Dunstable
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General
Dunstable grew up as a small settlement named Durocobrivis, where the Roman roads of Icknield Way and Watling Street met. In Saxon times the Romans abandoned the settlement and Dunstable was established by Henry I as a new market town. Henry granted the town to the Augustinian priory that he had established there in 1131.
Dunstable became a town of considerable importance with regular royal visits complete with jousting tournaments which took place at the foot of Blow’s Down. The Priory was the location from which Cranmer announced the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon in 1533. Dunstable continued to be important until the Priory was dissolved in the sixteenth century. Part of the original priory structure can now be seen inside the Priory Church. Watling Street was an important stagecoach route which brought much wealth to the town with at least two of the former coaching inns still surviving. Present day population is 33,110.
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Benedictine Monastery
There were once two monasteries in Dunstable. The first lay to the south of the present Priory Church and a second was discovered opposite the gates to Priory Gardens, near the area now occupied by Ashton Square. An archaeological excavation was undertaken which was overseen by a County Archaeologist from Bedford who stayed in a caravan on the site.
One night, about one in the morning, the archaeologist was woken from his sleep by the caravan shaking. He got out of bed and looked outside, but he could see nothing. The caravan continued to shake, so he went outside to investigate. As he walked round to the back of the caravan he came face to face with a hooded monk wearing the black habit of the Benedictine’s (who had once occupied the monastery). The archaeologist fled to the safety of the caravan and stayed inside for the rest of the night. The following morning he left Dunstable and it is said that he has never returned.
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The Black Horse
The Black Horse public house stood on the north side of West Street, but it has now gone. When it was open, things had a habit of moving themselves from the place where you left them. In the cellar, if you put something down, the lights would go off, and by the time they came back on the object had moved. Tidying up the bar at night became somewhat of a waste of time, because by the morning everything would be found in disarray.
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Buttercup Lane
Dunstable’s strangest ghost story must come from Buttercup Lane. In March 1999 two men, Martin Leach and Richard Wright, were walking along a narrow footpath (the Icknield Way) that leads from Canesworde Road on to the Dunstable Downs. They suddenly saw something which Martin later described. “It was white at first, then it turned black, it had a big hat, like a trilby, and glided about eighteen inches off the ground, it didn’t have features like a person, it was about eight to ten feet tall and very broad.” Robert added his own comments. “It didn’t have any arms or legs but was wearing a large hat and it floated rather than moved.”
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Dunstable, Buttercup Lane
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Buttertons
Buttertons, formerly in Middle Row on High Street South, is like a lot of shops in that area, in that it occupies an old building which has two entrances, one on the High Street and the second in Ashton Square. Like a lot of old buildings this one has a resident ghost which has not been seen but has been heard. The ghost is heard walking up and down the stairs; though, from the sound, it is felt that there could be more than one ghost.
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Church Walk
Church Walk is a narrow footpath that runs from the High Street towards the Priory Church. It was once known as Corpse Walk, as it was the route by which coffins would be taken to the Priory Church. Fifty years ago the path, which runs between buildings, was very dark, only being lit by a couple of feeble gas lamps, and most people would avoid using it if they could.
In the late 40s Reuben, a resident of Dunstable, was walking from the Saracen’s Head public house, in High Street South, to the Royal Oak, which used to be in Church Street, just after Kingsway. He decided to cut the corner by walking down Church Walk, thinking it would be alright, as he was accompanied by his large, black dog named Satan.
As they walked down the path Satan ran off in front, until he reached a point at the end of the buildings, whereupon he stood rooted to the spot staring towards the church. He began to snarl and bare his teeth, and his hackles rose, but Reuben could not work out why, as he couldn’t see anything. Suddenly the dog gave out a yelp and fled back down the alley, past Reuben, and into the High Street where, unfortunately, he was killed by a passing car. At no time could Reuben see anything, and what had spooked the poor dog was never discovered.
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Moon Wolf
Number 14 in West Street, was occupied by a New Age shop called Moon Wolf, and by the ghost of a man named George. It seems that George was carrying on from where he left off in life, as George was a flirtatious ghost. He was definitely attracted to any female visitors to the premises and made himself felt in several ways; he had also been seen on more than one occasion. When the shop was first opened, about five years ago, the female owners became aware of George very soon after they moved in. It seems that he would comb their hair, or pull it, and was even known to sit in their laps.
