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| Stamford | |
|---|---|
| Market town | |
  Stamford Location withinLincolnshire | |
| Population | 20,742 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TF0207 |
| • London | 92 mi (148 km) S |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | List
|
| Post town | STAMFORD |
| Postcode district | PE9 |
| Dialling code | 01780 |
| Police | Lincolnshire |
| Fire | Lincolnshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Stamford is amarket town andcivil parish in theSouth Kesteven district ofLincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701[3] and estimated at 20,645 in 2019.[4][5] The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed buildings and five medieval parish churches.[6]
Stamford is a frequent film location. In 2013 it was rated a top place to live in a survey byThe Sunday Times.[7] Its name has been passed on toStamford, Connecticut, founded in 1641.[8]
The place-name Stamford is first attested in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it appears asSteanford in 922 andStanford in 942. It appears asStanford in theDomesday Book of 1086. The name means "stony ford".[9]
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The Romans builtErmine Street across what is now Burghley Park and forded the River Welland to the west of Stamford, eventually reachingLincoln. They also built a town to the north atGreat Casterton on theRiver Gwash. In 61 CEBoudica followed the Roman legionLegio IX Hispana across the river. TheAnglo-Saxons later chose Stamford as the main town, being on a larger river than the Gwash.
In 972King Edgar made Stamford a borough. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes faced each other across the river.[10] The town had grown as a Danish settlement at the lowest point that the Welland could be crossed by ford or bridge. Stamford was the only one of theFive Boroughs of the Danelaw not to become acounty town. Initially a pottery centre makingStamford Ware, it had gained fame by theMiddle Ages for its production of thewoollen cloth known as Stamford cloth orhaberget, which "In Henry III's reign... was well known in Venice."[11]
Stamford was a walled town,[10] but only a small portion of the wall remains. Stamford became an inland port on theGreat North Road, the latter superseding Ermine Street in importance. Notable buildings in the town include the medievalBrowne's Hospital, several churches and the buildings ofStamford School, apublic school founded in 1532.[10]
ANorman castle was built about 1075 and apparently demolished in 1484.[10][12][13] The site stood derelict until the late 20th century, when it was built over and now includes a bus station and a modern housing development. A small part of the curtain wall survives at the junction of Castle Dyke and Bath Row.
In 1333, a group of students and tutors from theUniversity of Oxford, including some fromMerton College andBrasenose Hall, dissatisfied with conditions at the university, leftOxford to founda rival institution at Stamford. Oxford had seen violence between students and masters hailing from Northern and Southern England, and those who left for Stamford were Northerners. Oxford andCambridge universities petitionedEdward III, and the King ordered the closure of the college and the return of the students to Oxford; this took several attempts, but seems to have finally been achieved in 1335.MA students at Oxford until 1827 were obliged to take an oath: "You shall also swear that you will not read lectures, or hear them read, at Stamford, as in a University study, or college general."[14] The site and limited remains of the former Brazenose College, Stamford, where Oxford secessionists lived and studied, now form part of Stamford School.[15]
Stamford has been hosting an annual fair since theMiddle Ages. It is mentioned in Shakespeare'sHenry IV, Part 2 (Act 3, Scene 2). Held in mid-Lent, it is now the largest street fair in Lincolnshire and among the largest in the country. On 7 March 1190, men at the fair who were preparing to go on the crusade led apogrom, in which several of the Stamford Jews were killed, and the rest, who escaped with difficulty, were given refuge in the castle. Their houses, however, were plundered, and a great quantity of money was seized.[16]
Stamford's importance and wealth in the Middle Ages meant that a number of religious houses and hospitals were established in or near the town. The monasteries and friaries were all closed at the Dissolution by 1539. Street names are indicative of their presence: Priory Road, Austin Street, Blackfriars Street etc.
