Elstow is famous as the birthplace of the author of ‘The Pilgrim's Progress', John Bunyan. It is a quiet little village, which, though not much more than one and a half kilometres from the populous and busy town of Bedford, maintains its olde-worlde look. In the 2001 Census the parish population was 2,049.

Its name in its original form of Helen-stow or Ellen-stow means 'the stow or stockaded place of St Helena', is derived from a Benedictine nunnery founded in 1078 by Judith, niece of William the Conqueror. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the name is given as Elnestov.

Bunyan's Cottage

It is said that at John Bunyan's cottage near Elstow the ghost of Bunyan himself pokes people in the back. It is even claimed that the ghost once pushed a child down the stairs. The question is when was this as Bunyan's cottage was demolished back in 1968?

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