A monk in a habit of white, undyed wool. Candlelight flickers round the church, wax the colour of warm honey straight from the hive burns odourless and pure.

William I wants to assess his new territory – how good is the land? What resources can it support? How much tax can he raise? Who lives there?

At the crossroads of Watling Street and the Icknield Way, where the Roman Empire meets Prehistoric Britain, an ape clambers amongst the amphorae of wine and olive oil, of dried fruit and pungent fish paste.

A beast of serious heft has been felled, which calls for celebration.

Bedfordshire begins with the sedimented memory of coccoliths.

Introducing my new series ‘A brief history of Bedfordshire in plants and animals’. Each short post will be focused on a plant or animal as a prism through which to talk about a period.