Monasteries
FriariesAt least five orders of Friars were established within the town of Stamford from the 13th century onwards.[17]
Hospitals[17]
By the early 1500s the wool and broadcloth industry in England, on which Stamford depended, had declined significantly.[20] Stamford was sufficiently poor, financially and demographically, that in 1548 it had to amalgamate its eleven parishes into six and its population had reduced to 800.[21][22]
However, by the second half of the 17th century, after almost 150 years of stagnation, the population started to increase. As Stamford emerged into the 17th century, leather and fibre working (in the widest sense; weavers, ropers and tailors) were the main activities along with wood and stone working.[23]
In the 1660s the various efforts to make theRiver Welland navigable again were finally successful. Stamford then became a centre for the malting trade as the barley from nearby fenlands to the east and heathlands to the north and west could make its way more easily and cheaper to the town.[24]
TheGreat North Road passed through Stamford. It had always been a halting town for travellers; Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, James I and Charles I all passed through and it had been a post station for the postal service journey in Elizabeth's reign.[25] By the later 17th century roads start to be used more for longer distance travelling. In 1663 an Act of Parliament was passed to set upturnpikes on the Great North Road, and this was to make a notable difference to Stamford's fortunes in the following century.[26]
During theEnglish Civil War local loyalties were split. Thomas Hatcher MP was a Parliamentarian. Royalists used Wothorpe and Burghley as defensive positions. In the summer of 1643 the Royalists were besieged at Burghley on 24 July after a defeat at Peterborough on 19 July. The army ofViscount Campden was heavily outnumbered and surrendered the following day.[27]
For over 600 years Stamford was the site of theStamford bull run, held annually on 13 November,St Brice's day, until 1839.[10][28] Local tradition says it began afterWilliam de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey had seen two bulls fighting in the meadow beneath his castle. Some butchers came to part the combatants and one bull ran into the town. The earl mounted his horse and rode after the animal; he enjoyed the sport so much that he gave the meadow where the fight began to the butchers of Stamford, on condition that they continue to provide a bull to be run in the town every 13 November.[10]
TheEast Coast Main Line would have gone through Stamford, as an important postal town at the time, but resistance led to routing it instead throughPeterborough, whose importance and size increased at Stamford's expense.[29]
During the Second World War, the area round Stamford contained several military sites, including RAF station, airborne encampments and aprisoner-of-war camp.[30] Within the town, Rock House held the headquarters ofStanisław Sosabowski and the staff of thePolish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. A memorial plaque was unveiled there in 2004.[31] A 2,000lb bomb was dropped on St Leonard St on 31 October 1940, which never exploded. 1,000 people were evacuated, until 3 November 1940.[32]
Stamford Museum occupied a Victorian building in Broad Street from 1980 until June 2011, when it succumbed to Lincolnshire County Council budget cuts.[33] Some exhibits have been moved to a "Discover Stamford" space at the town library[34] and toStamford Town Hall.[35]
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There are three tiers of local government covering Stamford, at parish (town), district and county level: Stamford Town Council,South Kesteven District Council, andLincolnshire County Council. The town council is based atStamford Town Hall on St Mary's Hill, which was built in 1779.[36][37]
Stamford was anancient borough. The original borough was entirely on the north bank of the River Welland, which was historically the boundary between Lincolnshire andNorthamptonshire.[38] South of the river wasStamford Baron in Northamptonshire. The Stamford constituency was enlarged in 1832 to also include the built-up part of Stamford Baron.[39] In 1836 Stamford was reformed to become amunicipal borough, at which point the municipal boundaries were adjusted to match the recently enlarged constituency.[40]
After 1836 the borough therefore straddled Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. When elected county councils were established in 1889 boroughs were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries, and so the parts of the borough south of the river were transferred to Lincolnshire, withKesteven County Council serving as the upper tier authority.[41] Local government was reformed again in 1974, when Kesteven County Council was replaced by Lincolnshire County Council, and the borough of Stamford was abolished, with district-level functions passing to the new South Kesteven District Council. Stamford Town Council was established as asuccessor parish council in 1974, covering the area of the former borough.[42]
Stamford'stown council[43] has arms:Per pale dexter side Gules three Lions passant guardant in pale Or and the sinister side chequy Or and Azure.[44] The three lions are theEnglish royal arms, granted to the town by Edward IV for its part in the "Lincolnshire Uprising".[45] The blue and gold chequers are the arms of theDe Warenne family, which held the manor here in the 13th century.
