Village sign erected by Bedfordshire County Council, as one of their many contributions to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
Elstow Picture Archive
This archive consists of drawings, lithographs, paintings, videos and photographs - old and new - of Elstow.
Note; Words in green are hyperlinks -click on them to go to the relevant page.
John Bunyan - Pictures of the man, places associated with him and illustrations from his books.
Modern Elstow - Main page contains several small albums, plus links to larger album.
Older Elstow - Main page contains several small albums & links to larger albums.
Elstow in the Snow
Exhibits at Moot Hall
May Festivals - Main page has links to 7 sub-pages, each of which contain a decade's albums.
Contributions
If you have any pictures of Elstow (old or new) and/or documents,
dp please let us borrow them, for scanning and adding to these archives.
Please use the Contact Form to get in touch.
Recent changes and additions
This slideshow contains the most recent additions to the Picture Archive.
(To see the picture captions, you will need to go to the relevant album.)
(To see the picture captions, you will need to go to the relevant album.)
2019
18th June - New album added; "Southern Elstow"
4th June - 4 photos added to Moot Hall album
9th May - New pictures added to the top of the Old Elstow and Modern Elstow pages.
5th May - May Festival photos added to 2000s page
20th April - Bedfordshire Armorial and Festival of Britain Logo added to end of Restoration of Moot album .
18th April = 4 images added to end of Restoration of Moot album . Also 3 images (of ceremonial Moot Hall key box) to the Other Exhibits album on Moot Hall Exhibits page
16th March - wedding at Elstow Abbey 2018, added to Abbey album
16th January - 2 photos of cottage being re-thatched and 3 of new blue plaque - in High Street album
Earlier additions:
2018
26th November - additions to Moot Hall Exhibits, West End new development and Moot Hall albums.
17th October - 1 photo added to The Green album.
4th October - 6 photos added to West End new development, 1 to Moot Hall and Bunyan's signature added to John Bunyan album. 1 photo and a program added to the May Festival 1964 album
1st October - Strip maps - better quality scans added to Moot Hall Exhibits, 4 photos to Abbey Church, 1 to Church End, 2 to The Green and 1 to Moot Hall.
24th September -latest stages of West End new development added.
20th September - latest stages of West End new development added.
11th Sept - latest stages of West End new development added. Maps and new illustrations added to Pilgrims Progress album on Bunyan page.
25th July - Three photos added to West End, new development site and one to the green album
14th July - Six photos added to West End, new development site and one to Moot Hall Exhibits album
20th June - Pictures of the renovation of Elstow Pillbox on Elstow Modern page and 2 more photos added to West End new development album
16th June -4 photos added to The Green album
25th May - 3 more photos added to West End new development album
19th May - 2 photos added to West End new development, Green and 6 to Moot Hall Albums
12th April - One photo of Old School renovation added to High Street album and 2 to Church End album
13th & 23rd March - Photos added to West End - new development and The Green Albums
11th March - Photos from 1928 added into various albums on Elstow Old page and 30 images added into the John Bunyan album.
4th March - 2 snow photos into Elstow in the Snow album
March 3rd. Igloo appears on Elstow Green!
Feb 25th. photos added to Moot Hall modern album - courtesy of photographer Dan Evans. Plus one additional drawing of the Abbey Church and a painting of Bunyan's cottage
Feb 20th. Assorted photos added to modern albums.
Feb 7th. Three photos added to West End - new development album and one at the end of the Moot Hall album
January 11th. Photos added to the beginning of Swan Development album and an aerial photo at end of Old High Street album.
Two May Festival photos in a new album for 1930
Two Elstow Abbey FC teams added into the Miscellaneous album on Old Elstow page.
January 10th. Photos added to Modern Elstow, West End Albums - Cowbridge to Abbeyfields
January 9th. Drawings added to Modern Elstow page and that page re-named (formerly called 'Modern photos')
January 6th 2018. Miscellaneous pictures added to to several albums (all shown in slideshow below).
Thanks to Rosemary Langley for permitting us to reproduce her watercolour of the Abbey.
Also for Sandra and Brian King for loaning even more postcards for scanning.
And to Paul Kemp for loaning photos and a variety of interesting items for our Local History pages.January 5th 2018. Paul Kemp's photos of the construction of Bedford southern by-pass, added into By-pass album
January 4th 2018. Demolition photos, taken by John Pestell, added to end of Bunyan's Cottage album
Photos loaned by Paul Kemp:
1. New "West End" album on Elstow Old page includes beginning of the construction of Progress Way and Abbeyfields roads
2. 1992 pictures of the conversion of the junction with Mile Road - added to High Street albumJanuary 2nd 2018. Some historical text added to Bunyan's cottage album
2017
December 22nd . Few additions to Modern albums - West End New Development, Abbey and Moot Hall
December 15th . Additions to Elstow in the snow album, additions to Modern Photos - Abbey Church, Moot Hall and The Green - albums.
Photos by Michael Hurley. See slideshow below.
Various minor text changes, updates and corrections on various pages.December 14th 2017.
New Album-By-pass - almost 100 photos of the building of Bedford southern bypass through Elstow.
December 10th 2017. Painting of Bunyan's cottage added to Bunyan's Cottage page.
This very nice picture was kindly donated by former Elstow resident Andy Curtis (who, as a little boy, was the Herald in the 1954 May Festival).
December 9th. Additions to Moot Hall exterior and interior albums on the 'Moot Hall' page
Hyper-links - to 'next page' - added to the bottom of every May Festival, Elstow Modern and Old Elstow pages
New Album - "The Green" added to main 'Old Elstow' page - see slideshow, below.
December 6th and 7th. Lynne Farm 1995 restoration album added to Old Elstow main page
December 6th and 7th
1. Old Elstow - Larger albums moved to new sub-pages
2. New pictures added to various albums - see the slideshow, above.
3. New John Bunyan page added and all Bunyan-related albums moved to it.
November
1. High Street album - refurbished Red Lion
2. The Green" album, autumnal pictures
3. Events and News and Modern photos pages - Remembrance Day photos.
4. More Exhibits at Moot Hall
5. West End Album - Additional photos
6. Modern Elstow main page - New album; "People and Events" added
October 2017
1. Modern Elstow page - more albums added
2. May festivals - Old films added to various pages
3. Local history page started and "Route to Bunyan's Birthplace" map added.
September 2017 - Work on Elstow Picture Archive began.
