DUNSTABLE, a municipal borough and market town in the Luton parliamentary division of Bedfordshire, England, 37 and 47 m. N.W. of London on branches of the L N.E. and L.M.S. railways. Pop. (1931) 8,972. It lies at an elevation of about 500 ft. on the northward slope of the Chiltern hills. The church of St. Peter and St. Paul embodies a fine fragment of the church of the Augustinian priory founded by Henry I. including the west front and part of the nave, with rich Early English and Norman details. Foundations of a palace of Henry I. are traceable near the church. The main part of the town extends for a mile along the broad straight Roman road, Watling street, while the high road from Luton to Tring, which crosses it in the centre of the town, represents the ancient Icknield way. Ashton grammar school was founded in 1887. The straw hat industry which formerly flourished here has removed to Luton; there are printing, sta tionery, engineering, brewing and foundry works. The borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 12 councillors, and has a separate commission of the peace.
It appears probable that there was a Romano-British village on this site corresponding to the Forum Dianae of the Romans. Many interesting fragments have been found among the tumuli and barrows on Dunstable down, as well as a walled camp of c. A.D. 9, called "Maiden Bower." Dunstable (Dunestaple, Donestaple) appears as a royal borough in the reign of Henry I., who later, in founded and endowed a priory by charter with the lord ship of the manor and borough, which it retained till its dissolu tion in 1536-37. The Dunstable Annals deal exhaustively with the history of the monastery and town in the 13th century. At Dun stable Cranmer held the court which, in 1533, declared Catherine of Aragon's marriage invalid. At the Dissolution a plan was formed for the creation of a new bishopric to include Dunstable as cathedral city. The scheme was never realized, though plans for the cathedral were actually drawn up.
From the earliest time Dunstable has been an agricultural town. The Annals abound with references to the prices and comparative abundance or scarcity of the two staple products, wool and corn. Henry I. granted a market and fair, to which John added a second fair. A statute fair and the weekly market are still held. Dun stable had also a gild merchant and was affiliated to London. In 1864 the town was made a municipal borough by royal charter.