Editing The Pilgrim's Progress (section)

== Geographical and topographical features behind the fictional places ==
Scholars have pointed out that Bunyan may have been influenced in the creation of places in ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' by his own surrounding environment. Albert Foster<ref>Albert J. Foster, ''Bunyan's Country: Studies in the Topography of Pilgrim's Progress'' (London: H. Virtue, 1911).</ref> describes the natural features of [[Bedfordshire]] that apparently turn up in ''The Pilgrim's Progress''. [[Vera Brittain]] in her thoroughly researched biography of Bunyan,<ref>{{cite web|first=Vera |last=Brittain|title=In the Steps of John Bunyan|publisher=London: Rich & Cowan, 1949|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jbrittain.htm|access-date=2012-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108050317/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jbrittain.htm|archive-date=8 November 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> identifies seven locations that appear in the [[allegory]]. Other connections are suggested in books not directly associated with either John Bunyan or ''The Pilgrim's Progress''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

At least twenty-one natural or man-made geographical or topographical features from ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' have been identified—places and structures John Bunyan regularly would have seen as a child and, later, in his travels on foot or horseback. The entire journey from The City of Destruction to the Celestial City may have been based on Bunyan's own usual journey from [[Bedford]], on the main road that runs less than a mile behind his cottage in [[Elstow]], through [[Ampthill]], [[Dunstable]] and [[St Albans]], to London.

In the same sequence as these subjects appear in ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', the geographical realities are as follows:

