Dunstable Town Council purchased Priory House, with the aid of the Heritage Lottery Fund, for the purpose of converting it into a heritage centre to serve as a focus for heritage activities in the town.

Priory House provides an education and interpretation programme in partnership with local authorities, agencies and voluntary heritage organisations. It serves as a base for the development and delivery of an outreach project to actively engage the general public in Dunstable’s heritage. It will do this through events, activities, reminiscence days, oral history, focus groups and participatory heritage workshops.

The centre houses a permanent exhibition about the history of Dunstable and supports it with a variety of temporary exhibitions. It also houses a local history store which is accessible to anyone wanting to research any aspect of the towns past, including family history.