Stamford, Lincolnshire

Stamford is a town on the River Welland in Lincolnshire, England. It is situated in a 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.

History

The town originally grew as a Danish settlement, which by the Middle Ages had became famous for its production of wool and cloth (known as Stamford cloth). Stamford was originally a walled town but only a very small portion of the walls now remain. Later still, Stamford became an inland port on the Great North Road (also part of the roman road Ermine Street - it passes through Wothorpe and Burghley Park). Notable buildings in the town include the mediaeval Browne's Hospital, Burghley House and the beautiful buildings of Stamford School, a public school founded in 1532. Because of the large number of listed buildings, the town has been used as a set for television "period" dramas. Stamford is a quaint town, with street after street of timber-framed and stone buildings (using the glorious luminous limestone that Lincoln Cathedral is built from), little shops tucked down back alleys, and without the traffic and street furniture it would be difficult to tell what century you were in.

Also lying near Stamford (actually in the Peterborough unitary authority) is Burghley House, an Elizabethan mansion, vast and ornate, built by the First Minister of Elizabeth I, Sir William Cecil, later Lord Burghley. Another historic country house near Stamford is Tolethorpe Hall, now host to theatre productions by the Stamford Shakespeare Company.

Stamford was the only one of the five Danelaw boroughs not to become a county town.

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 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 (and structurally unsound) 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. The train station is hidden away between Wothorpe Road and the Welland.

The oldest newspaper in England is the Stamford Mercury. Local radio is provided mainly by Rutland Radio (the 97.4 transmitter is on Little Casterton Road, then there is also the BBC's Cambridgeshire (95.7 from Peterborough), Northampton (103.6 from Corby) and Lincolnshire (94.9).

South of the town is RAF Wittering, a main employer, and the Home of the Harrier. Newage International Ltd, a maker of electrical generators, is based on Barnack Road.

Filming location

Television shows

Middlemarch (1994)

Films

Pride and Prejudice (2004) - used as the village of Meryton.
Space
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
The Golden Bowl (2000)

Famous Stamfordians

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
Lord David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, as Lord Burghley, gold medal-winning Olympic Hurdler
Sir Michael Tippett
Colin Dexter
Daniel Lambert
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Nigel Sixsmith, Founder member of The Art Of Sound, well known Keytar player
Sarah Cawood
Iwan Thomas
General Sir Michael "Mike" Jackson, GCB, CBE, DSO, ADC Gen, ABC, DEF
Robert of Ketton, Medieval theologian, first translator of the Qu'ran
Francis Peck
John George Haigh, the "acid bath murderer"

External links

The George Hotel a notable Stamford landmark
Burghley House official site