Houghton Regis

Houghton Regis was in the Domesday Book when most of Dunstable was still part of its parish, and it has spent the centuries since being mistaken for the far end of Dunstable. When Henry I founded the upstart next door, he compensated Houghton with a wood, which set the tone for every deal the town has been handed since. Then the post-war planners turned the village into a London overspill estate and named the roads after London landmarks to stop the new arrivals feeling homesick, on the theory that a street sign saying Chelsea Gardens would do the job of Chelsea.