Stamford belongs to the parliamentary constituency ofRutland and Stamford. The current MP isAlicia Kearns (Conservative).
Prior to the 2024 election, Stamford formed part of theGrantham and Stamford constituency. Previous MPs includeGareth Davies, who won the seat at the2019 General Election andNick Boles.
Stamford, on the bank of theRiver Welland, forms a south-westerly protrusion of Lincolnshire betweenRutland to the north and west,Peterborough to the south, andNorthamptonshire to the south-west. There have been mistaken claims of aquadripoint where fourceremonial counties – Rutland, Lincolnshire,Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire – would meet at a point[46] but the location actually has twotripoints some 20 metres (22 yd) apart.[47][unreliable source?]
TheRiver Welland forms the border between two historic counties: Lincolnshire to the north andSoke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire to the south.
In 1991, the boundary between Lincolnshire and Rutland (then part ofLeicestershire) in the Stamford area was redrawn.[48] It now mostly follows theA1 to the railway line. The conjoined parish ofWothorpe is in the city of Peterborough. Barnack Road is the Lincolnshire/Peterborough boundary where it bordersSt Martin's Without.
The river downstream of the town bridge and some of the meadows fall within the drainage area of the Welland and DeepingsInternal Drainage Board.[49]
Much of Stamford is built on Middle JurassicLincolnshire limestone, with mudstones and sandstones.[50]
The area is known for limestone and slate quarries. Cream-colouredCollyweston stone slate is found on the roofs of many Stamford stone buildings. Stamford Stone inBarnack has quarries atMarholm andHolywell.[51] Clipsham Stone has two quarries inClipsham.
In 1968, a specimen of thesauropod dinosaurCetiosaurus oxoniensis was found in the Williamson Cliffe Quarry, close toGreat Casterton in adjacentRutland. Some 15 metres (49 ft) long, it is about 170 million years old, from theAalenian orBajocian era of theJurassic period.[52] It is one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons found in the UK and was installed in 1975 in theLeicester Museum & Art Gallery.
Tourism is important to Stamford's economy, as are professional law and accountancy firms. Health, education and other public-service employers also feature, notably a hospital (Stamford and Rutland Hospital), a large medical general practice, schools (some independent) and a further education college. Hospitality is provided by several hotels, licensed premises, restaurants, tea rooms and cafés.
The licensed premises reflect the history of the town. TheGeorge Hotel,Lord Burghley,William Cecil,Danish Invader andJolly Brewer are among nearly 30 premises servingreal ale.[53] Surrounding villages andRutland Water provide other venues and employment opportunities, as do several annual events at Burghley House.
The town centre's major retail and service sector has many independent boutique stores and draws shoppers from a wide area. Several streets are traffic-free. Outlets include gift shops, eateries, men's and women's outfitters, shoe shops, florists, hairdressers, beauty therapists and acupuncture and health-care services. Harrison & Dunn, Dawson of Stamford, theGeorge Hotel and The Crown Arts Centre are other popular places. Stamford has several hotels, coffee shops and restaurants. Its branch of the national jewellerF. Hinds can trace its history back to the clockmaker Joseph Hinds, who worked in Stamford in the first half of the 19th century.[54] In the summer months, Stamford Meadows attract visitors.
The town has stores, supermarkets, three builders' merchants and several other specialist trade outlets and skilled trades such as roofers, builders, tilers etc. There are two car showrooms and a number of car-related businesses. Local services include convenience stores, post offices, newsagents and take-aways.
South of the town isRAF Wittering, a main employer which wasuntil 2011 the home of theHarrier. The base opened in 1916 asRFC Stamford. It closed in 1919, but reopened in 1924 under its present name.
