Stamford

STAMFORD, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the wapentake of Ness, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 46 miles (S. by E.) from Lincoln, and 89 (N. by W.) from London; containing 6385 inhabitants. Its original name, Seanforde, signifying "a stone ford," was derived from the circumstance of the passage across the river Welland here being paved with stone; it was afterwards called Stanford, which was subsequently changed to its present appellation. The town is of remote antiquity, its origin being ascribed by tradition to a period long before the Christian era. The earliest authentic account respecting it is by Henry of Huntingdon, who records that the Picts and Scots, having ravaged the country to Stamford, were here defeated by the Britons, aided by the Saxons under the command of Hengist, who had been called to the assistance of the Britons by their king Vortigern. It was one of the five cities into which the Danes were distributed by Alfred the Great, when, after defeating them, he allowed that people, with Guthrum their prince, to settle in the kingdom: the inhabitants of the cities were called Fif-burgenses, or Five-burghers, and subsequently Sefen-burgenses, on the addition of two more cities. A castle was erected by Edward the Elder, early in the 10th century, on the bank of the river, opposite the town, to check the incursions of the Danes, and of the Five-Burghers and other internal enemies; but every vestige of it long since disappeared. Another castle on the north-west of the town, the foundations of which are still visible, was fortified by Stephen, during the war with the Empress Matilda, and was captured by Henry of Anjou, her son, afterwards Henry II. The town appears to have been at this period inclosed by a wall, and traces of gateways are discernible on the east and west sides: the river flowed on the south; and though there are no traces of a gate towards the north, the street is called Scot-gate, from the gate which formerly stood there.

The barons met at Stamford in the 17th of John, to concert those measures which led to the signing of Magna Charta by that monarch. In the reign of Henry III., the Carmelites, and members of other religious establishments, here commenced giving lectures on divinity and the liberal arts, which being attended by a number of youths of good family, led to the erection of colleges, and Stamford became celebrated as a place for education. Its importance in this respect was so great, that, on dissensions occurring in the reign of Edward III., amongst the students in the university of Oxford, a considerable number of those from the northern parts of England, with several professors, removed hither. But they soon returned to Oxford, in consequence of a royal proclamation; and statutes were passed by both universities, by which any person taking a degree at either of them bound himself by oath not to attend any lectures at Stamford. A part of the gate of Brasenose College, standing in St. Paul's street, is all that now remains of the university. Stamford suffered much during the war between the houses of York and Lancaster, a great portion of it being burnt and otherwise destroyed about 1461; and it never afterwards regained its former importance.

The town is pleasantly situated on the side of a hill rising gradually from the northern bank of the Welland, across which river is a stone bridge of five arches connecting Stamford with Stamford-Baron, or St. Martin's, in Northamptonshire. The houses are chiefly built of freestone from the neighbouring quarries of Ketton, Whittering, and Barnack, and are covered with slate. The streets are lighted with gas, from works erected in 1824 at an expense of upwards of £9000; an act was passed in 1841 for paving and otherwise improving the town, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. The surrounding country is finely varied, and the approach to the place from the south is very pleasing. Stamford was visited by the Queen in November 1844, during Her Majesty's stay at Burghley. The theatre, erected in 1768, is a neat and commodious edifice, lighted with gas; there are assembly-rooms in St. George's square; and races are held annually in October, on a good course a mile in circumference, part of Whittering heath, near the town. On the bank of the river are excellent cold and hot water baths. The trade is principally in coal, rafts, malt, and beer, and is much promoted by the Welland, which is navigable hither from Spalding for boats and small barges. The Syston and Peterborough railway, completed in 1847, passes by the town, which is thus 12½ miles from Peterborough; and in 1846 an act was passed for making a railway from this line, near Stamford, to Rugby, nearly 35 miles in length. The markets are on Monday and Friday, the latter noted for corn, for the sale of which a handsome building has been recently erected; butchers' and fish markets were built in 1807, by the corporation. The fairs are on Tuesday before February 13th, the Monday before Mid-Lent, on Mid-Lent Monday, the Monday before May 12th, the Monday after the festival of Corpus Christi, and on November 8th and 9th.

At the time of the Conquest, Stamford was governed by lagemen, or aldermen; it was not incorporated by charter until the 1st of Edward IV. In 1663, a charter was granted by Charles II., wherein the chief magistrate is first styled mayor, and which was confirmed in 1685 by James II. The government is now vested in a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, under the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the borough is divided into two wards; the municipal boundaries are co-extensive with those for parliamentary purposes, and the number of magistrates is six. The town first sent members to parliament in the reign of Edward I., and continued to do so, with occasional intermissions, until 1542, since which period it has exercised the privilege without interruption: the borough includes the parish of Stamford-Baron, and comprises an area of 2399 acres: the mayor is returning officer. The recorder holds quarter-sessions; and petty-sessions take place every Monday. The powers of the county debt-court of Stamford, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Stamford. The town-hall, rebuilt in 1776, is a large detached building, standing in the main street near the bridge, and containing a sessions-room, house of correction, gaol, guard-room, and other apartments.

