Town in Lincolnshire, England
Stamford
A limestone town where rebel Oxford scholars set up a rival university in 1333, and where a bull was once chased through the streets every November.
Key information
- County
- Lincolnshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 20,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Georgian stone streets, Burghley House, Daniel Lambert, England's first conservation area (1967)
- What locals are called
- Stamfordians
- Famous people
- Daniel Lambert, William Cecil (Lord Burghley), Sir Malcolm Sargent
- Football clubs
- Stamford AFC (The Daniels)
About Stamford
The day Oxford's students ran away to Stamford
In 1333, a group of Oxford scholars fed up with fights between students from the north and south walked out and set up a new university in Stamford. It did not last. Oxford and Cambridge saw off the upstart, and it faded away. But Oxford remembered the insult for centuries. Until 1827, Oxford graduates had to swear that they would not lecture at Stamford. Brasenose College, named for the bronze door knocker the scholars carried off, holds the original knocker today. It was recovered from Stamford in 1890 and is displayed in the college dining hall. The knocker on Stamford's Brazenose Gate is a replica. The story fits a town that was already important. Stamford was one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw, alongside Derby, Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham, and by the 9th century it was making Stamford ware, a glazed pottery that was among the first of its kind in England.
Why Stamford looks the way it does
The honey-coloured streets are the result of local limestone and Collyweston slate roofs, both quarried nearby. Stamford grew rich on wool and then on coaching, as the Great North Road ran straight through it. When the railways killed off the coaching trade, the town stopped growing, and its Georgian and medieval buildings stayed intact. That is why Stamford became England's first conservation area, in 1967. The Sunday Times named it the best place to live in Britain in 2013. Five medieval churches rise above the rooftops: All Saints, St John's, St Mary's, St George's and St Martin's. The George Hotel still has a gallows-style inn sign stretching across the road, a leftover of the coaching age. Browne's Hospital, a 15th-century almshouse, is still there too.
The man who weighed 52 stone
Daniel Lambert was born in Leicester in 1770 and became the heaviest man in Britain on record. He had been a gaoler. Once he reached enormous size he refused to be a curiosity and made a living by exhibiting himself in London in 1806, where people paid to meet him and talk. He was known as a sharp, good-humoured conversationalist, and was said to be a keen sportsman, fond of fishing and dogs. He died in Stamford in 1809, aged 39, while visiting for the races. He weighed 52 stone 11 pounds. His coffin had wheels and the wall of the inn had to be knocked through to get it out. He is buried in St Martin's churchyard, and the local football club, Stamford AFC, are nicknamed The Daniels in his honour.
Lord Burghley and the great house on the doorstep
Burghley House, a short walk from the town centre, was built between 1555 and 1587 by William Cecil, Elizabeth I's chief minister. It is one of the great Elizabethan houses, with a forest of chimneys and turrets that make it look like a stone fantasy. Cecil is buried in St Martin's Church in Stamford, close to Lambert. The house gives its name to the Burghley Horse Trials, held in the park since 1961. It is one of the top events in the eventing calendar, with riders tackling cross-country fences across the estate. The Cecil family's influence on Stamford ran for centuries, and shaped much of what the town looks like today.
Bulls, bonnets and film crews
Stamford's strangest tradition was the bull running. Every 13 November, a bull was let loose and chased through the streets by crowds. Legend has it that a Norman lord watched two bulls fighting in a meadow and gave the meadow to the butchers, on condition that they supply a bull for the sport each year. By the early 1800s it was condemned as cruel, and the last run took place in 1839. These days the streets are better known to film and television audiences. Stamford stood in for Meryton in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and it was used for Middlemarch, because its unspoilt streets need little disguise. Film crews have returned many times since. Stamford also has a link to music. Sir Malcolm Sargent, the conductor who became famous for leading the Last Night of the Proms, spent his early years there and began his career as an organist.
What to eat and where to wander
Lincolnshire sausages, with their sage-heavy seasoning, and plum bread are the classic local food and appear on many Stamford menus. The market has run for centuries, and the town has a good number of independent shops and pubs. A walk by the River Welland and across Stamford Meadows takes in the water, the swans and a classic view of the town's spires and towers. The same meadows are where the bull was once run.