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Bedfordshire

County of south central England (since April 1997 Luton has been a separate unitary authority).

Area

1,192 sq km/460 sq mi

Towns and cities

Bedford (administrative headquarters), Dunstable

Physical

the Great Ouse River and its tributary, the Ivel; the county is low lying with the Chiltern Hills in the southwest

Features

Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, near Dunstable (200 ha/494 acres), belonging to the London Zoological Society; Woburn Abbey(18th century), seat of the duke of Bedford; Cranfield Institute of Technology

Agriculture

cereals (especially wheat and barley); vegetables

Industries

agricultural machinery; cement manufacture (using local chalk); clay; electrical goods; gravel; motor vehicles and parts; packaging; sand; brickworks at Stewartby

Population

(2001) 381,600

Famous people

John Bunyan, John Howard, Joseph Paxton

Topography Bedfordshire is bounded on the northeast by Cambridgeshire; on the northwest by Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes; on the west by Buckinghamshire; and on the southeast by Luton and Hertfordshire. The Great Ouse, flowing through the centre of the county to the east, is navigable to Little Barford.

Bedford Bedford, John Robert Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford Leighton Buzzard

Luton (town) Ouse, Great Royal Society for the Protection of Birds