for other uses see Harpur (disambiguation)

Coordinates: 52°08′49″N 0°28′36″W / 52.14695°N 0.4767°W / 52.14695; -0.4767

Harpur
Bedford Prison, located in Harpur
Harpur  Harpur shown within Bedfordshire
Population	8,501 [1]
OS grid reference	TL043509
Unitary authority	Bedford
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BEDFORD
Postcode district	MK40, MK41
Dialling code	01234
Police	Bedfordshire
Fire	Bedfordshire and Luton
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Bedford
List of places: UK • England • Bedfordshire

Harpur is an electoral ward and area within the town of Bedford, England.

The boundaries of Harpur are approximately Manton Lane to the north, De Parys Avenue to the east, Bromham Road to the south, with the Midland Main Line railway line to the west.

Manton Heights, the Poets, the Prime Ministers, and the Black Tom neighbourhoods all lie within the boundaries of Harpur ward.

History[link]

The area is named after Sir William Harpur a famous Bedfordian. The area houses Bedford Modern School and Bedford High School, both of which form part of the Harpur Trust.^[2]

A notorious Highwayman labelled 'Black Tom' reportedly frequented the area in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Supposedly he was buried with a stake driven through his heart at the junction of Tavistock Street, Union Street and Clapham Road. Today Black Tom is the informal name of the Tavistock Street neighbourhood in Harpur.^[3]

Most of Harpur has been developed for over two hundred years, and most buildings in the area date from the 19th Century or before. However the northern part of the area (Manton Heights) was developed much later, in the 1970s.

The Bedford Physical Training College (later, Bedford College of Physical Education) was founded on Landsdowne Road in 1903. The campus joined two others in 1976 to form Bedford College of Higher Education which in turn joined other colleges to form De Montfort University in 1994. By this time many of the buildings on or around Lansdowne Road in Harpur were part of the university campus. In 2006 the Bedford arm of De Montfort University and the University of Luton formed the University of Bedfordshire. It was decided that the new University would merge its two Bedford campuses onto one site on Polhill Avenue, De Parys. This meant the end of the Lansdowne Road campus, which lasted in the Harpur area for over 100 years.^[4] In July 2009, plans to develop the old university site into housing were rejected by Bedford Borough Council, the local planning authority.^[5]

John Le Mesurier who starred as Sergeant Arthur Wilson on the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army was born in Chaucer Road in the area in 1912.^[6]

Governance[link]

Harpur is an unparished area, with all community services under the direct control of Bedford Borough Council. Harpur elects two councillors to Bedford Borough Council, both of which are currently from the Labour Party.

Economy[link]

Harpur contains Tavistock Street, one of Bedford's major commercial zones. There are various shops, pubs, offices and restaurants on Tavistock Street. There are more shops and businesses dotted around Harpur, including Bromham Road which houses Bedford Prison. There has been a prison on this site since 1801.^[7]

Elsewhere there is a large Sainsbury's store on Clapham Road. To the north of Harpur is the Manton Heights Industrial Estate (located on Manton Lane) which houses many different businesses including offices of WesternGeco, and the Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers, as well as an LA Fitness Gym and a Travelodge. There are more hotels and guest-houses to be found on Shakespeare Road.

Bedford Modern School in Harpur

Education[link]

There are two state lower Schools in Harpur - Edith Cavell Lower School located on Manton Lane,^[8] and Livingstone Lower School situated on Clapham Road. There are no middle or upper schools in Harpur. Children in the area are in the catchment for Beauchamp Middle School in Brickhill and Biddenham Upper School in Biddenham.^[9]

There are four independent schools in Harpur - Polam Oaks School is located on Lansdowne Road,^[10] and Rushmoor School is situated on Shakespeare Road.^[11] For older children Bedford High School is sited on Bromham Road,^[12] and Bedford Modern School is on Manton Lane.^[13] Stella Mann College is a private performing arts college, located on Linden Road. The college attracts students from all over the UK and abroad, as well as locally.^[14]

Bedford High School will close over the summer of 2012. Most of the school site will be leased by Bedford College, who will use it as a campus for class-room based activities and higher education courses.^[15]

