Dunstable

The canons of the priory were also lords of the town, and Dunstable rose and fell with them. In the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 the courage and moderation of Prior Thomas Marshall spared both his house and his townsmen from punishment. The Reformation broke the bond: the priory was dissolved in 1540, a plan to make its church a cathedral came to nothing, and everything but the parish nave was stripped and left to decay, while the town lost its borough status. From then on Dunstable lived by the road. Standing where Watling Street crosses the Icknield Way, a day or two's ride from London, it filled with inns for travellers, though the road brought armies too: in June 1644 the King's soldiers plundered the town, and Parliament's men pulled down its Eleanor cross.