DUNSTABLE AND DISTRICT
LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
ABOUT US

The Dunstable and District Local History Society's logo was designed by Omer Roucoux in 1996. It is a reproduction of the oldest example of the town arms that has been discovered to date. This can be seen, with difficulty, carved on a shield held by the wooden figure in the roof of the Priory Church directly above the pulpit. The stake signifies a market, the staple is a pun on the town's name and the ring it secures suggest royal protection. The date of the figure is the later half of the 15th century. A similar example can be seen in the illuminated border of the Dunstable Fraternity Register for the year 1522.

A representation of the old arms was carved on a stone on the corner of Kingsbury House in Church Street, next to the door (below).

Unfortunately this has been eroded by the weather and has completely disappeared. The only representation of the Church Street arms is an

engraving done by Thomas Fisher in 1836. But on this the staple has two rings attached and faces right (instead of left). Omer Roucoux thinks that the mistake has been made because the engraving (on copper) was done as seen, but when printed it was obviously inverted. Unfortunately that image was used by historian Charles Lambourn in his Dunstaplelogia in 1859 (left) and adopted by the Dunstable Corporation