46 High Street South

Summary

An C18 house with changes to the street frontage in the C19.

Reasons for Designation

46 High Street South, Dunstable, an C18 house with changes to its street frontage in the C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic and architectural interest:

* as a building with C18 fabric;
* for its C19 street frontage.

History

Dunstable town was historically focused upon the intersection of two ancient routes, the Neolithic Icknield Way, running from east to west, and the Roman Watling Street, running from north to south. The crossroad remains a dominant feature in topography of the town. Dunstable has Roman origins, known as Durocobrivis, centred on the crossroads, which appears to have been abandoned at the end of the Roman period. The town was later re-established in the early C12 by Henry I, centred on the royal lodge of Kingsbury and the Augustinian Priory founded in 1131, dissolved in 1540. A market was established in the wide streets and marketplace, where permanent buildings began to encroach to form Middle Row, possibly from the early C13 onwards. The town continued to prosper as a market town in the post-Medieval period, and also as a significant staging post for coaches travelling along Watling Street. The C19 saw the arrival of the railway, new municipal buildings, and the development of the backland with new terraced housing and small industrial premises, notably hat-making. The C20 saw the growth of the town as an engineering centre. Residential expansion continued apace, with associated provision for schools, churches, and other public buildings.

46 High Street South was built as a house in the C18 and is shown on late-C19 mapping with extensions to the rear and a small watershed. In the C19 a ground floor bay window was added to the street frontage and the building was known to be in commercial use. The building was listed in 1976 with the following description: "C18 house of red brick with some grey headers, flush lighter red brick quoins. Tiled roof. 2 storeys, 2 first floor sash windows in reveals. C19 ground floor bay window and doorhood."

In the early C21 planning permission was granted for a two-storey rear extension and the building returned to residential use.

Details

An C18 house with changes to the street frontage in the C19.

MATERIALS: the building is of red brick with a plain clay tile roof.

PLAN: rectilinear.

EXTERIOR: the building has a bay window and door with a canopy held on scroll brackets. At the first-floor level are two sash windows with red brick window reveals. The rear elevation is a C21 extension.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

35759

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Conservation Area Appraisal 2010, accessed 21 November 2022 from https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/migrated_images/dunstable-conservation-2010_tcm3-12953.pdf
Dunstable Parish History Website, accessed 21 November 2022 from http://www.dunstableparish.org.uk/heritage/history/
Bristish History Online, accessed 21 November 2022 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/beds/vol3/pp349-368

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry