Dunstable Walk: Town Centre【4K】

Located in the county of Bedfordshire, and around five miles west of Luton, is the town of Dunstable.

Geographically Dunstable is situated at the intersection of two Roman roads: Watling Street (from Kent to Shropshire) and Icknield Way (from Norfolk to Wiltshire). The Romans built a posting station here named 'Durocobrivae' or 'Durocobrivis'.

Around the time of the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, Dunstable was little more than a crossroads in a forest. This began to change during the rule of Henry I. In 1109 he ordered areas to be cleared, encouraging settlers to come. In 1123 a royal residence was built at what is now the Royal Palace Lodge Hotel on Church Street.

In 1131 a town charter was granted to Dunstable. During that same year Dunstable Priory was founded. This would later be used for the divorce between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in 1533, leading to the establishment of the Church of England. Just seven years later the priory was destroyed as part of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Due to its location at around one or two days' ride from London, Dunstable became a popular coaching stop in the era of the horse and carriage. Horses and their passengers would stay overnight to break up the long journeys. This industry declined with the introduction of the railways.

Dunstable received its first rail connection in 1848. This formed part of the Dunstable Branch Lines that linked up Welwyn Garden City on the East Coast Main Line to Leighton Buzzard on the West Coast Main Line. However in the 1960s, Dunstable fell victim to the notorious Beeching Axe, whereby it was considered that with the increase in road traffic, railway infrastructure should be downsized, with over 2000 stations closing across the country. With a population of over 30,000, this makes Dunstable one of the largest towns in the country without a train station. It does however have a unique quirk - the Luton-Dunstable Busway, which opened in 2013, is a bus service that runs along the route of a disused railway track with a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour (80kph).

Throughout the centuries, industries in Dunstable included straw hat making, brewing and lace making. By the 19th century, hat making saw a decline as the industry shifted towards the neighbouring town of Luton. This would eventually cease entirely in the early 20th century, along with brewing. However, new jobs were created in the printing and motor vehicle industries around this time. Vauxhall Motors opened a plant in Dunstable in the 1950s which ran until the site was sold in 1987. The site on Boscombe Road would later be repurposed as White Lion Retail Park.

American actor Gary Cooper spent three years growing up in Dunstable where he attended Dunstable Grammar School. Also, Damon Michael Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, was born in Dunstable before moving to Bolton.

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Filmed: 17th July 2021

Link to the walk on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/pm7rw6SvHmQ1X1ig6

Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 High Street South
5:20 The Square
6:40 Middle Row
7:47 West Street
8:41 High Street North
13:16 Grove House Gardens

Видео Dunstable Walk: Town Centre【4K】 канала 4K Explorer