54 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I

Marshe AlmshousesGrade II* listedChew's HouseGrade II* listedThe Old Sugar Loaf InnGrade II listedWindmillGrade II listedFormer Baptist ChapelGrade II listed+8See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.

c. 1891

c. 1891

1908

1944

1946

Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.

Historic England lists buildings in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest (about 2.5% of all listed buildings), Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest (about 5.8%), and Grade II for buildings of special interest (about 91.7%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on the National Heritage List for England whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings. Neighbourhood dots: the population-weighted centre of each Census 2021 output area, coloured by its neighbourhood’s (LSOA’s) share of homes built before 1919 (Valuation Office Agency, March 2025).

Of the 54 entries, 27 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

Historic England’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.

The first 10 entries were listed in 1951, 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 33 came in 1976, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

1 scheduled monument

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Secretary of State, advised by Historic England.

Dunstable Priory

Two measures, each ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, with protected heritage counting twice as much as the age of homes. Protected heritage counts each listed building by its grade (Grade I three points, II* two, II one), each scheduled monument and battlefield two, and each registered park or garden by its grade; it is ranked both per 10,000 residents and as a total, so a village with one fine church doesn’t outrank a historic city. The second measure is the share of homes built before 1919, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records. History is a character grade: it describes the town and isn’t part of the overall grade.

William Inge

Moses Glover

James Jardine

Fred White

Alfred Morcom

13501500165018001950

William Inge1260–1322 · English judge; (1260-1322)

Moses Glover1601–1635 · British artist

JJ

James Jardine1846–1909 · British KC

FW

Fred White1880– · English footballer (1880-?)

AM

Alfred Morcom1885–1952 · (1885-1952)

Everyone born in Dunstable → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

The official list counts 54 listed buildings in Dunstable, 2 of them Grade I, including Dunstable Priory. Only 49 of the 315 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. High Street South alone has 10 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1976.

Most entries on the list, 65%, are houses, terraces and villas. William Inge (1260), Moses Glover (1601) and James Jardine (1846) are among the 5 people born here before 1900. The big year was 1976, when 33 of the 54 went on the list. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; it also has a scheduled monument; and 10% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.