Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire or Bedford,county (1991 pop. 514,200), 473 sq mi (1,225 sq km), central England. It is also called Beds. The county seat is Bedford. The terrain is generally flat, with low chalk hills in the south. The region, drained by the Ouse River, is fertile, and more than four fifths of the area is under cultivation; agriculture is the chief occupation. The production of cereals, especially wheat, and the raising of livestock are of equal importance with market gardening for London. Bedford, Luton, and Dunstable are the chief manufacturing towns (hats, automobiles, electrical equipment, precision instruments, machinery, and ball bearings). The county was a refuge for Protestants from the European continent during the English civil war. The Puritan writer and preacher John Bunyan preached at Bedford.