IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
All Saints Road, DUNSTABLE, LU5 5HJ

Viewed looking across Tithe Farm Road, this 1960s housing block is typical of much of the residential development in this area of Houghton Regis.

View of Bedford Square showing the Health Centre and Library (now demolished and rebuilt).

The chancel of All Saints, Houghton Regis leading to the altar, and behind that the plain East Window. In former times this window would have been filled with mediæval stained glass, no doubt removed and destroyed by the iconoclasts of the C17th under Cromwell. The area around the altar still contains many monuments including Image]

I was shown this old brass in All Saints, Houghton Regis by one of the caretakers there, as it is normally covered. The brass commemorates William Walley, a former vicar of the church. The inscription is quite difficult to read, but this is my transcription of it: "Dear to the soul of William Walley Intyme (?) vicar of this church which deceased the year of our lord m ccccc vi [1506] on whose soul Jesu (?) have mercy amen." The "Intyme" may mean "one time" or may be "sutime" meaning "sometime" - and the date is open to conjecture, though I believe 1506 to be correct from other sources. Try as I might, I can't make out the word before "have mercy", but think it may be "Isu" = Jesu Note that the date is a little strange in several ways. Firstly the M for a thousand is either missing or if it's at the end of the previous line, it looks more like y(superscript t) - which is the old abbreviation for "that"; secondly the five hundred part is rendered as CCCCC rather than the correct D; thirdly the vi for 6 is a bit malformed too!

All Saints, Houghton Regis contains one of the finest of the so-called "Aylesbury" fonts which date from the late C12th. See descriptions below.

It is thought that this recumbent effigy of a knight is probably a monument to Sir John Sewell who seems to have flourished around the end of the C13th into the early to mid C14th, however other sources suggest that this tomb may be as much as a hundred years later than that, though I would tend to suggest it dates from the earlier period, though the canopy that surrounds it is probably later. This poor knight has lost both his legs and his arms over the ensuing centuries, though his little companion lion has fared somewhat better (see Image]) though no longer guarding the knight's feet as these were lost along with his legs, not surprisingly.

This little carved lion rests by the [now missing] feet of a knight thought to be Sir John (de) Sewell in a niche on the southern wall of the nave of All Saints, Houghton Regis. From what I can gather, Sir John lived in the late C13th and early C14th, the latter date being contemporary with the main structure of the church, so if this monument is to him, it has probably always been here - as has this little lion.

A side view of the wonderful C12th "Aylesbury" font in All Saints, Houghton Regis. The main pattern at the top here seems to have something of a Celtic influence. Note the somewhat wavy perimeter of the bowl.

The lovely C14th church of All Saints, Houghton Regis on a sunny June morning. The church is EH Grade I listed http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1114707&searchtype=mapsearch It houses one of the finest C12th "Aylesbury" fonts. See descriptions below.

The fine roof of the nave of Image] dates from the C15th and is decorated with angels bearing shields on every other cross beam. Four such angels can be seen in this image.