Harrowden is a one-street

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 ...

in the

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 ...

Eastcotts Eastcotts is an electoral ward within the Borough of Bedford. It was formerly also a civil parish until its abolition on 1 April 2019, when Cotton End and Shortstown parishes were established. The boundaries of Eastcotts are approximately Exe ...

, in

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 ...

. Harrowden has only 18 houses and 32 people on the electoral roll. Elstow Brook runs through it. There is just one road - Old Harrowden Lane - which leads to a footpath known as Bumpy Lane, from where you can access the birthplace of

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...

, now simply marked by a stone. The street runs from east to west parallel and to the south of the

A421 The A421 is an important road for east/west journeys across south central England. Together with the A428 road, A428, the A43 road, A43 and A34 road (England), A34, it forms the route from Cambridge through Milton Keynes to Oxford. The sectio ...

Bedford Southern Bypass, and 200 metres to the north of the village of

Shortstown Shortstown is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Bedford, on a ridge above the River Great Ouse, originally called Tinkers Hill. This ridge also overlooks the two other parts of Eastcotts – Harrowden to the north and Cotton End ...

. There is a path at the west side of Harrowden named Bumpy Lane that leads to Abbey Fields. Like Shortstown, Harrowden is in the

parish, of the

Borough of Bedford The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The bor ...

History

Harrowden is mentioned in the

Domesday Survey Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, though by the 13th century the area became known as Eastcotes or Cotes. The name derives from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

name for a

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

- 'cotum'.

Other

, the noted Christian writer, was born in Harrowden. (See also

Slough of Despond The Slough of Despond ( or ; "swamp of despair") is a fictional, deep bog in John Bunyan's allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', into which the protagonist Christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of guilt for them. It is describ ...

). *The name of the hamlet comes from the

''Hearg-dūn'', meaning "

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Hill".

References

External links

* Hamlets in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford {{Bedfordshire-geo-stub