The owners held workshops in a room at the back of the building, on the upper floor, and it is here that George was most active. Once he was seen by two women attending a workshop; one lady refused to return to the building as a result (the other ended up working there). The room in which George had appeared had a couple of heaters to warm it up, but visitors had to wear hats and coats as the room was ice cold, so much so that some literally turned blue. Once George appeared on the instructor, Jane’s, lap, making faces at one of the other women present. Jane couldn’t see him, but the other woman could. One of the former employees, Claire, is a medium who has seen George and has talked to him. She had drawn a picture of George as a result of her contact with him and when she showed it to the woman she said that it was the man she had seen.
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Nationwide
The Nationwide Building Society occupies number twenty on High Street North and is the home of the White Lady. She has been seen several times walking around the upper floors, but no one knows who she is or why she haunts that particular building.
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Packhorse Inn
In 1970 a taxi driver was on his way to collect a fare and was passing a spot near the Packhorse Inn on the A5 when he received a sudden fright. A tall man, reported to be about one hundred and eighty centimetres tall, wearing white clothes stepped right in front of the cab. “I braked, but was going too fast and went straight through him. I pulled up and spent some time trying to find the man but there was no one in sight.” When the report appeared in the local paper several other motorists came forward to say that they had seen the same figure dressed in white.
In 1958 a cricket team from the Kenwood Manufacturing Company Ltd. had played a match at Milton Bryan and were returning to Surrey along the A5. They had reached a spot near the Packhorse Inn, between Dunstable and Markyate when the driver of their mini-bus swerved to overtake a car. Unfortunately this resulted in a crash with an oncoming vehicle which left two of the team, Sidney Moulder and Jerry Rycham, dead. Three others people were badly injured in the crash. It seems that at least one of the victims still haunts the area where he died.
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Dunstable, The Packhorse Inn
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Priory
Burials have not been permitted at the Priory Church in Dunstable for some time over concerns of releasing an evil that is buried there. A long time ago a witch call Sally was burnt at the stake along with her cat and broomstick but she returned to haunt the priory which stood on the site where the Priory church now stands. Ghostly hands would box the monks around their ears and the altar candles would burn with an evil green light. If Sally’s ghostly fingers touched the prayer books the covers would be singed.
Things got so bad that a palmer (a wandering mediaeval European pilgrim who carried a palm branch as a token of having visited the Holy Land) was called in to remove the spirit. As the palmer began the service Sally struck him so hard about the head that he fell to the floor of the Chancel. Eventually the palmer outwitted Sally by luring her into a bottle. This bottle was then buried in the grounds of the Priory church but no one knows where. For fear of breaking the bottle no more burials were allowed which might break the bottle and release the witch.
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Priory Church
In the Priory Church there occasionally appears the ghost of a canon or a former prior. The ghost first appears in the southwest corner of the church, as if he has just walked through the wall from where the Prior’s house used to stand. Turning to the right, he walks along the south aisle of the church until just before the Lady Chapel. He then turns to the left and walks along the front of the church, stopping to genuflect in the direction where the original altar would have stood. Finally, he turns to the right and walks through the east wall of the church. Originally, the wall divided the public part of the church (the part that still exists) from the chancel which lay to the east, as the church was almost twice the length it is now. The ghost may be seen to pass through the wall but he has never been seen on the other side, in what is now the churchyard. The ghost is said to have done the walk eight times in a day, at each of the daily offices.
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Dunstable, Priory Church
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Slaughterhouse
The area now occupied by The Freedom Salon in Ashton Square was once the site of a slaughterhouse, complete with ghost. It was believed that the ghost was that of a slaughterman, who was killed by a bull, which had decided to reverse the normal roles.
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The Victoria
At the Victoria Public House, in West Street, there may be seen the ghost of a stable boy with an injured hand. The stable block stands at the back of the pub and it is this area that he haunts. It appears that he dates from Victorian times, and it is said that he trapped his hand in the stable door. No one knows why he haunts the area, but it may be that the injury prevented him from working, which in those days could have resulted in him starving to death. It is also possible that it was not the injury itself which killed him but complications, like an infection, which in those days could have been lethal.
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The White Swan
At the White Swan public house, on High Street South, the bar is monitored by security cameras, which are linked to a screen in the living quarters upstairs. On the screen, there has regularly appeared the image of someone walking through the bar, but when you go downstairs there is no one there. Not only is there no one in the bar but, if you play the tape back, you will find that the figure was not recorded, yet he was clearly seen.
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