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Brief History of Stamford
History of Stamford
The town of Stamford enjoys a location of huge historical
importance. One hundred miles north of London, just off the old
Great North Road (now known to us as the A1) - it has acted as a
gateway for Phoenicians, Romans, traders and highwaymen as they
moved north and south. Thanks to its position on the limestone ridge
that runs from Bath, via the Cotswolds, to Lincolnshire, it is a
handsome stone town, with 11 churches along its stately streets.
Recorded history of Stamford goes back 1,000 years. It first came
to prominence in the 9th and 10th centuries when it became one of
the 5 leading boroughs of the Danelaw. It was one of the first towns
to produce glazed wheel-thrown pottery after the departure of the
Romans.
Stamford had prospered under the Normans with an economy based
mainly on wool; it was particularly famous for its woven cloth
called haberget. The town's communication routes via the Great North
Road and via the River Welland to the North Sea were ideal and
ensured the trading success
By the 13th century Stamford was one of the ten largest towns in
England. It had a castle, 14 churches, 2 monasatries, and 4
friaries; parliaments even met here and there was a tradition of
academic learning which almost resulted in Stamford being the
location for Oxford's new venture, which eventually became
Cambridge. This tradition led to the establishment of a short-lived
breakaway university in the mid 14th century. Many buildings survive
from this period including the early 12th-century St Leonard's
Priory; the magnificent early 13th-century tower of St Mary's
Church; the 13th-century arcades in All Saints' Church; fine
13th-century stone-built hall houses and undercrofts, and the
14th-century gateway to the Grey Friary.
The removal of the main wool trade to East Anglia in the 15th
century drove the town into decline, and the trade that remained was
concentrated in the hands of rich merchants like the Browne family.
These merchants helped rebuilt many of the churches in the mid-late
15th century including St John's; St Martin's and All Saints' which
are fine examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture. William
Browne also founded an almshouse which remains one of the best
surviving medieval almshouses in England, complete with exemplary
stained glass.
While the overall decline continued into the 16th century, Stamford
was again linked to national affairs by a local man, William Cecil,
who became secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth I. He built an
amazing mansion just outside Stamford for his mother and Burghley
House survives as one of the crowning glories of the Tudor age. The
great tombs of Cecil and his descendants lie in St Martin's Church.
The town escaped the civil war relatively unscathed despite Oliver
Cromwell's siege of Burghley House and the visit of King Charles in
May 1646. After the Restoration of 1660, the town recovered as
improvements to the Great North Road encouraged road trade and the
river was made navigable again by a canal. Travellers passing north
through Stamford, as well as coaching trade ensured that old
medieval inns like the George became important and nationally
known. Prosperous professional men and merchants were attracted to
the town and they built their fine vernacular and later Classical or
Georgian houses which today provide the backbone of the town's
fabric. It is the consistency and quality of these houses and the
exceptional streetscapes they create, which encouraged the BBC to
film 'Middlemarch' in the town, as well as more recently, Pride and
Prejudice.
The arrival of the railway in the 1830s signalled a death blow to
the coaching trade and so to Stamford's fortunes. The main line to
the north bypassed the town and so stunted industrial development.
However, like many eastern shire towns, Stamford produced skilled
agricultural engineers such as Blackstone's. The lack of
industrialisation together with the traditional, almost feudal,
relationship between town and house (the Cecils of Burghley were
Stamford's landlords) preserved the idiosyncracies of the town so
that today the historic urban fabric survives almost unscathed.
Stamford is a unique treasure trove of provincial English
architecture built in the finest stone that this country has to
offer. Today Stamford prospers as a small market town of around
18,000 inhabitants with a mixed economy based on industry, services,
agriculture, and tourism.
