Bletsoe is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. The village has a small park, the former site of

Bletsoe Castle Bletsoe Castle was a late medieval fortified manor house in the village of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire. Details Bletsoe Castle was created by John Pateshull, who received a licence to crenellate an existing manor house on the east side of Bletsoe in 13 ...

and a church. Nearby places are

Sharnbrook Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey but was probably first developed in Saxon tim ...

Milton Ernest Milton Ernest is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, about north of Bedford itself. It had a population of 754 in 2001. This had risen to 761 according to the 2011 census.//www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Lead ...

, Riseley,

Thurleigh Thurleigh is a village and civil parish in north Bedfordshire, England. History Excavations have shown evidence the locality was occupied in the Iron-Age, Roman and Saxon periods. In Domesday of 1086 the Middle English orthography as to bot ...

, Odell,

Souldrop Souldrop is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Knotting and Souldrop, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, located near the border with Northamptonshire. Nearby places are, Sharnbrook, ...

, and Swineshead. The nearest town to Bletsoe is

. The small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Bourne End borders Bletsoe and is part of the civil parish. In 1086, Bletsoe parish was within the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

of Buckelowe.Open Domesday Online: Bletsoe
accessed 1 Jul 2017 The parish was added to the

Hundred of Willey The Hundred of Willey is a historical land division, a hundred in the northwest corner of Bedfordshire, England. Its northwestern boundary is the county border with Northamptonshire, and its southwestern boundary the border with Buckinghamshire. So ...

when the ancient hundred was parceled out.

was the birthplace of

Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

. She was the mother of Henry VII and grandmother of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

References

External links

Bletsoe pages
at the

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service is a county record office, holding archival material associated with Bedfordshire and Luton. Established in 1913 by George Herbert Fowler (1861-1940) as the Bedfordshire Record Office, it wa ...

Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford {{Bedfordshire-geo-stub