The engineering company, largely closed since June 2018, isCummins Generator Technologies (formerly Newage Lyon, then Newage International), a maker ofelectrical generators inBarnack Road.[55] C & G Concrete (now part of Breedon Aggregates)[56] is in Uffington Road.
The Pick Motor Company was founded in Stamford in about 1898. A number of smaller firms — welders, printers and so forth — feature in collections of industrial units or more traditional premises in older, mixed-use parts of the town.Blackstone & Co was afarm implement anddiesel engine manufacturing company.
Stamford lies amidst some of England's richest farmland and close to the famous "double-cropping" land of parts of the fens. Agriculture still provides a small, but steady number of jobs in farming, agricultural machinery, distribution and ancillary services.
TheStamford Mercury claims to be "Britain's oldest continuously published newspaper title".[57] TheMercury has been published since 1712 but itsmasthead formerly claimed it was established in 1695 and still has "Britain's Oldest Newspaper".
Local radio provision was shared between Peterborough'sHeart East (102.7 –Heart Peterborough closed in July 2010) andGreatest Hits Radio Midlands (formerlyRutland Radio) (a 97.4 transmitter onLittle Casterton Road) fromOakham. Since March 2021, Rutland and Stamford Sound has been providing a locally based service via the internet. Other stations includeBBC Radio Cambridgeshire (95.7 fromPeterborough), andBBC Radio Lincolnshire (94.9). NOW Digital broadcasts from an EastCasterton transmitter covering the town andSpalding, which provides theNOW Peterborough 12D multiplex (BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Heart East).
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East Midlands andITV Central. Stamford has a lower-power television relay transmitter, due to it being in a valley,[58][59] which takes its transmission fromWaltham, notBelmont.BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire andITV Yorkshire can be received from the Belmont transmitting station.
Local publishers includeKey Publishing (aviation) and theBourne Publishing Group (pets).Old Glory, a specialist magazine for steam power andtraction engines, was published in Stamford.
Stamford was the firstconservation area designated inEngland and Wales,[60][61] under the Civic Amenities Act 1967.[62] There are over 600listed buildings in and around the town.[63]
St Leonard’s Priory is the oldest building in the town, legendarily founded byWilfrid, tutor to the son of the Anglo-Saxon King Oswiu. The site retains Norman architectural features, including pillars and arches dating to around 1090, with a west front constructed circa 1150.[64]
Significant unlisted properties include theCorn Exchange in Broad Street which was completed in 1859.[65]
TheIndustrial Revolution left Stamford largely untouched. Much of the centre was built in the 17th and 18th centuries in Jacobean or Georgian style.[10] It is marked by streets of timber-framed and stone buildings using locallimestone and by little shops tucked down back alleys. Several formercoaching inns survive, their large doorways being a feature. The main shopping area was pedestrianised in the 1970s.
Near Stamford (but in the historicalSoke of Peterborough) isBurghley House, anElizabethan mansion, built by the First Minister ofElizabeth I, Sir William Cecil, laterLord Burghley.[10] It is the ancestral seat of theMarquess of Exeter. The tomb of William Cecil is in St Martin's Church, Stamford. The parkland of the Burghley Estate adjoins the town on two sides. It includes ancient trees, a population of fallow deer, and vistas designed by landscape architectCapability Brown.[66] Another country house near Stamford,Tolethorpe Hall, hosts outdoor theatre productions by theStamford Shakespeare Company.[67]
Tobie Norris had abell foundry in the town in the 17th century. His name is borne by a pub in St Paul's Street.[68]
The town is served byStamford railway station, previously known asStamford Town to distinguish it from the now closedStamford East station in Water Street. The station building is a stone structure inMock Tudor style, influenced by nearbyBurghley House and designed bySancton Wood.[69]
Services are provided by twotrain operating companies:
Trains to and from Peterborough pass through a short tunnel beneath St Martin's High Street.
