Dunstable Priory House (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Dunstable.
In the historic county of Bedfordshire.
Modern Authority of Bedfordshire.
1974 county of Bedfordshire.
Medieval County of Bedfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL01982177
Latitude 51.88563° Longitude -0.51930°

Dunstable Priory House has been described as a Palace although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The Augustinian Priory of St Peter was founded by Henry I, Christmas 1131-2. The Priory was dissolved in 1540. Henry VIII ordered the conversion of part of the conventual buildings into a royal residence, but following his death, no further works were carried out, and Queen Mary sold it to Sir Leonard Chamberlain for £300. The conventual church, built during the latter half of C12 and completed in 1220, with one tower rebuilt in C15, was thoroughly restored in 1871. Only the nave of the original church remains. Other extant buildings remain in the Priory House Gateway, where there is C15 stone archway with a smaller gateway on the right. Priory House stands on the site of the Priory Guesthouse and are reputed to contain C13 vaulted room. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004676, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number bd3
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1321391 , 1114593
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 359840.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 131.

Books
- Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 50, 56, 57, 118 (plan), 119
  James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p. 22, 38, 40
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works, Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 75-6
Periodical Articles
- Hagen, R., 1972, Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 7 p. 35-6 online copy (large file)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 13 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk East of England Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 14 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 16 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 16 online copy
  Albion Archaeology, 2003 (edited January 2005), Extensive Urban Survey - Bedfordshire and Luton (Bedfordshire County Council and English Heritage) Download copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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