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Dunstable, Bedfordshire

Dunstable
Dunstable, The Clock Tower and Market Cross - geograph.org.uk - 145452.jpg
Clock Tower and Market Cross
Dunstable is located in Bedfordshire
Dunstable
Dunstable
Dunstable shown within Bedfordshire
Population 35,000 
36,253 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference TL0121
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town DUNSTABLE
Postcode district LU5, LU6
Dialling code 01582
Police Bedfordshire
Fire Bedfordshire and Luton
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Bedfordshire
51°53′10″N 0°31′16″W / 51.88603°N 0.52102°W / 51.88603; -0.52102Coordinates: 51°53′10″N 0°31′16″W / 51.88603°N 0.52102°W / 51.88603; -0.52102
A5-M1 Link (Dunstable Northern Bypass)
Proposed Dunstable and Luton Northern Bypass.png
The route of the Dunstable Northern Bypass proposal and route options for the connecting Luton Northern Bypass.
Location Central Bedfordshire
Proposer Highways Agency
Status Approved
Type Road
Cost estimate £171 million to £217 million
Start date 2014–2015
Completion date 2016–2017
Geometry KML

Dunstable /ˈdʌnstəbəl/ is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the largest settlement in Central Bedfordshire and third largest in Bedfordshire behind Luton and Bedford.

In Roman times its name was Durocobrivis. There was a general assumption that the nominative form of the name had been Durocobrivae, so that is what appears on the map of 1944 illustrated below. But current thinking is that the form Durocobrivis, which occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, is a fossilised locative that was used all the time and Ordnance Survey now uses this form.

There are several theories concerning its modern name:

Relics of Palæolithic humans, including such relics as flint implements and the bones of contemporary wild animals, suggest settlement is prehistoric. At Maidenbower in the parish of Houghton Regis to the north, there is an Iron Age hill fort, which is clearly marked on the Ordnance survey maps. Maidenbower has some of the ramparts showing through the edge of an old chalk quarry at Sewell where there are Bronze Age remains of an older fort. There are a lot of prehistoric sites in this area and details can be found with the Manshead Archaeological Society who are based in Winfield Street, Dunstable. Dunstable is on the route of the Icknield Way which claims to be 'the oldest road in Britain’.


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