Dunstable Friary was a Dominican friary in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. It was located to the west of Watling Street, between the present-day High Street South and the road that is called Friary Field.
The "Black Friars" came to Dunstable in 1259.[1] The Augustine canons of Dunstable Priory, who themselves were facing economic hardship at the time, were not welcoming towards the Dominicans.[2] The prioress of Markyate, though her own house was not a wealthy one, helped the friars with a dole of loaves until their church should be finished; a kindness ill-repaid, for they insisted on the continuance of the gift after the immediate necessity was passed, and when the nuns were almost as poor as themselves.[1]
The grounds were surrendered in 1539.[3]
Parts of the site were excavated in the 1920s.[4] From 1965 to 1967, the Manshead Archaeological Society carried out excavations of the monastic buildings, during which the Dunstable Swan Jewel was discovered.[5][6][7] Parts of the church were excavated by the Department of the Environment in 1972 and by Bedfordshire County Council in 1988.[8][9]
The Medieval Dunstable project website has sections on Friary History and Friary Archaeology.
51°53′03″N 0°31′13″W / 51.8841°N 0.5204°W / 51.8841; -0.5204
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