Stamford, Lincolnshire

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Template:Infobox England place with map 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.

Image:Stamford (Lincs).jpg

1 History
2 Filming location
- 2.1 Television shows
- 2.2 Films
3 Famous Stamfordians
4 External links

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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). Notable buildings in the town include the mediaeval Browne's Hospital and the Elizabethan Burghley House and the beautiful buildings of Stamford School, a public school that was re-endowed in 1532. Because of the large number of surviving 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 with no traffic or street furniture it would be difficult to tell what century you were in.

Image:Stamford Lincs.jpg Also lying near Stamford is Burghley House, an Elizabethan mansion, vast and beautifully decorative, designed by the master architect William Cecil.

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 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. Until 1996, there were firm plans for the bypass to be upgraded to motorway standard; though these have been quietly shelved. The Carpenter's Lodge roundabout south of the town is being upgraded to a grade-separated junction.

Image:River Welland.18.6.05.jpg

The oldest newspaper in England is the Stamford Mercury [1]. South of the town is RAF Wittering, a main employer, and the Home of the Harrier.

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