Bedfordshire is the County famous for Carol Voderman, the ‘Clanger’ (a local pastry, consisting of meat at one end and jam at the other – a Bedford version of the traditional Cornish pasty!), and the ‘longest village in Britain’ – this crown goes to the village of Arlesey, which has a main street of three miles! It is a popular country to live in due to its proximity to London, and great local attractions, and park homes for sale Bedfordshire http://www.parkhomelife.com/park_pineview.aspx will be snapped up quickly. But do you also know that in 2015, residents of the county voted for Bedfordshire to have its very own day of celebration – November 28th. This date was chosen as it was the anniversary of Bedford boy John Bunyans’ birth – the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Although the exact date of the Authors birth is not known, he was baptised in Elstow on 30th November 1628. At the age of sixteen, he served in the army for three years, during the English Civil War and gained a great deal of knowledge of the military and the language used, which later he used in his book ‘The Holy War’. When he left the army, he followed in his fathers’ footsteps and became a ‘tinker’ – a mender of pots and pans. He developed a great interest in the Church and would often discuss religious and spiritual ideas and joined the founding members of the Bedford free church and published his first book ‘Gospel Truths Opened’.
Unfortunately, in 1660 the Monarchy was restored once again, and religious tolerance was no longer enjoyed in England. Bunyan was arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment. He was then ordered to stop preaching upon his release and attend the parish church. He refused to stop preaching, and spent twelve years in jail in total, where he would occasionally be allowed to leave and had the company of other preachers who were jailed for the same reasons as he was. It was whilst he was imprisoned that he began his most famous work, ‘The Pilgrims Progress’ as well as completing ‘Grace Abounding’.
In 1672, he was finally released, and set about devoting all of his time to Preaching and writing. He died in 1688, whilst on his way to London, where he contracted a fever during a bad storm, and passed away at the home of his friend John Strudwick. His most famous book was not published until six years after his death but remains his most enduring legacy and is considered one of the most important works of English Literature of all time.
