Church of St Dunstan is a Grade II* listed building in the Bedford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 July 1964. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Dunstan

WRENN ID
rough-chalk-curlew
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Bedford
Constituency
North Bedfordshire MP: Richard Fuller (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
13 July 1964
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St Dunstan, Thurleigh Road, Bolnhurst, Bolnhurst and Keysoe, MK44 2ET
OS grid reference
TL 080 586
Coordinates
52.21584, -0.41948
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Dunstan is a parish church with origins dating back to the 13th century, featuring details from the 14th century and primarily 15th-century elements. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and comprises a chancel, north vestry, nave, south porch, and west tower. The chancel has 13th-century origins but has been reworked; it includes a south door with a pointed head and a 15th-century lowside window. The northeast and southeast windows are likely from the 16th century, while the east window was added in the 19th century. The north vestry was also added in the 19th century. A mid-14th-century pointed chancel arch leads into the nave, which features 15th-century elements, including a blocked doorway on the north wall flanked by cinquefoiled three-light windows with tracery and embattled transoms at half height. The south wall has two similar windows and one in a 14th-century style, all with 19th-century tracery. The south porch, built in the 15th century, has an outer doorway with a two-centred head. The four-stage tower, also from the 15th century, has diagonal buttresses and pairs of two-light windows at the top stage, with a west doorway surmounted by a restored three-light window featuring 15th-century tracery. The tower and nave are topped with embattled parapets.

Inside, there is an octagonal font in the nave and remains of a painting of St. Christopher on the north wall. The nave's northeast corner contains marble wall monuments from 1707 and 1727. The screen is from the 15th century but has been much restored, and there is some 16th-century pewing. A fragment of 15th-century glass in the northeast window depicts the Virgin. The east window, added in 1853, is initialed by W. Holland of Warwick, and the organ case is by Pugin. The chancel roof dates from the 19th century, while the nave roof was restored in the 17th century.

Local climate

Church of St Dunstan sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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