Stilton (St. Mary)

STILTON (St. Mary), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Peterborough, hundred of Norman-Cross, county of Huntingdon, 12½ miles (N. N. W.) from Huntingdon; containing 817 inhabitants. This place takes its name, according to Stukeley, from Stivecle, signifying "stiff clay;" and is situated upon the Roman Ermin-street. It gives name to the famous cheese so called, great quantities of which are sold here, though it is made in Leicestershire, twenty miles distant. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 5. 10.; net income, £355; patron, the Bishop of Lincoln: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1805. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A quarter of a mile from the village is a fine spring, at one period celebrated for the cure of ulcerated legs, a property which it is said to have lost. To the south-east are the remains of an ancient circular encampment.