Religious sites[link]

St Martin's Church in Harpur

• St Martin's Church (Church of England), located on Clapham Road^[16]
• Primitive Methodist Church, located on Park Road
• The Bedford Quakers have a Meeting House on Lansdowne Road^[17]
• The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel hold services at the Tavistock Community Centre on Princes Street^[18]
• The Apostolic Faith Mission, also at the Tavistock Community Centre
• Kingdom Way Church, also at the Tavistock Community Centre
• The Glorious Freedom Church, also at the Tavistock Community Centre

Community facilities[link]

Harpur's community centre is located just off Tavistock Street, on Princes Street.^[19] Harpur is the only area in Bedford not to have any large open space or recreation ground within its boundaries, but there are some public tennis courts on Linden Road, and a small nature reserve located off Park Road North and Ramsay Close. Bedford Park is situated just outside the area, on the corner of Foster Hill Road and Park Avenue.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Harpur & Tavistock Community Centre

Thomas William ("Tom") Harpur (born 1929) is a Canadian author, broadcaster, columnist and theologian. An ordained priest, he is a proponent of the Christ myth theory, the idea that Jesus did not exist but is a fictional or mythological figure.^[1] He is the author of a number of books, including For Christ's Sake (1993), Life after Death (1996), and The Pagan Christ (2004).^[2]

Background and education[link]

Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1929, Harpur earned an Honours B.A. in 1951 at University College at the University of Toronto, where he won the Jarvis Scholarship in Greek and Latin, the Maurice Hutton Scholarship in Classics, the Sir William Mulock Scholarship in Classics, and the Gold Medal in Classics. He went on to study Lit.Hum. ("Greats" or Classics) at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from 1951 to 1954. He graduated in 1954 with the B.A and received the M.A. (Oxon.) two years later. Between 1954 and 1956 he studied theology at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, where he was a tutor in Greek. At Wycliffe he won prizes in homiletics and Greek and was the senior student and valedictorian in his graduating year.

Career[link]

Priesthood[link]

Harpur was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1956. He served as a curate at St. John's York Mills, Toronto from 1956 to 1957. From 1957 to 1964 he served the parish of St. Margaret's-in-the-Pines in Scarborough, Ontario. During this time he lectured on ancient philosophy part-time at Wycliffe College. From 1962 to 1963 he spent a further year at Oriel College, Oxford, doing postgraduate research in Patristics and New Testament studies.

Academia[link]

From 1964 to 1971, Harpur was an assistant professor and then a full professor of New Testament and New Testament Greek at Wycliffe, and from 1984 to 1987 he was part-time lecturer on the Theology and Praxis of Mass Media course at the Toronto School of Theology.

Journalism[link]

Harpur worked as a journalist at the Toronto Star for thirty years, twelve of which were as the newspaper's religion editor. Since leaving that position in 1984 he has continued to contribute a regular column on religious and ethical issues. Harpur has also written a number of books on religion and theology, ten of which became Canadian bestsellers and two of which were made into TV series for VisionTV. For a time he had his own TV show, Harpur's Heaven and Hell, and has hosted a variety of radio and television programs on the topic of religion, particularly on VisionTV. He has, over the years, been a frequent commentator on religious news events for most of the Canadian networks, especially CBC. In 1996 his bestseller Life After Death about near-death experiences was turned into a 10-episode TV series hosted by Harpur himself. Harpur's 2004 book The Pagan Christ was named the Canadian non-fiction bestseller of the year by the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail.

Fellowships and awards[link]

Harpur is a Fellow of the American Religious Public Relations Council, and in 1976 won a State of Israel Silver Medal for Outstanding Journalism. His biography is included in the American Who's Who in Religion, Canadian Who's Who, and Men of Achievement. In 2008 the CBC documentary The Pagan Christ, based upon Harpur's book, won the Platinum Remi Award at the Houston International Film Festival and the Gold Camera Award at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival in Redondo Beach, California. He belongs to the Canadian Association of Rhodes Scholars and the Writers' Union.

Bibliography[link]

Notes[link]

External links[link]