Explore Bedford's heritage - in stone

Introduction

With the River Ouse passing through its historic centre and dozens of outstanding buildings, Bedford is a most attractive town to explore. Huge brickworks once churned out millions of bricks locally but some of the town’s most impressive buildings are made of natural stone or use it for decoration. Some of these rocks contain the fossils of creatures that lived long ago and provide clues about the Earth’s long and eventful past. In this area, natural exposures of rock are rare and few quarries remain open but building stones make the geology accessible and visible. Find out more on this one and a half mile long geotrail around the town centre.