Bedford

Located in River Great Ouse valley; first mentioned in 571, when Cuthwulf defeated Britons; burned by King Canute in 1015; was refuge for Puritans during the 17th-century Puritan Revolution; John Bunyan was imprisoned here for 12 years; noted for St. Paul's Cathedral and Bunyan Meeting House (1850); Bedford Museum is on site of the Norman castle; Cecil Higgins Art Gallery located here.