# The plain (across which Christian fled) is [[Bedford]] Plain, which is 15 miles (about 24&nbsp;km) wide, with the town of [[Bedford]] in the middle and the [[River Great Ouse]] meandering through the northern half;
# The "[[Slough of Despond]]" (a major obstacle for Christian and Pliable: "a very miry slough") is the large deposits of gray clay, which supplied London Brick's works in [[Stewartby]], which was closed in 2008. On either side of the [[Bedford]] to [[Ampthill]] road these deposits match Bunyan's description exactly. Presumably, the road was built on the "twenty thousand cart loads" of fill mentioned in ''The Pilgrim's Progress'';<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 17.</ref> However, the area beside Elstow brook, where John grew up, may also have been an early inspiration – on the north side of this brook, either side of the path to Elstow was (and still is) boggy and John would have known to avoid straying off the main path.
# "Mount Sinai", the high hill on the way to the village of Morality, whose side "that was next the wayside, did hang so much over",<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 20.</ref> is the red sandy cliffs just north of [[Ridgmont]] (i.e. "Rouge Mont");
# The "Wicket Gate" could be the wooden gate at the entrance to the [[Elstow]] parish church<ref>See article on [[John Bunyan]]</ref> or the [[wicket gate]] (small door) in the northern wooden entrance door at the west end of [[Elstow Abbey]] Church.
# The castle, from which arrows were shot at those who would enter the Wicket Gate, could be the stand-alone belltower, beside Elstow Abbey church.
# The "House of the Interpreter" is the rectory of St John's church in the south side of [[Bedford]], where Bunyan was mentored by the pastor John Gifford;
# The wall "Salvation" that fenced in the King's Highway coming after the House of the Interpreter<ref name="John Bunyan 2003">Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 37.</ref> is the red brick wall, over four miles long, beside the [[Ridgmont]] to [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]] road, marking the boundary of the [[Duke of Bedford]]'s estate;
# The "place somewhat ascending ... [with] a cross ... and a sepulchre"<ref name="John Bunyan 2003" /> is the village cross and well that stands by the church at opposite ends of the sloping main street of [[Stevington]], a small village five miles west of [[Bedford]]. Bunyan would often preach in a wood by the River [[River Great Ouse|Ouse]] just outside the village.
# The "Hill Difficulty" is [[Ampthill]] Hill, on the main Bedford road, the steepest hill in the county. A sandy range of hills stretches across Bedfordshire from [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]] through [[Ampthill]] to [[Potton]]. These hills are characterized by dark, dense and dismal woods reminiscent of the byways "Danger" and "Destruction", the alternatives to the way "Difficulty" that goes up the hill;<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 41–42.</ref>
# The pleasant arbour on the way up the Hill Difficulty is a small "lay-by", part way up [[Ampthill]] Hill, on the east side. A photo, taken in 1908, shows a cyclist resting there;<ref name=Underwood>Underwood, A., ''Ampthill in Old Picture Postcards'' (Zaltbommel, Netherlands: European Library, 1989).</ref>
# The "very narrow passage" to the "Palace Beautiful"<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 45.</ref> is an entrance cut into the high bank by the roadside to the east at the top of [[Ampthill]] Hill;
# The "Palace Beautiful" is [[Houghton House|Houghton]] (formerly [[Ampthill]]) House, built in 1621 but a ruin since 1800. The house faced north; and, because of the dramatic view over the [[Bedford]] plain, it was a popular [[picnic]] site during the first half of the twentieth century when many families could not travel far afield;<ref name=Underwood /> The entrance on the south side looks out over the town of [[Ampthill]] and towards the [[Chilterns]], the model of "The Delectable Mountains". There was another source of inspiration; as a young boy, Bunyan would have seen, and been impressed by, Elstow Place — a grand mansion behind [[Elstow]] Church, built for Sir Thomas Hillersden from the cloister buildings of [[Elstow Abbey]].
# The "Valley of the Shadow of Death" is Millbrook gorge to the west of [[Ampthill]];
# "Vanity Fair" is probably also drawn from a number of sources. Some argue that local fairs in Elstow, Bedford and Ampthill were too small to fit Bunyan's description<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 85–86.</ref> but [[Elstow]]'s May fairs are known to have been large and rowdy and would certainly have made a big impression on the young Bunyan. [[Stourbridge Fair]], held in [[Cambridge]] during late August and early September fits John Bunyan's account of the fair's antiquity and its vast variety of goods sold<ref>E. South and O. Cook, ''Prospect of Cambridge'' (London: Batsford, 1985).</ref> and sermons were preached each Sunday during Stourbridge Fair in an area called the "Dodderey". John Bunyan preached often in [[Toft, Cambridgeshire|Toft]], just four miles west of [[Cambridge]], and there is a place known as "Bunyan's Barn" in Toft,<ref>Brittain, ''In the Steps of John Bunyan'' (London: Rich & Cowan, 1949).</ref> so it is surmised that Bunyan visited the notable Stourbridge Fair;
# The "pillar of salt", Lot's wife,<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 105.</ref> is a weather-beaten statue that looks much like a person-sized salt pillar. It is on small island in the River Ouse just north of Turvey bridge, eight miles west of Bedford near Stevington;
# The "River of the Water of Life", with trees along each bank<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 107.</ref> is the River Ouse east of Bedford, where John Bunyan as a boy would fish with his sister Margaret. It might also be the valley of the [[river Flit]], flowing through Flitton and Flitwick south of Ampthill;
# "Doubting Castle" is Ampthill Castle, built in the early 15th century and often visited by King Henry VIII as a hunting lodge. Henry, corpulent and dour, may have been considered by Bunyan to be a model for Giant Despair. Amphill Castle was used for the "house arrest" of Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]] and her retinue in 1535–36 before she was taken to [[Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire|Kimbolton]]. The castle was dismantled soon after 1660, so Bunyan could have seen its towers in the 1650s and known of the empty castle plateau in the 1670s.<ref>Foster, A. J., ''Ampthill Towers'' (London: Thomas Nelson, 1910).</ref> Giant Despair was killed and Doubting Castle was demolished in the second part of ''The Pilgrim's Progress''.<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 262–64.</ref>
# The "Delectable Mountains" are the [[Chiltern Hills]] that can be seen from the second floor of Houghton House. "Chalk hills, stretching fifty miles from the Thames to Dunstable Downs, have beautiful blue flowers and butterflies, with glorious beech trees."<ref>Hadfield, J., ''The Shell Guide to England'' (London: Michael Joseph, 1970).</ref> Reminiscent of the possibility of seeing the Celestial City from Mount Clear,<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 119.</ref> on a clear day one can see London's buildings from Dunstable Downs near [[Whipsnade Zoo]];
# The "Land of Beulah" is [[Middlesex]] county north and west of London, which then (over 150 years before modern [[suburban sprawl]] started) had pretty villages, market gardens, and estates containing beautiful parks and gardens): "woods of Islington to the green hills of Hampstead & Highgate";<ref>E. Rutherfurd, ''London: The Novel'' (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997).</ref>
# The "very deep river"<ref>Bunyan, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', ed. Owens (2003), 147.</ref> is the [[Thames]], {{convert|1000|ft|m|spell=in}} wide at high tide; however, here Bunyan varied from geographical reality and put the city south of the river, and without a bridge.
# The "Celestial City" is the [[City of London]], the physical centre of John Bunyan's world—most of his neighbours never travelled that far. In the 1670s, after the [[Great Fire of London|Great Fire of 1666]], London sported a new gleaming city centre with forty [[Wren churches]].<ref>[[H. V. Morton]], ''In Search of London'' (London: Methuen & Co., 1952).</ref> In the last decade of Bunyan's life (1678–88), some of his best Christian friends lived in London, including a Lord Mayor.