Ampthill
From Freepedia
Image:Ampthill - Bedfordshire dot.png Ampthill is a small town in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population of about 6,000. It is administered by Mid Bedfordshire District Council. A regular market has taken place on Thursdays for centuries.
Geography
Ampthill is located at 52° 02′ 00″ N, 00° 30′ 00″ W (52.0333, -0.5000)1, and at grid reference TL035375.
History
The church of St Andrew ranges in date from Early English to Perpendicular. It contains a monument to Richard Nicolls (1624-1672), who, under the patronage of the duke of York, brother to Charles II., to whom the king had granted the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland, received the submission of its chief town, New Amsterdam, in 1664, and became its first English governor, the town taking the name of New York. Nicolls perished in the action between the English and Dutch fleets at Solebay, and the ball which killed him is preserved on his tomb. Houghton Park, in the vicinity, contains the ruins of Houghton House, built by Mary, countess of Pembroke, in the time of James I. To this countess Sir Philip Sidney dedicated the Arcadia.
Ampthill Park became in 1818 the seat of that Lord Holland in whose time Holland House, in Kensington, London, became famous as a resort of the most distinguished intellectual society. In the park a cross marks the site of Ampthill Castle (the castle no longer exists), the residence of Katherine of Aragon (in 1533) while her divorce from Henry VIII. was pending. A commemorative inscription on the cross was written by Horace Walpole.
John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was loosely based on his journey between Bedford and Luton jails. The (now ruined) Houghton House was the model for John Bunyan's "House Beautiful" in The Pilgrim's Progress.
Notable 20th century architect Sir Albert Richardson lived in Ampthill from 1919 until his death in 1964 at Avenue House, 20 Church Street. Among his last projects was the building housing Mid Bedfordshire District Council (formerly the Ampthill Rural District Council offices), at 12 Dunstable Street (1963-1965).
Ampthill Common was the burial place for the golden hare in the Kit Williams treasure hunt Masquerade.
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This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
