campaigned for Southcott's sealed box of prophecies to be opened according to her instructions. The society believed Bedford to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.

Bedford Abbey was a short-lived Benedictine monastery, recorded in 10th-century England. Bedford Priory, perhaps representing the same institution two centuries later, was an Augustinian priory that within two decades of its foundation moved to nearby Newnham. Bedford Abbey existed in the 10th-century, staffed with Benedictine monks when Oscytel, Archbishop of York, died in 971.: 30 : 147  The archbishop was buried in the abbey, after his body was taken there by its abbot, Thurcytel (who later moved to Crowland Abbey).: 30 : 147, 420  Thurcytel is the only known abbot of the monastery.: 30  Its history after this is obscure, and may have evolved into St Paul's Church in Bedford, which became an Augustinian priory c. 1166.: 147, 420 : 30 Around 1180, the priory moved to Newnham (see Newnham Priory).: 147