Dunstable

Dunstable, a market-town in Bedfordshire, 33 miles N.W. of London, on the North-Western and Great Northern Railways. Being placed at the point where Watling Street and Icknield Street meet, it was probably a Roman station, but the first historical proof of its existence dates from 1110, when, according to Matthew Paris, the religious play, St. Katharina, was acted there. The Augustinian Priory, of which the existing parish church formed part, was founded in 1131, and for centuries a feud raged between the canons and the burghee-s as to the lordship of the town. The Annates de Dunstaplia, extending to 1297, afford a most valuaole record of contemporary events. The richly-decorated west front of the parish church, the monuments of the Chew family and Thornhill's Last Supper inside the building, and the Ashton schools are the chief objects of interest in the town. Straw-plaiting employs most of the population, in which the female element largely preponderates. A charter of incorporation was granted in 1864.