Stamford, Lincolnshire

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Stamford
Stamford, Lincolnshire (Lincolnshire)
Stamford, Lincolnshire

Stamford shown within Lincolnshire
Population 19,525
OS grid reference TF025075
District South Kesteven
Shire county Lincolnshire
Region East Midlands
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town STAMFORD
Postcode district PE9
Dialling code 01780
Police Lincolnshire
Fire Lincolnshire
Ambulance East Midlands
European Parliament East Midlands
UK Parliament Grantham and Stamford
List of places: UK • England • Lincolnshire

Coordinates: 52°39′20″N 0°29′01″W / 52.6556, -0.4837

Stamford is a town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the River Welland, in a southwesterly protrusion of Lincolnshire, between Rutland to the north and west, and Cambridgeshire to the south. It borders Northamptonshire to the south-west at the only point in England where four counties meet.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Danelaw

The town originally grew as a Danish settlement at the lowest point that the Welland could be crossed by ford or bridge. Stamford was the only one of the five Danelaw boroughs not to become a county town. Initially a pottery centre, producing Stamford Ware, by the Middle Ages it had become famous for its production of wool and woollen cloth (known as Stamford cloth). Stamford was a walled town but only a very small portion of the walls now remain. Stamford became an inland port on the Great North Road (also part of the Roman road Ermine Street - it passes through the town - where it forded the River Welland). Notable buildings in the town include the mediaeval Browne's Hospital, churches and the buildings of Stamford School, a public school founded in 1532.

[edit] Education

During 1333-4, a group of students and tutors from Merton and Brasenose Colleges, dissatisfied with conditions at their university, left Oxford to establish a rival college at Stamford. Oxford and Cambridge universities petitioned the King, and Edward III ordered their return to Oxford. Oxford MA students were obliged to swear the following: You shall also swear that you will not read lectures, or hear them read, at Stamford, as in a University study, or college general. Students in Stamford can now study at New College Stamford on Drift Road for BA degrees in Art and Design, awarded by the University of Lincoln.

[edit] Historic houses

Also lying near Stamford (actually in the Soke of Peterborough) is Burghley House, an Elizabethan mansion, vast and ornate, built by the First Minister of Elizabeth I, Sir William Cecil, later Lord Burghley. Also inside the district of Peterborough is the village of Wothorpe.

Another historic country house near Stamford is Tolethorpe Hall, now host to theatre productions by the Stamford Shakespeare Company.[1]

[edit] Archaeology

In June 1968, a specimen of the Cetiosaurus oxoniensis sauropod dinosaur was found by Bill Boddington in the Williamson Cliffe quarry, close to Great Casterton. It was calculated to be around 170 million years old, from the Aalenian or Bajocian part of the Jurassic era.[2] It is one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons found in the UK, being fifteen metres long, and is now in the New Walk Museum in Leicester, being on display since 1975. It is known as the Rutland Dinosaur. The Jurassic Way runs from Banbury to Stamford. The Hereward Way runs through the town from Rutland to the Peddars Way in Norfolk. The Macmillan Way heads through the town, finishing at Boston and there is also the Torpel Way from the town to Peterborough, which follows much of the Hereward Way.

Stamford railway station prior to being extensively refurbished by Network Rail and Central Trains.
Stamford railway station prior to being extensively refurbished by Network Rail and Central Trains.

[edit] Churches

Stamford is known for its many churches. All Saint's in 39 Red Lion Square, with its wooden war memorial, St Mary's on St Mary's Street, St John the Baptist, [3] in St George's Square, and St Martin's on the High Street St Martins. St Michael's, at the bottom of Ironmonger Street, is now a parade of shops.

[edit] Architectural style

The industrial revolution largely passed Stamford by. Much of town centre was built centuries ago, and the older streets have been a set for television period dramas. Stamford is a quaint town, with street after street of timber-framed and stone buildings (using the local limestone that Lincoln Cathedral is built from), little shops tucked down back alleys such as Olde Barn Passage and Bath Row, and without the traffic and street furniture it would be difficult to tell what century you were in. The Meadows, next to the Welland is a popular place to relax in the summer for daytrippers. The main shopping area was pedestrianized in the 1980s.

[edit] Transport

Lying as it does on the main north-south route (Ermine Street and the A1) from London, several Parliaments were held in Stamford in the Middle Ages. The George, the Bull and Swan, the Crown and the London Inn were well-known coaching inns. The town had to manage with Britain's north-south traffic through its narrow roads until 1960, when the bypass was built, only a few months after the M1 opened. The old route is now the B1081. There is only one bridge over the Welland (excluding the A1): a local transport anxiety. Until 1996, there were firm plans for the bypass to be upgraded to motorway standard; though these have been shelved. The Carpenter's Lodge roundabout south of the town is being upgraded to a grade-separated junction[4]. The A16 (Uffington Road), which heads to Market Deeping, meets the north end of the A43 (Wothorpe Road) in the south of the town and threads its way through narrow streets. The railway station, hidden away between Wothorpe Road and the Welland, has direct services to Leicester, Birmingham and Stansted Airport (via Cambridge) on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line. It passes next to the Girls' School.

[edit] Local economy

Stamford south bound from Town Bridge towards St Martin's church from The George, a famous coaching inn
Stamford south bound from Town Bridge towards St Martin's church from The George, a famous coaching inn
All Saints Church with the wooden war memorial, and Red Lion Square to the right.
All Saints Church with the wooden war memorial, and Red Lion Square to the right.
River Welland banks and Town Bridge
River Welland banks and Town Bridge

The Stamford Mercury claims to have been published since 1695 and to be "Britain's oldest newspaper".[5] The Newcastle Journal and London Gazette also claim this honour. Walkers is a well-known bookshop.

Local radio choice is shared between Peterborough's Hereward FM (102.7) and the smaller Rutland Radio (the 97.4 transmitter is on Little Casterton Road) from Oakham. Then there are the BBC's Radio Cambridgeshire (95.7 from Peterborough), Radio Northampton (103.6 from Corby) and Radio Lincolnshire (94.9). NOW Digital broadcasts from the East Casterton transmitter covering the town and Spalding, which provides the Peterborough 12D multiplex (BBC Radio Cambridgeshire & Hereward FM).

South of the town is RAF Wittering, a main employer, and the Home of the Harrier. It originally opened in 1916 as RFC Stamford, which closed then re-opened in 1924 under its present title. The engineering company Cummins Generator Technologies (formerly Newage International), a maker of electrical generators, is based on Barnack Road. National jeweller F. Hinds can trace their history back to the clockmaker Joseph Hinds, who worked in Stamford in the first half of the nineteenth Century and they also have a branch in the town. Nearby to the west, along the A6121, is Castle Cement at Ketton which has one of it's main production sites for [Cement] which is quarried locally.

[edit] Filming location

[edit] Television shows

[edit] Films

[edit] Famous Stamfordians

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tolethorpe Hall. Stamford Shakespeare Company.
  2. ^ 1968 Williamson Cliffe brick-pit, Rutland: Late/Upper Bajocian, United Kingdom. The Paleobiology Database.
  3. ^ St George's Church, Stamford
  4. ^ Proposal for Carpenters Lodge. Highways Agency.
  5. ^ The Rutland & Stamford Mercury.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Settlements on the River Welland, Source – Wash
v • d • e
Ceremonial county of Lincolnshire
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Lincoln (county town) • Boston • Bourne • Cleethorpes • The Deepings • Gainsborough • Grantham • Grimsby • Louth • Scunthorpe • Skegness • Sleaford • Spalding • Stamford
See also: List of civil parishes in Lincolnshire
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