STANFORD. 



fame houfe by Edgar, it appears to have been inoreconfider- 

 able than Peterborough. At that period it was a niarktt- 

 town, and is noticed by Leland as afterwards becoming/ a 

 royal borough : under the Danifh monarchy it appears itill to 

 have maintained the rank which it originally claimed. That 

 it was encircled by walls, and fecured by gates at an early 

 period, is evident from the Saxon annals terming it Bvnipi,h ; 

 Florence of Worceftcr, Arx ; and by Speed's plan, where 

 each IS named and delineated. A c^rtle was probably erected 

 here by the D nes, as the above-mentioned hillorian, Henry 

 ot Huntingd.in, notices their lofs of it in the year 942 to 

 Edmund Iro.fide, and remarks, that it had then been a con- 

 liderable time 111 their poiitflion. Lcland, who, on the other 

 hand, adheres to Matthew of Wellminiler, ilates that it was 

 rebuilt by Elfreda, filter of Edward the Elder, on the 

 northern bank of the Welland, A.D. 914. Again being 

 poiied'ed by the Danes, they held it till the deceale of their 

 lail Anglo monarch, A.D. 1041, when the Britons once 

 more became its owners, till William the Norman overcoming 

 the kingdom, in 1066, it devolved to the new monarch and 

 his retainers. The Domefday furvey informs us, that it con- 

 tained one hundred and forty-one manfions, and twelve lage- 

 men, or civil magiftrates, who received the forfeitures arif- 

 ing from crimes, and held their powers within certain limits. 

 The cattle, in the time of king Stephen, was befieged by 

 Henry of Anjou, afterwards the fecond monarch of that 

 name, who upon taking it beltowed that and the town, 

 with certain feudal refervations, on one of his followers, 

 called Richard Humetz, to hold from the crown by homage, 

 tenure, and other fervices. King John pafTed them to Wil- 

 liam, earl of Warren, in a fimilar manner : at his death 

 they were granted by John, who was alfo earl, to Edward I., 

 and paffed by him again to that nobleman, to revert on his 

 deceafe once more to the crown. Thus, after many grants 

 and reverfions through forfeiture or failure of mde ilTue, it 

 was given by queen Elizabeth to William Cecil, firit lord 

 Burleigh. Through the marriage of his coheirefs and jjrand- 

 daughter, Anne, with William, earl of Exeter, it paifl'ed to 

 Henry Grey, firlt lord Stamford, and after continuing in 

 that family ieveral defcents, was fold again to the houfe of 

 Cecil. In Richard III.'s time the caille was entirely de- 

 mohflied J and the hill, which was artificially formed by hori- 

 zontal layers of earth, with the flight fragments of a ilone 

 wall, are all the veftiges that are now vifible. 



In William the Conqueror's reign, Stanford was governed 

 by the lagemen, or aldermen. Edward IV. gave it a privi- 

 lege it Hill retains, of fending two members to parliament, 

 and a charter was granted in the firft year of that king's 

 reign, when its civic officers were incorporated under tiie 

 names of the " aldermen and comburgefles of the firft and 

 fecond bench." Other charters conferred different privileges 

 in fucceeding reigns, till Charles II. recalling the royal char- 

 ters throughout the kingdom, gave a new one to Stanford, 

 which was afterwards confirmed by James II. Again in- 

 corporated by that deed, it was made to confill of a mayor, 

 thirteen aldermen, and twenty-four capital burgefies, by the' 

 name of the " mayor, aldermen, and capital burgefTes, of 

 the town or borough of Stamford." 



For parochial and municipal purpofes, Stanford appears 

 to have been divided, at a remote period, into fourteen wards, 

 or pariflie'? ; but in I46t, fome of the churches and houfes 

 were confumed by fire, by the northern foldiers ; and the 

 religious edifices were not afterwards re-erciled. In 1547, 

 an aft of parliament was obtained to divide the northern 

 part of the town into five parifhes, St. Martin's, or Stan- 

 ford-Baron, being a dillinft parifli. According to the po- 

 pulation report of 1811, the borough contained 832 houfes, 



and 4582 inhabitants; and the parifh of St. Martin's i6j 

 houfc^. and 937 inhabitants. 



