Description
Dunstable, a municipal borough and market-town in Beds. The town stands on a chalky eminence in the centre of the Dunstable chalk down, near the foot of the Chiltern Hills, at the junction of Icknield and Watling Streets, 5 miles W from Luton, 7 E from Leighton Buzzard, and 34 from London. There is a branch line of the L. & N.W.R. from Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable, and the G.N.R. has also a branch from Hatfield. It was the Maes-gwyn of the Britons, the Magiovinium, or possibly the Forum Dianæ or the Durocobrivæ of the Romans, and the Dunestaple of the Saxons, and it is thought by some to have got its Saxon and its present name from dun, "a hill," and staple, "a commercial mart;" by others, to have got them from a bandit chieftain, called Dun or Dunninly, who infested the neighbourhood in the time of Henry I. Remains of a British camp, occupying about 9 acres, called the Maiden Bower, and supposed to have been afterwards the Magintum of the Romans, are about 1 1/2 mile distant, and vestiges of another strong ancient fortalice, called Totternhoe Castle, and comprising keep, mound, and double fosse, are a short way farther off. Many traces of Roman occupation are in the vicinity, and large quantities of copper coins of Antonine and Constantine were found in 1770. The town was overrun, first by the Danes, afterwards by bandits, who secreted themselves in neighbouring woods and thickets; but was resettled or rebuilt by Henry I., who destroyed the woods and thickets, gave great encouragement to the peacable settlers, took the town under his own management, gave it a charter and corporate privileges, founded at it a priory of Black canons, and erected on a neighbouring locality, afterwards known as Kingsbury Farm, a royal palace. Henry subsequently gave the town to the friars of the priory, and invested them with extraordinary powers over it, but he retained the palace entirely in his own possession; yet King John afterwards gave them the palace also, with its gardens, simply on condition that they should accommodate the monarch and his suite within their own walls. King Stephen met his successor Henry II. at Dunstable in 1154. The town was destroyed by fire in 1213, but was soon afterwards rebuilt. A great synod was held at its priory by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1214. King John was at its palace in 1215 on his journey toward the north. Louis, the dauphin of France, with the rebellious English barons, halted here one night in 1217. Henry III. was here in 1223. An insurrection of the townsmen against the friars of the priory occurred in 1229, resisted for a time the interference of the Bishop of Lincoln, and was at length quelled by compromise through the Archdeacon of Bedford. An assemblage of discontented barons and knights took post here in 1244, ostensibly for holding a tournament, but really for prosecuting a political design, and sent a peremptory missive to the Pope's nuncio, who was opposed to them, commanding him instantly to leave the kingdom. Henry III. was often at the priory, and when here in 1247 was accompanied by his Queen, Prince Edward, and Princess Margaret, and received the present of a gilt cup. Another royal visit was made hither along with the Pope's legate and the Lord Leicester in 1276. An affray between the King's retainers and those of the prior occurred in 1276, and was adjusted by the King in person sitting as judge. A tournament was held at the town in 1279. The corpse of Queen Eleanor was deposited one night at the priory in 1290, and her funeral procession passed through the town. A cross in memory of her was afterwards erected in the market-place, and this stood till the time of the Civil War, and was then demolished by some troops of the Lord of Essex. A grand tournament, on occasion of Edward III.'s return from Scotland, and attended b y him and by his Queen, was held at the town in 1341. Henry VI. visited Dunstable in 1457 and 1459, Elizabeth in 1572, and James I. in 1605. Some of the earliest English theatricals on record were performed at Dunstable in 1110 under auspices of the Abbot of St Andrews; several Lollard martyrs were put to death here in the time of Henry V.; and the sentence of divorce between Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon was pronounced in the priory church by Archbishop Cranmer in 1533. A house or hospital for lepers was founded in connection with the priory , and a monastery of Black Friars also was established here, and countenanced by the court, much against the will of the priors and canons. The priory was granted after the dissolution to Dr. Leonard Chamberlaine, and passed to Colonel Maddison; but its church was designed by Henry VIII. to be a cathedral to Bedford diocese. No part of the church now stands except the nave with the aisles. The architecture is mainly Norman, but includes Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular portions. The nave is Norman and very broad–the arch is lofty, the piers groups of small shafts with some slightly-figured capitals, the clerestory is Perpendicular, the front shows a good Norman arch filled with Perpendicular tracery, and the interior formerly had an altar-piece of the Last Supper by Thornhill. During the last 40 years the edifice has been from time to time restored at a cost of £17,000.
The town consists chiefly of four streets, in cruciform alignment, toward the four cardinal points. Some of the houses have an antequated appearance, but many are modern and neat. It was re-incorporated in 1864, and is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, who also constitute the urban sanitary authority. It has a head post office, two banks, a townhall, a plait hall, and corn exchange, two sets of almshouses, an old endowed charity school, also elementary and grammer schools, both endowed under the Ashton Trust, and some very valuable charities. It has a weekly newspaper. A weekly market is held on Wednesday, and fairs on Ash Wednesday, 22 May, 12 Aug., and 12 Nov. The town is famous for the manufacture of straw plait, straw hats and bonnets, and felt hats. A large quantity of whiting is also manufacted. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £440 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Ely. There are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. John of Dunstable and Elkanah Settle were natives. Area, 453 acres; population, 4513.
