The King's Last Night

Long before the music began, kings, queens and archbishops made their history on this ground.

1. c. 1100s

   Kingsbury — A Palace of Kings

   Where The Old Palace Lodge stands today, King Henry I is believed to have kept a royal residence known as Kingsbury. Here, at the crossroads of Watling Street and the Icknield Way, the Norman king founded the town of Dunstable and held his court among these grounds.

2. 1123 & 1132

   Christmas at the King's Court

   Chroniclers record Henry I keeping Christmas court at Dunstable — nobles, envoys and clergy gathered by firelight while winter closed around the royal hall.

3. c. 1131

   The Priory of St Peter

   Just across Church Street, Henry I founded the Augustinian Priory of St Peter. Its great Norman nave survives today as Dunstable Priory Church, its weathered stone watching over the old palace grounds.

4. 1290

   The Funeral of a Queen

   When Queen Eleanor of Castile died, her body was carried south to Westminster. It rested at Dunstable, and Edward I raised one of the famed Eleanor Crosses in the town to mark the night the dead queen lay here.

5. 1533

   The Verdict That Broke a Marriage

   In the Lady Chapel of Dunstable Priory, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer convened the court that declared Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void — a judgement that helped tear England from Rome.

6. Beneath the Soil

   The Burial in the Grounds

   Archaeological work at the site uncovered a burial lying within the old palace grounds — a quiet reminder that those who walked here centuries ago never entirely left the earth beneath your feet.