Stamford

• Stamford Library
• High Street
• Stamford, Lincs, PE9 2BB
• Tele: 01780 763442

Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Stamford Public Library on High Street on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2020.

The Library is normally open six days a week.

• "The Market Town of Stamford 1900", by Ken FORD, depicts a series of walks around the old Georgian part of town. No ISBN found.

• The Stamford Cemetery, set aside in 1855, is on Casterton Parva road and covers about 9 acres. As far is as yet known, the burial registers from this cemetery have not been transcribed.

• The parish was in the Stamford sub-district of the Stamford Registration District.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

Census Year	Piece No.
1841	H.O. 107 / 625 & 895
1851	H.O. 107 / 2094
1861	R.G. 9 / 2311 & 2312
1871	R.G. 10 / 3308 - 3310
1881	R.G. 11 / 3191
1891	R.G. 12 / 2552 - 2554

• This section has been moved to a separate page due to size. Please click on Stamford Church History to see more information in a pop-up window.

Stamford Anglican parish registers exist from the dates shown in the table below (sources differ by a few years for some). Many of these records are available in the Stamford Library, as well as the Lincolnshire Archives.

Parish	Year
All Saints	1560
St. George	1560
St. John the Baptist	1561
St. Mary	1569
St. Michael (borders on Uffington)	1560

• Stamford All Saints Church parish registers are available from your local Family History Centre and cover the period 1813-1872.
   
• We have a small parish register extract file for St. George. Feel free to add entries by contacting the site co-ordinator.
   
• We have a similar parish register extract file for St. Michael. Feel free to add entries by contacting the site co-ordinator.
   
• Shelley CLACK provides a list of burials in "St. Michael's churchyard" in a Portable Document File.
   
• Shelley CLACK also provides a list of baptisms in "St. Michael's" in a Portable Document File.
   
• We also have a small Independent chapel register extract.
   
• St. Martin's Church was in Stamford Baron, across the River Welland in Northamptonshire (over the the county boundary). It was in the Diocese of Peterborough and is not indexed in nor part of the Aveland and Ness Deanery.
   
• The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Aveland and Ness Deanery, in which Stamford's five parishes reside, to make your search easier.
   
• Timothy HEATON has a photograph of the Stamford Free Church (Baptist) on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2019. The chapel is on the north side of the town.
   
• There were also chapels for Wesleyan Methodists, Independents and Roman Catholics in the town.
   
• For more on researching these chapel records, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• There is a relatively new Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall, as photographed by Ken BROCKWAY in March, 2007.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
   

• The parish was in the Stamford sub-district of the Stamford Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
   

Stamford is a borough and a collection of 5 parishes which lie in the southwest corner of Lincolnshire about 46 miles southeast of Lincoln on the Great North Road. They also lie 89 miles north of London and 14 miles northwest of Peterborough off of either the A15 or the A16 trunk roads. The borough is bounded on the northeast by Uffington parish and on the north and west by Rutland county and to the south by Northamptonshire.

Stamford sits on a small hill rising from the north bank of the River Welland. Photographs of Stamford sites can be found at:

• Stamford's St. George Church.

Researchers who visit present-day Stamford will find a wide variety of accomodations. Hotels include:

• The Crown Hotel, 6 All Saints Place, Stamford, LIN, PE9 2AG Tel: 01780 763136 (See "History")
• The Crown Inn, Main St, Great Casterton, Stamford, LIN, PE9 4AP Tel: 01780 763362
• The George Hotel, 71 High St.. St. Martins, Stamford, LIN, PE9 2LB Tel: 01780 750700
• Lady Anne's Hotel, 36-38 High St, St. Martins, Stamford, LIN, PE9 2LJ Tel: 01780 481184

Make sure you visit the Stamford Museum on Broad Street on Saturdays, 10AM to 5PM, for family activities. The Museum also sponsors guided walks of the Medieval monasteries of Stamford organised by the Stamford Civic Society and Stamford Museum. For tickets, contact Stamford Museum at 01780 766317. Also on Broad Street is Brownes Hospital, one of the best surviving Almshouses in England, built in the 1480s. The Boardroom, Chapel and Audit Room are open to the public on weekends. Visit the secret cloister with enchanting garden. And any visit to Stamford should start with a check of:

• Local bus service around Stamford: see the Carlberry Bus Service site for schedules and routes.
   
• Visit our touring page for Lincolnshire.
   
• Just southeast of Stamford is Burgley park, known for its sculptures and horse trials.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Stamford to another place.

• Major Henry Charles Hynman ALLANBY, born in Louth in May, 1853, married Mary Florence GARFIT, daughter of Thomas GARFIT, on 10 Jun 1879 here in Stamford. A notice was posted to the Lincoln Rutland and Stamford Mercury on 13 Jun 1879. Major ALLANBY would die in December, 1935, at age 82.

• The site of the Roman Ford of the Welland is provided by Graham HORN, taken in April, 2007.
   
• Stamford's first charter as a town was given it before the Norman Conquest; it is one of the oldest towns in England and is one of the very few boroughs permitted to impale the Royal Arms on a surcoat. Stamford received its first charter as a Market Town from Edward the IV. Corn and Malt were major trade items in recent centuries. Timber and coal passed through the town because the River Welland is navigable up to Stamford. Gas works were erected in 1824. In the 1800's, horseracing was very popular at nearby Wittering Heath each July. Stamford is one of those rare towns of great age, harmony and beauty, and well-preserved. It was made Britain's first conservation area in 1967.
   
• Stamford was home to a small Jewish community in ancient times, until in 1290 it was expelled by Edward I.
   
• Stamford also has a connection with the wife of Edward I; Queen Eleanor.
   
• Stamford's Town Hall, on St. Mary's Hill, was rebuilt in 1821. In 1837, a firesafe room was added to preserve documents.
   
• The ancient fairs were: Candlemas held on the first Tuesday before Feb. 13th, Midlent horse fair on March 10th, Town fair on Midlent Monday, Corpus Christi fair on June 9th, St. James fair on August 6th, and the cattle or market fairs held on January 4th, September 5th, October 3rd, November 8th and December 5th.
   
• In 1809, the heaviest man England has ever known, Daniel LAMBERT, came to see the Stamford races in 1809 and collapsed and died while staying at the Horse and Wagon Inn. At 52 stone (728 pounds) his burial presented a challenge. His coffin was rolled on two axles and four wheels into a sloping grave in St Martins churchyard - though not before the window and part of the wall in his room had been removed to get the coffin out. General Tom Thumb, the celebrated American midget, was as fascinated as anyone to compare his size with that of Lambert. While visiting Stamford in 1846 he dropped into London Inn on St John's Street to view a suit of Lambert's clothes, and he left a suit of his own so that future visitors might make a comparison.
   
• John Riley advises that the town football club are known as "the Daniels", after Mr. LAMBERT. Daniel LAMBERT's clothes can now be seen in the Stamford Museum on Broad Street.
   
• In 1846, the railway between Lincoln and Stamford was opened.
   
• The 1900 Mayor of Stamford was Mr. Charles GRAY of St Mary's Hill. He was the son of George GRAY, was born at Peterborough in 1856, where he was educated, and he moved to Stamford in 1883, where he went into business as an iron merchant. He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1897, and returned to the Council in 1898, being elected Mayor in 1900, and re-elected November 9th, 1901. Mr. GRAY married, in 1891, Annie Parnwell, daughter of Mr W. H. STRICKLAND, of Reading. The town clerk at the time was Mr. Charles ATTER.
   
• Nostalgics should consider finding the book, "The Market Town of Stamford 1900", by Ken FORD. It is a series of walks around this fine old town, where so many lovely Georgian houses still stand, with lots of interesting details.
   
• The Stamford Hotel was reportedly built in 1810. Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Stamford Hotel on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2020.
   
• The Crown (Commercial) Hotel at 6 All Saints has seen a lot of travellers through its doors. Here are the names of the owners/managers taken from various Directories:
   

Year	Person
1872	Henry WHINCUP, vict.
1882	A. MOYES, vict.
1896	Andrew J. MOYES, vict.
1900	-- not listed --
1913	-- not listed --

• Burghley House, the seat of the Marquess of Exeter, lies in Stamford Baron. Some sources refer to it as Burghley Hall.
   
• Another view of Burghley House and its lake on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2011, by Paul HARROP

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF029072 (Lat/Lon: 52.652697, -0.480909), Stamford which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The Stamford and Rutland Hospital was built in 1828 on Uffington road. Patient records were not archived. This photograph was taken by Paul BRYAN in May, 2017.

Richard CROFT has a phtograph of the Stamford and Rutland Hospital on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2006.

And Alan MURRAY-RUST also has a photograph of the Stamford and Rutland Hospital, main building on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2020.

• It is here that the Saxons, under the command of Hengist, defeated the Picts and Scots who had been ravaging the north country. King Vortigen gave the Saxon leader land in Lincolnshire for this service.
   
