I spotted this on the other side of a wide and busy road so used my zoom to make it fill the viewfinder. It was only when I checked it on the big laptop screen at home that I realised what a mistake I had made by failing to include the ground below. So, as with yesterday's burnt house I resorted to the internet to find out more and this is what I learned.

“1823: The River Ouse rose 16ft above its normal level at Oakley Bridge. Many animals were drowned. The same flood rose to a height of 2ft in the nave of St. Paul's Church, Bedford

The details of the flood are recorded on the bridge at Oakley, the Three Fyshes pub at Turvey and here at The Phoenix pub. This building is about a quarter of a mile from the river so the extent of the flood can be judged by this.”

Personally, I cannot judge the extent of the flood, though I am told that the railway tunnel at Ampthill marks the bund between the Ouse and the Thames catchment areas. Did the flood reach Ampthill? I've no idea!