Stamford at one time contained 13 parochial churches, but several in the liberties were destroyed by the northern soldiers, in 1461; and the number was again reduced, in 1538, at the dissolution of monastic institutions: under an act of parliament passed in 1547, certain parishes were consolidated, and five churches were allowed to remain. All Saints' parish contains a population of 1978; that of St. George, 1600; St. John the Baptist, 1211; St. Mary, 337; and St. Michael, 1259. The living of All Saints is a rectory, with that of St. Peter's consolidated, valued in the king's books at £12. 7. 8½., and in the patronage of the Crown for one turn, and the Marquess of Exeter for two turns; net income, £431. The church is a handsome structure combining some fine specimens of the early and later English styles, with a lofty embattled tower surmounted by an elegant octangular crocketed spire; it was built about 1465, at the expense of John Brown, a merchant at Calais, who was buried within its walls. The living of St. George's is a discharged rectory, with that of St. Paul's consolidated, valued at £5. 3. 11½.; net income, £124; patron, the Marquess of Exeter: the tithes have been commuted for £79. 5., and the glebe contains 6 acres. The church, a spacious plain edifice with a square embattled tower, was built in 1450, by William Bruges, the first garter king at arms. The living of St. John the Baptist's is a rectory, with that of St. Clement's consolidated, valued at £8. 8. 6½., and in the patronage of the Marquess for two turns, and R. Newcomb, Esq., for one turn; net income, £167. The church, rebuilt about the year 1452, principally in the later English style, has a neat embattled tower adorned with pinnacles, and a good south porch; the roof, and the screen separating the chancel from the nave and aisles, are very handsome. The living of St. Mary's is a discharged vicarage, valued at £4. 18. 9.; net income, £87; patron, the Marquess. The church, which is supposed to have been built about the end of the 13th century, on the site of one erected so early as the Conquest, is considered the mother church of Stamford; it is principally in the later English style, with some portions (particularly a very fine tower and spire) of early English architecture, highly deserving the attention of the antiquary. The living of St. Michael's is a discharged rectory, with the vicarage of St. Andrew's and the rectory of St. Stephen's consolidated, valued at £18. 14. 2.; net income, £136; patron, the Marquess of Exeter. The late church was built early in the thirteenth century. It was much altered, and an embattled tower at the west end was erected, in 1761; and in 1832, whilst the workmen were employed in improving the interior, by widening the arches and diminishing the number of pillars, the walls gave way, and nearly the whole of the roof and the body of the church fell into a mass of ruins. The present church was built on its site, and consecrated October 26th, 1836. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics.

The Ratcliffe free school here was founded by Alderman William Ratcliffe, about the year 1530, and endowed by him with estates now producing £547. 16. per annum. The remains of the ancient church of St. Paul were assigned for the school-house: in 1608, a dwelling-house, garden, and orchard, nearly adjoining, were vested in feoffees for the master's use; and in 1726, the dwelling-house was rebuilt by subscription. The school is entitled to one of the twenty-four scholarships at John's College, Cambridge, augmented by the first Lord Burghley; and Thomas, Lord Exeter, in 1613, founded three fellowships and eight scholarships at Clare Hall, Cambridge, with preference to candidates educated at Stamford school, provided they are equally qualified with their competitors.

The charitable institutions are numerous and liberally endowed. The principal is the hospital or bede-house, founded and largely endowed by William Browne, in 1493, for a warden, confrater, twelve aged men and two nurses, who are incorporated, and have a common seal. The edifice is a very neat structure, containing a house for the warden, apartments for the confrater, and rooms for the aged men and the nurses, with a chapel in which prayers are read daily by the warden or the confrater. Truesdale's hospital, in Scot-gate, was instituted in 1700, and rebuilt in 1833, for twelve men, with their wives and a nurse; and as, on the decease of any inmate, his widow must quit the hospital, the sum of five shillings a week was bequeathed by H. Fryer, Esq., to each person so leaving it, for the remainder of her life. Snowden's hospital, endowed in 1604, and rebuilt in 1823, affords an asylum to eight women: Williamson's callis, or almshouse, has apartments for ten. All Saints' callis, for men and women, is supported by incidental legacies, and by subscriptions from the corporation. Peter's Hill callis, for an unlimited number of women, is endowed by the corporation with the interest of £200, arising from the Black-Sluice drainage. The principal bequests for charitable purposes are, one of £1800, by John Warrington, Esq., for the benefit of the widows of All Saints' callis and Snowden's hopital; £3000, left by Mr. Fryer, for the poor of Snowden's hospital and Peter's Hill callis; the rent of four houses left by Mrs. Williamson, to be paid in sums of three shillings and sixpence a week each, to six women; and an estate producing £50 per annum, left by Mr. W. Wells, for the education of children under ten years of age belonging to the parish of All Saints. A handsome infirmary for Stamford and the county of Rutland, capable of receiving thirtytwo patients, was lately erected near the town, by subscription; and towards its support upwards of £7000 stock were bequeathed by Mr. Fryer, and £2000 collected by ladies at a bazaar. The poor-law union of Stamford extends into four counties, and comprises 37 parishes or places, of which 14 are in Northampton, 13 in Lincoln, 9 in Rutland, and one in Huntingdon; the whole containing a population of 17,066.

A Benedictine priory, dedicated to St. Leonard, and valued at the Dissolution at £36. 17. per annum, was established here, it is supposed in the 7th century, and refounded in the time of William the Conqueror, when it was made a cell to the monastery of Durham; the site is a small distance from the town, though formerly included within it, and a portion of the conventual church still remains. Of a Carmelite friary, instituted in 1291, the west gate still exists, a handsome specimen of the architecture of that period; the infirmary occupies a portion of the site. Part of an outer wall, and a postern, are the only remains of a convent of Grey friars founded by Henry III. A Dominican priory was founded before the year 1240, a Gilbertine priory in 1291, an Augustine priory before 1346, and an hospital, or house for lepers, in 1493. A custom called bull-running was for many years practised here on St. Brice's day (November 13th), said to have originated in William, Earl of Warren, having in the reign of John granted a meadow for the common use of the butchers of the town, on condition that they should find a bull to be hunted and baited on that day. Stamford gives the title of Earl to the family of Grey of Groby.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.