Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/532

Rh STAMFORD 620 STAMFORD HILL. besides the old borough with its five parishes, the parish of St. Martin. The population in 1851 was 8,933, and in 1861, 8,047, showing a decrease in the decennial period of no less than 896, while the houses had increased from 1,616 to 1,636. It was first chartered by Edward IV., and under the New Act is divided into two wards, and governed by a mayor, who is also returning officer, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, with the style of "mayor, aldermen, and capital burgesses of the borough of Stamford." The extent of the borough is 1,950 acres, and tho municipal revenue under 4,000. The town has recently under- gone improvement, and is well paved, drained, and lighted, though formerly proverbial for its ill-paved ways and obstructed approaches. The houses are in general built of freestone and slated, and several blocks of building have been recently added, as Rock-terrace, Rutland-terrace, Red Lion-square, and Rock-house. The public buildings include a town-hall, rebuilt in 1766, with a room 52 feet by 25 ; borough gaol, and house of correction adjoining; the corn exchange, situated in Broad-street, erected in 1859 ; tho literary and scientific institution, with a library and museum on St. Peter's- hill, the Stamford Hotel, with Corinthian portico and facade, built in 1810 at a cost of 43,000 ; the Stamford and Rutland Infirmary, theatre, assembly-rooms, savings-bank, three commercial branch banks, including the structure in Broad-street belonging to the Joint Stock Banking Company, public baths, and the union workhouse in St. Martin's parish on the borders of Welland, erected in 1837 at a cost of 5,000. A little way out of the town is the new cemetery on the Cas- terton Parva-road, and the race-course at Wittering, on which races are run in July, under the patronage of the Marquis of Exeter. It is the head of a Pooi-law tTnion, comprising 13 parishes in Lincolnshire, 1 in Huntingdonshire, 14 in Northamptonshire, and 9 in Rutland ; also the seat of New County Court and superintendent registry districts. A weekly newspaper, the Lincoln and Stamford Mercury, is published in the town every Friday. The Greys of Groby take the title of earl from this place. The custom of borough English prevails in the manor. The feast day is the 13th November, on which a bull used to be baited by the butchers. An exten- sive general trade is done chietly in corn, coal, timber, malt, and all kinds of agricultural produce. There are no manufactures of any consequence, but an iron foundry, agricultural and machine works, terra-cotta works, several breweries, and corn-mills, a soap boiler's, and bone-crushing mill ; also quarries of lias stone at Barnack and Ketton. There are five churches within the borough, viz., St. Mary's, the reputed mother church, a structure of the 13th century, with a tower and spire, and a peal of eight bells and a set of chimes ; All Saints', an ancient structure with a lofty tower and octagonal crocketed npire ; St. Michael's, a Gothic structure rebuilt in 1836 ; St. George's, an ancient structure, situated in St. George' s-square ; and St. John the Baptist, with a timbered roof and carved wooden screen ; besides the extra-mural parish church of Stamford Baron, dedicated to St. Martin, and containing the mausoleum of the Hurleigh family. There are places of worship for the Roman Catholics, Independents, Wesleyans, Reformed Methodists, and Particular Baptists. The Ratcliffe free grammar school,' founded in 1548, has an income from endowment of about 600, besides a preference to three fellowships and five scholarships at Clare Hall, and a scholarship at St. John's College, Cambridge ; also a blue-coat school, supported partly by subscription and partly by bequest ; Wells' s charity, or the petty school on St. Peter's hill, founded in 1604 ; besides National, infant, and Sunday schools ; W. Browne's hospital, founded in 1493 for a warden, confrater, or chaplain and ten brethren, two nurses, and has an income of about 3,000 ; there are besides amongst the numerous minor charities several almshouses for the aged poor with small endowments. Among the antiquities are remains of St. Wilfred's Priory, originally founded in the 7th century, but