URPoint Details
A small village standing on rising ground east of a bend in the River Ouse.
Bletsoe Castle is not the turreted building many expect to see. Originally a motte and bailey castle, the only indication of a previous imposing building and grounds is the remains of the moat, and the steep mounds thrown up for defence. Of the many notable occupants of the castle, the best known is Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. In the present garden is a 16th century bridge, probably built over what was left of the moat at the entrance to a large Elizabethan manor house.
A secret passage is believed to run from the castle and church to The Cottage and then to the Falcon Inn and the river and was a favourite haunt of Edward FitzGerald the translator of ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’.
Location: 7 miles north of Bedford off A6 trunk road
- Type:
- Landmark