Fire has plagued Woburn on several occasions. One instance occurred in 1315, when the abbey buildings were struck by lightning, but a more serious blaze broke out on Saturday September 13th 1595 when an old woman, ‘simple and seelie’, threw straw from her bedding onto her cottage fire. Carried by the wind, the burning thatch soon set light to a house near the church, and due to a previous drought the fire took such a hold that almost 130 houses were destroyed. However, due to the Parliamentary allegiance of the town many more would perish during an action of the Civil War, prior to which the local sympathies had been indicated when, in May 1642, Lord Keeper Williams was arrested at a Woburn inn, during his journey from London to join the King at York. Awaiting a warrant from the J.P., the apprehending constable locked his captive in a room of the tavern, but before the document could arrive the prisoner had been set free by his servants! Later in the war, being distinct from the town Woburn Abbey would briefly accommodate Charles I in June 1644, as also on August 26th 1645, but with Woburn still maintaining the initial allegiance it would unsurprisingly attract a Royalist attention. Indeed, having travelled from Oxford to Leighton Buzzard, early one Wednesday morning in late November 1645 a party of 150 Royalist horse began to advance, and at news of this approach four young men of the town rode out to reconnoitre. However, the exchange of a few hasty shots soon confirmed the oncoming danger, and they beat a hasty retreat. Yet despite this forewarning, on entering the town the King’s troopers met no organised defence, and a state of uneasy calm would prevail until, by the provocation of the townspeople, they were forced to withdraw. Thus in a mood rather less benign they would shortly return in greater strength, yet nevertheless during the ensuing engagement eight of their number would be killed, as also the Major. Under the cover of this confusion ‘some desperate fellows of the neighbourhood’ then took the opportunity to plunder and pillage the town, and by setting fire to ‘all that side of the town which lies towards Newport-Pagnel unto the church’ not only were 27 houses destroyed, but the steeple of the church would also be damaged. Having dealt with Woburn the Royalists then struck at Brickhill, before finally riding away to their stronghold at Oxford. In the aftermath of this attack the Woburn inhabitants unsurprisingly began to fortify their town, which for two months would then become the headquarters for one thousand horse, under the command of Colonel Whaley. Nevertheless, in January 1646 the Royalists again returned, but in the wake of Parliament’ victory it would be as a prisoner that, on July 20th 1647, King Charles I came to Woburn under escort to Colonel Whaley. In view of their fiery experience, after the Civil War the townspeople might have perhaps been expected to invest in suitable precautions, but an inventory of articles in the church in 1651 mentions a less than adequate provision of ‘two Fire Hooks, one Chain; one broken Fire Hook; Leathern Buckets —-.’ Nationally, to provide assistance to those people who had been the victims of fire ‘Briefs’ were made – letters patent issued by the Sovereign – and with these being read out in churches, one was collected on December 31st 1665 for Thomas Ince of ‘Woburn’ ‘who suffer’d a losse by fire in Bedf’, 00;06;04’. Yet the system occasionally suffered abuse, and when a labourer of Elstow published forged briefs, which supposed a loss by fire at Tanfield, Yorkshire, he was sentenced as part of his punishment to stand ‘on Friday next at Woborne, and on Saturday next at Bedford, in each place the space of an hour and in the time of open market.’ Also he would remain in prison until a fine of £10 had been paid, and ‘is to have a paper on his hat while he is in the pillory expressing the nature and quality of his offence.’ Apart from the perils of fire, in 1672 Woburn was also the victim of another disaster, when a tremendous wind levelled many houses in the town, as throughout the district. Then in the following century in 1725 another great fire occurred and, being sent to neighbouring parishes, and signed by the justices, churchwardens and overseers, in consequence petitions for aid ‘humbly represented’ that ‘on Friday, the Nineteenth day of June, 1725 about Five of the Clock in the Afternoon, there happened a most dreadful Fire in the Town of Wooburne, in the County of Bedford, which, in a very short time, burnt down, and utterly consumed no less than Thirty-Nine Dwelling-Houses, with the Ware-Houses, Out-Houses, one Malt-House, Barns, Stables and c. there unto belonging.’ In the aftermath of this fire the need for extensive rebuilding accounts for the predominantly Georgian appearance as seen today, a view that includes, at the time of writing, the Inn at Woburn, (formerly the Bedford Arms), which was built as a successor to the old George Inn, ‘an inn of manners and method.’