Edited sentence: " Through the gradations of the English language over the centuries, it is easy to see how the town came to be called Dunstable.' "-stable" is directly from the French 'estable,' meaning strength, enduring, etc.'Dun-kirk' follows the same line of reasoning as being the 'church of the realm.A trip to a dictionary reveals that "dun" is a ME transliteration of the MF term (fr LAT) 'dom,' meaning dominion, as in 'dun-geon,' the keep of a castle.Being a very old town, Dunstable also has a fair amount of paranormal activity associated with it.However, another explanation remains.There are also rumours of a series of tunnels running from the cellar of the pub to the crypt of the priory to its rear.There is also a local legend that Henry VIII survived an assassination attempt outside the Priory Church, and various dents and holes in the outer walls and the main doors have been attributed to the failed attempt.This includes a legend of a witch whose spirit was buried in a bottle in the Priory Churchyard, rumours of supernatural activity in several of the older pubs and former coaching inns, a phantom dog that is said to cross one of the main high streets near the crossroad and trip unsuspecting passers-by, and an apparent sighting of ghostly monks close to where the bodies of what were believed to be old inhabitants of the monastery were discovered in the last ten years, underneath a resident's kitchen extension.This is, of course, subject to personal belief and no legends are necessarily true or can ever be conclusively proven.Until recently the town was the head quarters of Sports World International, the UK's largest sports clothing and accessories retailer before they relocated to Shirebrook.When Henry I founded the priory there in 1132, it is doubtful that he named it after a criminal; rather, he called it 'dom estable,' "my kingdom strengthens