St. Michael'.s church, which Hands near the centre of the 

 town, is luppofid to be the moit ancient erection, part of 

 it having exilted antecedent to the year 123c. It has a nave 

 and choir, with north and fouth allies, and chancela which 

 extend beyond the aides. The eailern end of the choir, 

 which had much decayed, was, about 1705, taken down and 

 rebuilt by the parifliioners : in the wall were difcovered va- 

 rious fculptured itones, the remains of fome more ancient 

 religiou.s building. At the vvellern end of the nave was a 

 wooden tower, which was taken down and replaced by an- 

 other of ftone in 1761. The windows of this building were 

 decorated with figures and heraldic ornament , but it it 

 much to be regretted that they are m a lamentable ftate of 

 mutilation. 



The church of St. Mary appears to have been built to- 

 wards the latter end of the thirteenth century, and poffibly^ 

 upon the fcite of one much earlier. The upper part of the 

 chancel contains a monument without armorial enfigns, de- 

 vice, orinfcription, but Amply confilling of a ftatue in ar- 

 mour, lying by the fide of a female figure. This was 

 eredled to the memory of fir David Phillips, who bravely 

 dillinguifhed himfelf in the battle of Bofworth Field. 



St. George's church, a large plain building, confilting of 

 a chancel, nave, north and fouth aifles, with a fquare em- 

 battled tower at the well end, was rebuilt, in 1450, by 

 William Bruges, the firll garter king of arms, who be- 

 queathed many valuable prelents to this buildisg. The re- 

 mains of David Cecil, high IherifF of Northamptonfhire in 

 1542, grandfather of the firlt lord Burleigh, are here en- 

 tombed. 



All-Saints church is a ftrufture well proportioned, and 

 of large dimenfions : it confifts of a nave, two aifles, and 

 chancels ; one at the end of the fouth aide, and the other 

 at the ealt end of the nave. At the well end of the north 

 aide rifes the Iteeple, a lofty, handfome Hrufture, embattled, 

 with oftagonal turrets at the corners, and furmounted by a 

 fpire of a fimilar form, crocketted at the angles from the 

 bafe to the fummit. This church was built at the expence 

 of a Mr. John Brown, merchant of the Staple at Calais, 

 who, with his wife, are buried at the upper end of the 

 north aide. In the fame church, where the altar formerly 

 flood, are the effigies of WiUiam Browne and his wife, 

 who built and endowed the bead-houfe in this town. 

 Againft the ea(l window, a white marble monument pre- 

 ferves the memory of Mr. Thomas Truefdale, who lived in 

 the fame dwelli.rg with Mr. Brown, and emulated his ex- 

 ample, by founding another alms-houfe. 



The church of St. John the Baptiil was rebuilt about 

 1452, the thirtieth year of the unfortunate Henry VI. It 

 has a nave, and two aifles, with a chancel at the eaft end 

 of the firll, and feparated from it by elegant fcreen-work. 

 The roof has been highly decorated with figures carved both 

 in wood and Hone ; and the windows contained fome ad- 

 mirable fpecimens of llained glafs. 



Stanford formerly contained feveral monaftic ettablifll- 

 meiits ; and it is traditionally related that it was, at one 

 time, the leat of an univerfity. Hardinge, in his Poetical 

 Chronicles, and in " The Mirror of Magiftrates," relates 

 the latter circuniltance ; but this is not authenticated by 

 better hillorians. The only circumltances which appear to 

 fupport the idea of an univerfity are, that in tlie year 1 109, 

 JofFrid, abbot of Croyland, deputed three monks from bis 

 monallery for that purpofe. Camden remarks, that a vio- 

 lent difpute arofe between the northern and fouthern fcholara 

 at Oxford, in 1333, when many of the mailers and ftudents 



8 retired 



