DUNSTABLE, a market-town of Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dunstable, and hundred of Manshead, 33 miles N.W. from London (47½ by N.-Western railway), and 18 miles S.S.W. from Bedford. It is situated on the ancient Watling and Icknield streets, and is generally supposed to have been the Magiorinium of the Romans. It rose into importance after the erection (by Henry I.) in 1131, of a priory of black canons, of which the present parish church formed part. The present building presents a remarkable
2 Dempsteri Asserti Scotiae Cives esse sui; S. Bonifacius rationibus ix. Joannes Duns rationibus xii. Bononia, 1621, 4to.
3 Wadding Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, f. 201, a. Romæ, 1650, fol. 4 Lelandus de Scriptoribus Britannicis, tom. ii., p. 317.
4 Trithemius de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, f. 76, a. Basil. 1491, fol.
Dunstan. fine front in the mixed Norman style; and, besides several ancient brasses, contains the "Last Supper" by Thornhill. There are also chapels for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, and several schools and almshouses. Many of the females are engaged in the manufacture of straw-plait. There is a weekly market on Saturday, besides quarterly fairs principally for sheep. The neighbouring chalk downs furnish a breed of larks of unusual size. Pop. (1851) 3589.