43 High Street

Summary

Commercial building, re-fronted around 1835, shopfront replaced in the mid-C20.

Reasons for Designation

43 High Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a distinctive historic commercial building, which contributes strongly to the architectural character and diversity of Bedford’s historic High Street.

Historic interest:

* for the contribution it makes to the evolution of the historic High Street and development of the town.

Group value:

* for its functional and historic group value with other buildings on the High Street.

History

Bedford lies in the shallow valley of the River Great Ouse, and from the Middle Saxon period, evidence appears for the beginnings of a settlement at ‘Beda’s ford’, a key river crossing point. The Middle Saxon core of Bedford developed on the north side of the river with an early street pattern (still recognisable) and was surrounded by a defensive ditch. In the C10 and C11, Bedford was important both as a trading centre, with coins minted in the town, and as the central burh of the shire. The town’s main north-south route, comprising what is now High Street to the north of the river and St Mary’s and St John’s Streets to the south of the river, was developed by this time. After 1066, Bedford became a stronghold of the new Norman regime and during the reign of William II, a motte and bailey castle was built in a strategic position on the north bank of the river and then rebuilt in stone. A period of unrest, however, led to a siege of the castle in 1224 and, when it fell, Henry III ordered it to be dismantled. Despite political struggles, the town experienced a period of consolidation during the Norman and medieval periods, when local commerce flourished and religious houses and hospitals were founded. The population of the town was decimated by the Black Death in the C14, and a new river crossing at Great Barford undermined the local economy by drawing traffic and trade away from the town. There was little further growth and the town was largely contained within its Saxon framework, as can be seen from John Speed’s map of Bedford dated 1610.

The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII dealt a further blow to the town’s prosperity but its fortunes began to revive with the receipt of letters patent from Edward VI, allowing the foundation of a grammar school. Bedford also benefitted from the River Navigation Act, which made the River Great Ouse navigable between Bedford and King’s Lynn (completed in 1689). The town became the headquarters of Cromwell’s army between 1646 and 1647 and the puritan influence established during the Civil War lived on after the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672, when the town became a centre for Nonconformist preachers such as John Bunyan. Despite this prosperity, Bedford remained of modest size through to the end of the C18, as illustrated on Thomas Jefferys’ map of 1765. An Improvement Act in 1803 allowed for the erection of a new river bridge between 1811 and 1813 (widened in 1938), and clearance of the Market Square. Continuing prosperity in the early C19 was accompanied by modest growth, but by far the most dramatic expansion of Bedford followed the building of the Midland Railway in 1873, linking the town with London, and associated industrialisation. In the early years of the C20, some houses in the town centre were replaced by department stores, banks and cinemas to serve the expanding population; The Arcade was built and other properties in and around the centre were converted to shops and offices. The High Street is characterised by narrow three and four-storey frontages, with long buildings, closes and yards occupying medieval burgage plots to the rear, those on the eastern side of High Street being particularly long.

John Speed’s Map of Bedford (1610) and Thomas Jeffery’s A Plan of Bedford (1765) both show a continuous frontage of buildings along the east side of High Street. It is not known when 43 High Street was constructed, but correspondence in the archive of the Dukes of Bedford records the improvement and refronting of the Rose Inn around 1835, and it is probable 43 was also re-fronted at that time. The rectangular-plan building is shown on the 1884 Ordnance Survey town plan of Bedford, with a passage to the north providing access to Rose Yard and Castle Lane to the rear. The ground floor shopfront was replaced in the mid-C20.

Details

Commercial building, re-fronted around 1835, shopfront replaced in the mid-C20.

MATERIALS: the roof has a Welsh slate covering and the walls are stuccoed.

PLAN: it is rectangular on plan facing west to High Street.

EXTERIOR: 43 High Street is three storeys in height and two bays wide, having a pitched roof with a Welsh slate covering and oversailing eaves continuous with 45 High Street to the north. The front elevation to High Street, re-fronted around 1835, is stuccoed. The first and second floors have casement windows in architrave surrounds, likely replaced in the late C19 or early C20. The shopfront was likely replaced in the mid-C20.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

35527

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Victoria History of the County of Bedfordshire: Volume III, (1912), 1-9
Pevsner, Nikolaus, O'Brien, Charles, The Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, (2014), 78-79

Websites
The Historic Environment Record for Bedfordshire, ‘41/43 High Street, HER 1234’, accessed 02 December 2022 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MBD1234&resourceID=1014

Other
Bedford Borough Council, Bedford High Street Heritage Gazeteer, (November 2008) p52
Bedford Borough Council, Bedford Conservation Area Character Appraisal, (2008) pp20-31

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry