yesteryear

Named The Lawn, it was built in Victorian times and its walls included a mural of the young Queen Victorian and a depiction of Chinese boat people using captive cormorants to catch fish.

It had a large, tree-fringed lawn along its frontage which was covered with daffodils and crocuses at this time of year.

For many decades the house was the home of some well-known local doctors including Dr Towland and then Dr Binns, whose surgery was a stone-clad building alongside the driveway to the house.

The surgery site, seen in the smaller photo, is now part of the Argos store.

The last resident of The Lawn was Dr Pinkerton who had a passion for rally driving and was one of the leading members of the Dunstable SODS - the Sporting Owner Drivers Club.

He sold the house so that the site could be redeveloped for a supermarket and other shops.

> Yesteryear is compiled by John Buckledee, chairman of Dunstable and District Local History Society.