Talk:Dunstable

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Pictures

Does anybody have any pictures of Dunstable? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.131.66 (talk) 17:38, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have any pictures right now but as I live there I could easily take some if people would like. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.102.219 (talk) 13:44, 23 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I would love to see some pictures - the "chalk hills" sound amazing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.37.73.162 (talk) 04:20, 15 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Industries

The article previously said: "Latterly, much Dunstable's industry has been light engineering providing vehicle parts for the Vauxhall plant in Luton". This was a narrow view of the town's industrial past. The writer was probably thinking of the Delco factory, but in its heyday even they advertised "Almost every vehicle in Britain is factory-fitted with one or more AC-Delco quality products". And there were also other large factories, so I have changed the article to have a broader summary of the town's twentieth-century industry. JonH 17:08, 22 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Places of Interest

Doesn't Grove House deserve a page? It has quite a history. I submitted a picture but I don't know a lot of it's past so I haven't written anything. Ashton School should get a mention too. I have a photo of it which I can upload but haven't yet.

--DearCatastropheWaitress 18:17, 29 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Notability is based on the amount of published information, so you would need to find some sources before creating an article just on Grove House. If you have a short paragraph about it, it could be added to the Dunstable page.

There are already articles on Dunstable Grammar School and Ashton (VA) Middle School which would benefit from a photo of the school. JonH 11:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A5 traffic

"In recent years the main A5 trunk road which through the centre of the town has seen a vast increase in traffic flow" I think this claim needs a good citation. Also "recent years" is vague. It's been 15 years since I lived in Dunstable and there was plenty of traffic on the A5 then. It does not seem possible there could have been a "vast increase" since then - without more lanes. Thehalfone 13:50, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Infact, looking again, this whole part is

not in the right place: traffic problems should not be discussed in the Places of Interest section
unencyclopaedic
badly written: unresionable
pov: unresionable
origional research: Unfortunately every time the M1 has a problem, traffic will come towards Dunstable at a vastly increased rate.

So I shall remove it here. Something about traffic problems is probably in order, but this is a political issue, and has been for years. It need to be done better, with Neutral point of view (NPOV)}}Thehalfone 14:05, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

John Dunstaple/Dunstable

Source states: "Probably from Dunstable, Bedfordshire." I don't believe we can have speculation on Wikipedia... Am I right? Unless a stronger source can be offered it will, most likely, be removed. Scarian ^Talk 13:35, 12 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see why we need the speculation box, weasel tag, and external link in the Dunstable article. These lists of famous people normally just contain links to other Wikipedia articles, with clues to indicate the type of person. When I tidied up this list, I copied "probably born in the town" from the John Dunstable article to show that there is some doubt. Any discussion about the facts should be carried out at the John Dunstable article. JonH 14:09, 12 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Gah... fine. But the "probably" needs to be removed or edited... or, in fact, his name needs to be removed from the list entirely. I've already gone to his page and stated the troubles there. Scarian ^Talk 14:11, 12 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Origins of the name

I have never heard this "my kingdom strengthens" theory. It sounds like original research to me. Thehalfone 08:34, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I visited Dunstable while researching my family tree. This theory seems so simple and direct I was surprised no one had made the connection. Johnssewell 21:18, 25 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am a newbie and do not know how to write citations. Referring to the Wikipedia definitions of 'dungeon' and 'stable' seems appropriate. Johnssewell 19:31, 28 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi and welcome. The problem is that it is Wikipedia policy not to include any original research or ideas, even if it is the case of just making an obvious connection between two words. The issue is spelt out at Wikipedia:No original research. Thehalfone 09:06, 29 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I see the the discrepancy now. Do I need to contact a major historical society that will countenance my belief of an "obvious connection between two words" and get them to publish it?Johnssewell 05:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Dunstable town council website (http://www.dunstable.gov.uk/pages/About%20Dunstable.htm) states that:

The name Dunstable, or "Dunstaple" as it was usually written in the past, is derived from two Anglo - Saxon words, "Dun" meaning a hill or down and "Staple" meaning market. So Dunstable is quite literally "The market by the Downs".

--GazMan7 (talk) 17:04, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ricky Gervais comment

Gervais made a comment in his stand-up show called 'politics' that Dunstable was full of 'white trash', does anybody else this should be included in the main article?

Not me. As much of a fan that I am, I don't think that everything Ricky Gervais says is notable enough to be included in Wikipedia. Thehalfone (talk) 18:03, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Although if there was a section on Dunstable in popular culture I'm sure it could be referenced?!--Bigup sim (talk) 16:57, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ref Improve tag and Citation required tags

A Template:Refimprove tag was placed on this article today by User talk:Jenuk1985 I was unable to establish from them what were the reference citation requirements that were requiring significant improvement to warrent a tag. I noted the minor issue of the two citation required tags already placed on the article in March. These two cases aside there are 28 other references which cover all sections of the article. Comparing this article with comparable articles about settlement by any standards it appears well referenced. Bearing in mind there is always room for incremental improvement in any article but that's not a reason for a tag.

In the absence of any helpful clarification the only assumption can be that the tag was added in relation to the two missing citations(?) these have now been addressed. In the first instance by removing reference to one of several suggested meanings of origin of the town's name which is not borne out by the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names and in the second by adding a reliable source for the statement. If User talk:Jenuk1985 or other editors can comment where else this article's lack of, or deficency in reliable references might warrent the need of improvement tag or otherwise it would help if they could suggest this here. Assuming there are no valid problems identified I will remove the tag.Tmol42 (talk) 16:47, 30 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Move this page?

Move this page to Dunstable, United Kingdom? Winner 42 (talk) 20:47, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No need. The primary name is the UK Dunstable from which the MA place has been named after, the latter is also clearly only a small settlement, one tenth the size population wise: UK 33.8k, USA 3.3K. The other places are referred to with a Hat note which adequately helps a browser seeking any of the alternatives.Tmol42 (talk) 21:15, 26 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Plain Dustable of the matter

Should we not include the saying 'that's the plain Dunstable of the matter' here??

I understand from another web site: http://www.wordnik.com/words/dunstable this comes from a fabric or plaited straw hat made in Dunstable . Definition 'Plain; direct; simple.Betty Butt (talk) 04:45, 25 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]