Tomorrow is Dunstable’s Carnival. The theme for this year is ‘900 Years of Dunstable’.
Dunstable started as a Roman posting station where travellers could change their horses. A settlement grew up on the crossroads of the Roman Watling Street and the older prehistoric Icknield Way. When the Romans left Britain in the 5th Century, the town was abandoned and became overgrown. It lay derelict for centuries and in 1100 was just a crossroads in a forest.
In 1107, work on the creation of the new town, ordered by King Henry 1, at the junction of Icknield Way and Watling Street began. This makes 2007 the 900th Anniversay of the town’s foundation. Dunstable is a market town, with the Royal Charter granted by Henry 1 in 1131. The Priory Church of St Peter in Dunstable is all that remains of the Augustinian priory founded in 1132 by Henry 1 and endowed with the lordship and manor of the town. The priory was destroyed during the dissolution of the monastries, shortly after the anouncement there of the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, which lead to the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
Hopefully the weather will be fine tomorrow and we will get to see the carnival parade as it goes past the end of our road.
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It makes one feel very insignificant when one realizes how one is here such a brief time in the overall scheme of things. 900 years. Have a great celebration.
900 years,and I had to miss the celebrations by one year.
Wish I was back your way today.
Thanks for your comments. The weather this year isn’t as good as it was last year Lyall and to be honest there wasn’t anything particularly extra over normal years. I know you’d like to be back here again. Who knows, if we win the lottery, we’ll come and see you in NZ and then you could come back over. Hi jmb, I know from your post that you are quite busy at the moment, so thanks for visiting. 900 years does seem a very long time compared to a lifespan and it make you realise how many generations pass in that time.
Regards,
Ian