So perfect that the ‘daughter of God’ bought a home in one of the redbrick terraces
What’s going for it? You might have thought of Bedford, if you’d thought of Bedford at all, as a perfectly respectable place. Good schools. Lovely parks. Smashing Victorian redbrick houses. Great train links. Surprisingly cosmopolitan (one of the most ethnically diverse towns in the country). Ooh, the Cecil Higgins Gallery, with its Edward Bawdens. That lovely waterfront. Great place to bring up kids. But Mabel Barltrop had other ideas. In 1919 she declared herself “daughter of God”, as you do, and with her pals in the Community of the Holy Ghost bought one of those redbrick terraces as a home for Christ when he materialised, perhaps outside Marks & Spencer. Mabel waited, and she waited. And waited. You can visit the museum of Mabel’s Panacea Society, in the terraces cupped round what they thought was the true location of the Garden of Eden. Bedford’s like that. Hidden depths. I haven’t even mentioned John Bunyan and all his visions.
The case against The town centre is suffering rather from high-street fatigue. It could do with a shot of energy.
Continue reading...from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2GpSbBz
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