Dunstable Priory, Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire: Report on Geophysical Survey, May 2021
Author(s): Neil Linford, Sarah Newsome, Andy Payne
A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey was conducted at Dunstable Priory, Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire, to support the Dunstable High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ). The GPR survey was requested to help inform the revision of the schedule entry for medieval Dunstable Priory, with respect to the extent and significance of the Priory’s buried remains, beyond the definition of the scheduled area which encompasses most of Priory Gardens to the east of Dunstable’s High Street South. The GPR survey (2.2ha) complemented both a previous earth resistance survey and an analytic earthwork survey conducted simultaneously as part of the HSHAZ programme. Fragmented anomalies due to structural remains associated with the priory were recorded across the survey area, with useful additional detail revealed of the Lady Chapel and apsidal end of the church immediately east of the surviving Priory Church. A differing phase of construction is, perhaps, suggested by a slight change in the orientation of the anomalies found to the south of the gardens, although it is unclear whether these extend into the adjacent playing fields of the Priory Middle School where levelling of the site may have impacted on the survival of significant remains.
- Report Number:
- 1/2022
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 19
- Keywords:
- Ground Penetrating Radar Keyword