Dunstan is first recorded in documents in 1242, when it was a member of the barony of Embleton. A number of medieval documents record the number of people liable for tax and the number of tenants and freeholders. By the 18th century the village was made up of two rows of houses each side of a green but by the end of that century the population had started to decrease. Today the green is still present but the rows of former houses are not. Settlement is now focused at the west of the green.