Britain by the Book: A Curious Tour of Our Literary Landscape by Oliver Tearle

Author:Oliver Tearle [Tearle, Oliver]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2017-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

A Pilgrimage to Bedford Jail

After all that talk of monks and abbeys, how about a quiz about one of the most famous writer-preachers England has ever produced? Well, one quick question at least. Which book did John Bunyan write while he was in Bedford gaol?

The Pilgrim’s Progress – Bunyan’s 1678 work of Christian allegory which is sometimes called the first English novel – was begun, but probably not completed, while Bunyan was in prison. But he did complete another book while serving a prison sentence: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, or The Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to his Poor Servant John Bunyan, which was published in 1666.

Of course, this is not to deny the importance of The Pilgrim’s Progress and the extent to which it was influenced by Bedford and its environs. It’s one of the biggest-selling books ever written: some estimates put it behind only the Bible in the number of copies sold. By the time Bunyan died just ten years after it was published, there were an estimated 100,000 copies in circulation. Bunyan also wrote a little-known sequel to The Pilgrim’s Progress – called, perhaps inevitably, The Pilgrim’s Progress II – in 1684. In the original book, the protagonist, Christian, had left behind his wife and children, and the follow-up focuses on ‘Christiana’.

Bedfordshire was central to The Pilgrim’s Progress. Many of the allegorical places which appear in the book appear to have been based on real locations in the county: the Slough of Despond, for instance, was modelled on the grey clay deposits around the town of Stewartby, which would later be used in the nearby London Brick works. Similarly, Doubting Castle in the book is based on Ampthill Castle, which unfortunately was dismantled during Bunyan’s lifetime – although this is fitting, since Bunyan himself has Doubting Castle destroyed in the book.

Bunyan was born near Harrowden in 1628, and fought during the English Civil War – he was billeted at Newport Pagnell, just outside the modern town of Milton Keynes, where he probably honed the writing skills that would serve him so well in later life. He was nearly shot in the head while on guard duty one night – but fortunately, another soldier had taken his place. (Fortunately for Bunyan, anyway.) This helped to convince Bunyan that he was one of God’s elect – the chosen few.

Bunyan’s Grace Abounding is his autobiography, but Bunyan attracted a number of followers – he was an influential preacher, and it was preaching without a licence that landed him in gaol in the first place – and they, too, sometimes left autobiographical accounts of their dealings with him. The most famous of these is Agnes Beaumont, of Edworth in Bedfordshire, who wrote a short account describing the events surrounding the death of her father in 1674 and her encounters with Bunyan. Accused of having poisoned her father with Bunyan’s help, Beaumont faced burning at the stake, had she been found guilty. Luckily for

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