Lying on the main north–southErmine Street (now theGreat North Road and theA1) fromLondon toYork andEdinburgh, Stamford hosted severalParliaments in the Middle Ages. TheGeorge Hotel,Bull and Swan,Crown andLondon Inn were well-knowncoaching inns. The town coped with heavy north–south traffic through its narrow streets until 1960, when a bypass was built to the west of the town.[72] The old route is now theB1081, which has the only other road bridge over the Welland; this is a local bottleneck.[73]
Until 1996, there were plans to upgrade the bypass tomotorway standard, but these have been shelved. The Carpenter's Lodge roundabout south of the town has been replaced by a grade-separated junction.[74] The old A16, now theA1175 (Uffington Road) toMarket Deeping, meets the northern end of theA43 (Kettering Road) in the south of the town.
Footbridges cross the Welland at the Meadows, some 200 metres upstream of the Town Bridge, and at the Albert Bridge 250 metres downstream.[75]
TheJurassic Way runs fromBanbury to Stamford. TheHereward Way runs through the town from Rutland to thePeddars Way inNorfolk, along the RomanErmine Street and then theRiver Nene. TheMacmillan Way heads through the town, finishing atBoston. Torpel Way follows the railway line, entering Peterborough atBretton.
The town bus station occupies part of the old castle site in St Peter's Hill.[76]
Local bus services are operated byDelaine Buses,Stagecoach,CentreBus, Blands andPeterborough City Council.The main routes run toPeterborough, viaHelpston,Wansford,Wittering,Ailsworth, and toOakham,Grantham,Uppingham andBourne. On Sundays and Bank Holidays, Peterborough City Council operates a route viaWittering/Wansford, Duddington/Wansford,Burghley House/Barnack/Helpston and Uffington/Barnack/Helpston.[77]
There is aNational Express coach service betweenLondon andNottingham each day, including Sundays.
Commercial shipping was carried along a canal from Market Deeping to warehouses in Wharf Road until the 1850s.[10] This is no longer possible, due to abandonment of the canal and the shallowness of the river aboveCrowland. There is a lock at the sluice inDeeping St James, but it is not in use. The river was not conventionally navigable upstream of the Town Bridge.
Stamford has five state primary schools: Bluecoat, St Augustine's (RC), St George's, St Gilbert's and Malcolm Sargent. There is also a fee-paying school: Stamford Junior School.[78]
Stamford's main state secondary school isStamford Welland Academy (formerly Stamford Queen Eleanor School), formed in the late 1980s from the town's two comprehensive schools: Fane and Exeter. It became anacademy in 2011. In April 2013, a group of parents announced an intention to establish aFree School in the town,[79] but failed to receive government backing. Instead, the multi-academy trust that submitted the bid was invited to take over the running of the existing school.[80]
Stamford School is a long-establishedpublic school with around 1,200 pupils. Stamford School, originally for boys but converted into a co-educational school, was founded in 1532.[81] The girls' school was established in 1877 and originally known as Browne's Middle School for Girls.[81][82] The two school formally merged in 2023. Together with Stamford Junior School, they form the Stamford Endowed Schools.[83]
Most of Lincolnshire still has grammar schools. In Stamford, their place was long filled by a form of theAssisted Places Scheme, providing state funding to send children to one of two independent schools in the town that were formerlydirect-grant grammars.[84] The national scheme was abolished by the 1997 Labour government. The Stamford arrangements remained in place until funding ended in 2012.
Other secondary pupils travel toCasterton College or further afield toThe Deepings School orBourne Grammar School.
New College Stamford offers post-16 further education: work-based, vocational and academic; and higher education courses including BA degrees in art and design awarded by theUniversity of Lincoln and teaching-related courses awarded byBishop Grosseteste University.[85] The college also offers a range of informal adult learning.
In the 2011 Census, less than 67 per cent of the population of Stamford identified themselves as Christian, over 25 per cent as of "no religion".Stamford has many current or former churches:[10]
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There are a number of junior teams in each age group and also school teams.
Stamford Cycling is a community cycling group based in Stamford, affiliated withCycling UK since 2025. The group promotes recreational cycling, organises regular group social rides, and fosters a welcoming environment for cyclists of all skill levels.[92]
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