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This finely engraved map of Bedfordshire, produced by Christopher and John Greenwood and dated 1834, represents one of the most accomplished cartographic statements of pre-Ordnance Survey England. First surveyed in 1825 and later corrected for post-Reform Act electoral changes, the map forms part of the Greenwoods’ celebrated county atlas project, a series known for combining rigorous fieldwork with refined visual design.
The map presents a richly detailed portrait of the county as it stood on the cusp of modern transformation. Parish and hundred boundaries are rendered in delicate hand color, while the densely engraved topography marks out every market town, parish church, manor, turnpike, canal, and windmill. A legend at lower left explains the symbology, and a list of the ten historic hundreds appears at upper left.
At lower right, a steel-engraved vignette of Woburn Abbey, the seat of the Dukes of Bedford, anchors the sheet in the political and social order of the county. Just above, a note of polling places introduced after the 1832 Reform Act reflects Bedfordshire’s new electoral geography: Bedford, Ampthill, Luton, Biggleswade, Leighton, and Sharnbrook are marked out as locations for county election business.