rebuilt by Bishop Carileph ; the W. gate of Henry III. '3 White Friary at the Stamford and Rut- land Infirmary ; the postern gate of Henry's Grey Friary ; and a curious gateway of the 13th century on the S. side of St. Paul street, supposed to be University or Brasenose gateway. There were besides several other religions houses, but all traces of these are now lost. Market days are Monday and Friday. There are numerous cattle fairs for fat stock, the principal being on 4th January, llth February, 4th and llth March, 4th April, 6th May, 3rd June, 6th August, 6th Sep- tember, 4th October, 8th November, and 6th December. STAMFORD-BARON, or ST. MARTIN, a par. in the lib. of Nassaburgh, co. Northampton, half a mile S.E. of Stamford in Lincolnshire, within which borough it is included. It is a station on the Midland Counties railway. The parish is situated on the bank of the navigable river Welland, here crossed by a bridge of five arches connecting the cos. of Lincoln and Northampton. It includes, besides the large vil. of its own name, which may be considered a suburb of Stamford, the hmlt. of Walthorpe. It appears to have been a place of considerable importance in the Saxon times, having been walled round by Edward the Elder, and made a mint town by Athelstane. It subse- quently became a barony to Peterborough Abbey, and in the reign of Henry II. Abbot William de Waterville founded a nunnery as a cell to Peterborough, which at one period had 40 nuns, but at the Dissolution possessed a revenue of only 72 18*. IQd. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Peterborough, val. 215. The church of St. Martin, which stands in the High-street, was built in the 15th century by Bishop Russel, of Lincoln, and contains monuments to the Cecil family, including the great Lord Treasurer Burleigh, whose ancient mansion, called Burleigh House, is now the seat of the Marquis of Exeter. In the churchyard is the grave of Daniel Lambert, who died in 1809, at the age of 39, when he measured 9 feet 4 inches in girth, and 3 feet 1 inch round the leg, and weighed 739 Ibs. The charities pro- duce about 510 per annum, of which 240 belong to the hospital founded in 1597 by Lord Burleigh for a warden and 12 poor brethren, and 234 to Fryer's almshouses, founded in 1722, for six poor widows. There are also two charity schools founded by Dorothy, Coun- tess of Exeter, in 1596, one for the education of ten poor girls, and the other for a like number of boys. The poor-house for the Stamford union is situated in this parish. STAMFORD BRIDGE, EAST AND WEST.tnshps. in the par. of Catton, East Riding co. York, 8 miles N.E. of York. Wharton's school is situated here. STAMFORDHAM, a par. in the N.E. div. of Tin- dale ward, co. Northumberland, 10 miles N.E. of Hex- ham, nnd 12 N.W. of Newcastle. The par., which is extensive, comprises the chplry. of Matfen, besides 14 tnshps. The substratum abounds with coal and lime- stone, which are partially worked. The village is con- siderable, and was formerly a market town under a charter granted to the Swinburnes in 1399. The market has long been discontinued, but the market cross, erected by Sir John Swinburne in 1735, is still in good preserva- tion. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Durham, val. 520, in the patron, of the lord chancellor. The parish church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure, containing effigies of the Fen wicks of Fen Tower. There are also a chapel-of-ease at Ryall, and a district church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, at Matfen. A free school was founded in 1663, by Sir T. Widdrington, who en- dowed it with 76 acres of land, now producing 200 per annum. The charities consist of a rent-charge of 12, bequeathed by Henry Paston, in 1698, to be annually distributed amongst the poor. Fairs are held on the second Thursday in April and 14th August, chiefly for cattle and pigs, also statute fairs on the Thursday before Old May Day and the last Thursday in February. STAMFORD HILL, an ecclesiastical district in the par. of Hackney, lower div. of Ossulstone huiid., co. Middlesex, 3J miles N.E. of St. Paul's. It is situated on the line of the ancient Ermine Street, near tho Cambridge section of the Great Eastern railway, and forms part of the borough of the Tower Hamlets. The