Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for STAMFORD

STAMFORD, a town, five parishes, a sub-district, and a district, in Lincoln. The town stands on the river Welland, and on Ermine-street, at an intersection of railways, 12½ miles NW by W of Peterborough; was anciently called Steanforde and Stanford; took its name from the intersection of the river Welland by "the stone way'' or Ermine-street; was the place where Hengist, on behalf of Vortigern, in 449, routed the Picts and Scots; suffered devastation by the Danes in 870; was one of five "burgas'' or cities assigned to the Danes for residence, after their defeat; acquired a castle, in the early part of the 10th century, for keeping the Danes in check; had 141 "mansiones'' at Domesday; got a Benedictine priory, at the hands of Bishop Carileph, in 1082; was visited, in 1110, by Henry I.; was fortified, perhaps with walls, and with reconstruction of its castle, by Stephen; was taken from Stephen by Henry of Anjou; was the place where the barons, in the time of King John, concocted the measures which procured Magna Charta; was the head-quarters, in 1227, of the Earl of Poictou against Henry III.; was visited by Henry in 1264; acquired, in his time, a university with 4 colleges; was the meeting-place of parliaments or councils in 1309, 1337, 1377, and 1392; was visited by Edward III. in 1332; suffered demolition of its castle by Richard II., and a general ravaging in 1461 by the Lancastrians; was visited by Edward IV. in 1462 and 1471,-by Henry VIII. in 1532 and 1539,-by Elizabeth in 1565 and 1566,-by James I. in 1603,-by Charles I. in 1632, 1634, 1642, and 1643,-by William III. in 1696,-by the Prince Regent in 1813; was the death-place of the famous Daniel Lambert, whose body weighed 739 lbs.; numbers among its natives the scholar R. Johnson, the antiquary Peck, and W. Jackson; and gives the title of Earl to the Greys of Groby. Its castle was given, by Henry II., to R. Humetz; passed to the Warrens, and eventually to the Cecils of Burleigh House; and has left no vestiges. Burleigh House stands in a large park, 1½ mile to the S; and is the seat of the Marquis of Exeter.

The town has fine approaches on all sides; and con- tains very many excellent houses both old and new. A handsome new bridge, at a cost of £8,500, has replaced an incommodious old one. A hotel, with Corinthian decorations, and at a cost of £43,000, was built in 1810. A banking office in Broad-street is a new freestone edifice in the Italian style. The town hall was rebuilt in 1766; and contains an apartment 52 feet by 25. The borough jail has capacity for 12 male and 4 female prisoners. The corn exchange was built in 1859, at a cost of £3,600. The assembly-rooms were built in 1725. The theatre is commodious. Races are run in July, on a course of about a mile in length, at Wittering Heath. St. Mary's church is of the latter part of the 13th century, and has a fine tower and spire. All Saints church was built in 1465; has a tower, with lofty, symmetrical, crocketted spire;, and was once held by Bishop Cumberland. St. George's church was rebuilt in 1450; St. John's, in 1452; St. Michael's, in 1836. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics; and the last was built in 1864, and is in the late first-pointed French style. The new ultra-mural cemetery is on the Casterton-Parva road, and comprises nearly 4 acres. Some remains exist of a Benedictine priory, founded by Bishop Carileph,-of a White friary, founded in the time of Henry III.,-and of a Grey friary, founded in 1225; but no remains exist of a Black friary, founded in 1220,-of an Augustinian priory, founded in 1380,-of the university, founded in the time of Henry III.,-or of hospitals, founded in 1208 and 1494. The literary and scientific institution was built at a cost of £1,200, and contains a good library and a museum. The grammar-school was founded in 1530; and has £579 a year from endowment, and a preference to 3 fellowships and 5 scholarships at Cambridge. The blue-coat school has £107 a year from endowment. Wells' charity school educates 150 boys and girls on an endowment left in 1604. The Burleigh charity school is a recent erection in the pointed style, and educates 30 boys and 30 girls at the expense of the Burleigh family. There are also national and infant schools. Five suites of alms houses have respectively £410, £166, £79, £60, and £56 from endowment. The Stamford and Rutland infirmary was built in 1827, is in the pointed style, and contains accommodation for more than 30 patients. The workhouse was built in 1836-7, at a cost of £5,000; and has accommodation for 300 inmates.

The town has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, three banking offices, and three chief inns; is a seat of quarter-sessions, petty-sessions, and county-courts; and publishes two weekly newspapers. A weekly market is held on Friday; fairs are held on 4 Jan., 11 and 12 Feb., 4 and 11 March, 4 April, 6 May, 3 June, 5 Aug., 6 Sept., 4 Oct., 8 and 9 Nov., and 6 Dec.; an extensive carrying trade is conducted both by river and by railway; and there are a large iron foundry, an agricultural-implement manufactory, a soap-making establishment, a bone-crushing mill, a pottery, terracotta works, breweries, and corn mills. The town was chartered by Edward IV.; is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; sent two members to parliament occasionally from the time of Edward I., and always from the time of Henry VIII. till 1867; and was reduced, by the reform act of that year, to the right of sending only one. The borough limits are the same parliamentarily as municipally: and they include the entire of the five parishes of Stamford, and part of the Northamptonshire parish of St. Martin or Stamford-Baron. The corporation income is about £3,620. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £3,610. Electors in 1833, 851; in 1863, 525. Pop. in 1851, 8,933; in 1861, 8,047. Houses, 1,636.

The five parishes are All Saints, St. George, St. John-Baptist, St. Mary, and St. Michael. Acres, 1,860. Real property, £8,054, £5,913, £3,296, £2,138, and £5,473. Pop. in 1861, 2,070, 1,881, 1,199, 359, and 1,305. Houses, 440, 386, 257, 60, and 238. The living of A. S. is a vicarage, and the other livings are rectories, in the diocese of Lincoln. Value of A. S. £477;* of St. G., £188;* of St. J., £209;* of St. Mary, £88;* of St. Michael, £150.* Patrons of A. S., the Marquis of Exeter and the Lord Chancellor; of St. J., the Marquis of Exeter and R. Newcombe, Esq.; of the others, the Marquis of Exeter. Nine other parishes or churches once existed; and the livings of five of them nominally survive,-St. Peter united to All Saints, St. Paul to St. George, St. Clement to St. John, and St. Andrew and St. Stephen to St. Michael.—The sub-district contains also 4 parishes electorally in Northamptonshire and 7 electorallly in Rutland. Acres, 24,136. Pop., 12,521. Houses, 2,579.—The district includes also the sub-district of Barnack, and comprises 52,858 acres. Poor rates in 1863, £10,851. Pop. in 1851, 19,755; in 1861, 18,213. Houses, 3,727. Marriages in 1863, 122; births, 595,-of which 51 were illegitimate; deaths, 352,-of which 119 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,341; births, 5,919; deaths, 3,728. The places of worship, in 1851, were 33 of the Church of England, with 9,066 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 1,060 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 350 s.; 8 of Wesleyans, with 1,056 s.; 1 of Primitive Methodists, with 65 s.; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 14 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 221 attendants. The schools were 27 public day-schools, with 1,932 scholars; 59 private day-schools, with 1,327 s.; 34 Sunday schools, with 2,422 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 3 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, five parishes, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Stamford CP       Stamford SubD       Stamford RegD/PLU       Lincolnshire AncC
Place names: STAMFORD     |     STANFORD     |     STEANFORDE
Place: Stamford

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