Save Dunstable Ashton Grammar School

The building, which started life in 1888 as Dunstable Grammar School, has a Grade II listing but such a listing does not guarantee the building’s safety. It’s not unknown for developers who buy such buildings to leave them to deteriorate over a number of years and then to apply to the relevant council to have the listing set aside because of the condition of the building! Demolition can follow.

The Facebook groups 'Dunstable -- Preserving the Past for the Future' and 'Dunstable Ashton Grammar School Campaign' are keen to ensure that not only the exterior but also the interior, which contains many beautiful architectural features, is not lost.

The school is owned by Ashton Schools Foundation, which has put the site up for sale for housing development. Some of the school annexe buildings will be lost but it would be criminal if the main building and its features were also lost, especially as so many iconic buildings in Dunstable have already been demolished, and particularly as the town desperately needs a museum to keep its heritage alive.

Please help us to preserve the building that educated such wonderful stars as the Oscar-winning Gary Cooper, Sam Kydd and the silent-screen and veteran talkies actor John Stuart, as well as Khawaja Nazimuddin (Prime Minister of Pakistan), Mike Bannister (chief pilot of Concorde), Roger Parrott (who played Neville Chamberlain in the film The King’s Speech) and Kevin McCloud MBE (presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs), who is already taking an active interest in preserving the school.