Dunstable

DUNSTABLE is a municipal borough and considerable market town on the borders of Hertfordshire, upon the old road from London to Chester and Holyhead, 34 miles from London, 5 west from Luton, 7 east from Leighton Buzzard and 19 south from Bedford, in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Manshead, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Luton, rural deanery of Dunstable, Bedford archdeaconry and St. Albans diocese: a branch of the London and North Western Railway from Leighton Buzzard runs to this town; the Great Northern Railway Company's branch from Hatfield, via Luton, terminates here. The town is intersected by three principal thoroughfares, High street, Church street and West street, formerly the Watling Street and Icknield Street of the Romans. The town was incorporated by royal charter December 8th, 1864, and the corporation consisted of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors, but by a Provisional Order of the Local Government Board, dated Aug. 28th, 1907, that portion of Houghton Regis, known as Upper Houghton Regis, was transferred to this parish and municipal borough, the aldermen increased to six, the councillors to eighteen and the borough divided into three wards. The borough has a commission of the peace. Water and gas are supplied by a company.