Henry VIII was a frequent visitor to Ampthill Castle, and it was there that Catherine of Aragon lived from 1531 until divorced in 1533, when she was moved to Kimbolton.

Today a park remains just north of the town centre, site of Ampthill's former castle, where Henry VIII would come and hunt.

It was in the castle's Great Dining Room that Queen Catherine defiantly received news of the end of her marriage.

A cross erected in the 1770s marks the site of this important building which is set within Ampthill Great Park, a "Capability" Brown landscape.

In 1542 an Act of Parliament created the 'Honour of Ampthill', an area of 45 parishes around the town, including 11 in Buckinghamshire, in which the crown owned extensive property and the manorial rights.

Lord Upper Ossory was also responsible for a cross commemorating Catherine of Aragon, with an inscription by Horace Walpole, and a row of thatched cottages built between 1812 and 1816 to house his estate workers.

[8] In 1835 Ampthill became the centre of a Poor Law Union, and a workhouse was built on Dunstable Street shortly afterwards to serve the town and surrounding parishes.

Ampthill railway station was built to the south of the tunnel, at the bottom of the hill and over a mile from the market place.

During WWII there was a farming camp near Ampthill where volunteers recovered sugarbeet and were accommodated in tents in the grounds of a nearby country mansion.

The former site of the old Ampthill Brewery in Bedford Street area was substantially redeveloped in 2006/2007, with the demolition of a Shell petrol station, shopping arcade and small Budgens supermarket, to make way for a new Waitrose supermarket, an improved town car park and a development of shops and apartments known as Oxlet House.

[21] Ampthill is a commercial centre for surrounding villages; it has several pubs, restaurants, a Waitrose supermarket and a selection of small independent specialist shops.

Ampthill is one of the most expensive places to buy a house in Bedfordshire, even in comparison with other mid-Bedfordshire towns such as neighbouring Flitwick, and Cranfield.

Ampthill also has a very popular and active Bowls Club, off Brinsmade Road and accessed through the attractive Kings Arms Path Gardens.

This event was held in Ampthill Great Park, where a temporary soundstage was erected to entertain local residents.

The event also included the Ampthill Gala, which began with a parade of floats around the town, built and staffed by people from the local schools and communities.

[26] The annual Remembrance Day parade takes place, commencing at St Andrews Church, passing through the town streets, down the Alameda walk to the Cenotaph war memorial.

The parade includes marchers representing all the services and civilian organisations of Ampthill who each leave a wreath on the memorial.

Ampthill has a high concentration of public amenities, including schools, doctors surgeries, a fire and ambulance station.

It contains a monument to Richard Nicolls (1624–1672), an Ampthill native, who, under the patronage of the Duke of York, brother to Charles II, to whom the king had granted the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland, received the submission of its chief town, New Amsterdam, in 1664, and became its first English governor, the town taking the name of New York.

[31] Nicolls perished in the action between the English and Dutch fleets at the Battle of Solebay off the Suffolk coast, and the cannonball which killed him is preserved on his tomb.

It is thought that Bunyan's work is loosely based on his own journey between Bedford and Luton, and the steep slope leading into Ampthill could have been the model for the 'Hill of Difficulty'.