• In 1882, Stamford was home to the Stamford Rifle Volunteers (5th Lincolnshire) Company, which had about 70 members. The Volunteers formed in 1869. Joseph PHILLIPS was captain; John SULLIVAN, Sargeant and drill instructor.
   
• In 1896, Captain Alwyn Henry Fulke GREVILLE resided at Lady Anne's House.
   
• Also in 1896, the Territorial Force was D company of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Lincolnshire Regt., at 45 High Street; Captain Meaburn Staniland YOUNG, commanding; Lieutenants R. A. FARRAR and R. G. EVANS; Rev. Charles OLDFIELD, chaplain.
   
• In 1900, Stamford was home to a Territorial Force: 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, Company D, which had its armoury at 43 High Street. Captain R. G. EVANS commanding; Lieut. J. L. GRIFFITH commanding G Co.; Rev. F. E. LOWE, chaplain.
   
• In 1913, Stamford was home to a Territorial Force: 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, Company D, which had its armoury at 43 High Street. Captain Leonard H. P. HART commanding; Colour-Sergt. George PICK was the instructor. The web page author believes Captain. HART was born in Stamford circa 1885.
   
• In 1913, Lieut.-Col. Lord William CECIL, C.V.O. and Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, resided in Stamford, although his home was in London.
   

• From 1901 thru 1913, Lieut.-Col. Harry Holmes COSTOBADIE of the Royal Horse Artillery lived at the Hermitage on the High street in St, Martin's parish. Born in Suffolk county, he was retired from the Army and died in August, 1924.
   
• Able seaman Cecil ROOK, RN, son of George and Lily ROOK, was killed when HMS MTB-671 took gunfire from German destroyers off Cape Barfleur, France on the 24th April 1944.
   

• The name Stamford is from the Old English Stan+ford, or "Stony ford". In the 1086 Domesday Book, the village is given as Stanford.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].

• Click to see the text file: Bailey's British Directory for 1784 list of names. [Mark in Barcelona]

The Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury was published every Thursday evening for Friday distribution. William BARTON, publisher.

The Stamford and Rutland Guardian was published every Thursday evening for Friday distribution. William H. HUNT, proprietor.

• The parish was in the ancient Ness Wapentake in the South Kesteven district in the parts of Kesteven.
   
• You can contact the local Town Council concerning civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to assist you with family history searches.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Town Hall on Geograph, taken in December, 2019. You will find the Hall down by the Welland River.
   
• For today's district governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard at the Stamford petty session hearings held at the Town Hall every last Friday of the month at Noon.
   
• Browne's Hospital was founded in the reign of Richard III, but was not completed until 1493. William BROWNE built the institution for a warden, a confrater and 12 poor.
   
• Snowden's Almshouses were founded in 1604 by Richard SNOWDEN and were rebuilt around 1900. They held up to 8 aged widows.
   
• Truesdale's Almshouses were founded in 1700 by Thomas TRUESDALE and were rebuilt in 1833. They held up to 16 aged poor.
   
• There is a photograph of Truesdale's Hospital for the aged and poor at the Images of England website. This is a Grade II listed building with British Heritage.
   
• Hopkin's Hospital was founded in 1770 on Tinwell Road, was only for poor married couples.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish and town became the center of the Stamford Poor Law Union.
   

According to the 1086 Domesday book, Stamford was one of the largest towns in Lincolnshire. With the coming of the railroads, the growth was phenominal. The Parish of Stamford Baron (it means "Stamford across the bridge") in Northamptonshire is traditionally considered part of the borough of Stamford, but has not been included in the population statistics given here.

Year	Inhabitants
1086	2,500
1831	5,837
1851	7,326
1881	7,604
1891	8,613
1911	9,647

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of John BARNES of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Sarah BASS of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Ann EMMETT of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Robert ESAM of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Jane FORSTER of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Edward Septimus ORME of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Sarah SMITH of Stamford.

Ros DUNNING provides a transcript of the will of Anthony STURDY of Stamford Baron.

• Stamford High School was established in 1877. It's still in its old place about three quarters of the way along St. Martin's High Street, just up from the George Hotel. The front door is right on the main street.
   
• Kim FYSON has a photograph of Stamford School taken in July, 2007.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Stamford School of Art taken in March, 2020.
   
• On the north side of town is the relatively new Queen Eleanor School, here photographed and stored on Geo-graph, taken by Richard HUMPHREY in April, 2013. This is now the Stamford Welland Academy. This is a secondary school.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.