Editing Markyate (section)

==History==
Markyate lies on the [[Roman road]] of Watling Street, approximately halfway between [[St Albans]] and [[Dunstable]]. Through the village Watling Street is called High Street.

A [[Benedictine]] convent was founded in 1145 in a wood just north of Markyate, which was known as both "Holy Trinity in the Wood" and [[Markyate Priory]]. The first [[prioress]] was [[Christina of Markyate]]. The priory was dissolved around 1537, following the [[Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the County of Bedford, Volume 1 |date=1904 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |pages=358–361 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol1/pp358-361 |access-date=29 September 2021 |chapter=Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Markyate}}</ref> Shortly after the priory's dissolution a large country house was built on the site, called Markyate Cell, and now known as [[Cell Park]].

Markyate's position on Watling Street made it a [[stagecoach|coaching]] stop on the stagecoach routes from [[London]] to [[Birmingham]] and [[Holyhead]], especially after the road was upgraded by [[Thomas Telford]] in the early 1800s, when it became known as the [[A5_road_(Great_Britain)#Telford's_Holyhead_Road|Holyhead Road]]. At one point Markyate had over forty inns and [[public house]]s along the main road.

The village was one of the earliest sites of the [[Pickfords]] transport service.{{cn|date=September 2021}} One road in the village is now called Pickford Road.

Growth since the 1950s has been by infilling with new housing in the gap between the High Street and the newer Markyate by-pass. In 2014 most of the village's light industry area off Hicks Road was demolished, to be replaced by new housing and shops.