< Back The Etton Causewayed Enclosure: its significance within the Welland Valley and broader landscape Michelle Feasey 2023 This paper focuses on the Etton causewayed enclosure and the Maxey Neolithic complex, and widens the review to include the other three causewayed enclosures in the Welland Valley. Predominantly, it examines how these contributed to the broader understanding of the local Neolithic landscape and its implications on the national landscape. Causewayed enclosures arise in the early Neolithic period 4000-3300BC (Oswald, ‘Causewayed Enclosures: Introduction to Heritage Assets’, Historic England p.2), and are contemporary with cursus monuments and long barrows. They are the earliest known examples of open land being enclosed. Causewayed enclosures did vary and appear to have had a number of different functions. However, the key features, which will be detailed in the upcoming discussions, are:· A series of interrupted ditches, with small banks, usually on the outside of the ditches; At least one circuit of ditches, sometimes more; Usually oval or roughly circular; Have one or more formal entrances; Tended to be located in topographically dominant locations, such as hill side or valley ends;Those currently identified tend to be in Southern England, south of the Trent, although there are examples both on the continent, northern England and even Northern Ireland; Appeared over a very short period of 200-300 years. The first widely excavated causewayed enclosure was that at Windmill Hill in Wiltshire, which was excavated in the 1920s/1930s, by Alexander Keiller. His excavations were not fully written up until the 1960s, when Isobel Smith was engaged to collate and analyse his notes, and when she also undertook a small excavation (Creation of Monuments, Oswald, Dyer and Barber, p.22) At that time it was common to assume sites had a singular function, and based on the archaeology Smith concluded it was a ceremonial site. Due to the pottery and animal bones found, Smith determined it was primarily a site for feasting, trading and general gatherings. Other sites were excavated during this period, predominantly in chalk u p lands, such as Knapp Hill and Hambleton Hill. Hambleton Hill in particular did much to expand the understanding of these sites, which were still quite rare. It was the expansion of aerial photography in the post-War period, coupled with developer lead excavation, that expanded the number of causewayed enclosures identified across a wider geographical spread, although still predominantly south of the Trent Aerial photography at certain times of year can highlight crop marks, which occur when crops are affected by the underlying archaeology. This archaeology can affect the rate of growth of crops planted into the soil above them. For example, ditches and pits provide a greater depth of soil than can be found in their immediate surroundings, leading to enhanced growth of the crop planted in this area. Alternatively, buried wall foundations or compacted surfaces can inhibit growth, due to reduced soil depth and fertility. These cause variations in the rate of crop growth, indicated in differing maturity of the crop, which can be observed from above. ( www.historicengland.org.uk , ‘Formation of Crop Marks’). Fig 1: Crop Marks at Maxey. A Matter of Time, 1960, frontispiece During the post-war period, the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments commissioned an aerial survey of the flat gravel flood plains of lowland England, producing A Matter of Time in 1960 (Pryor, The Fens, Chapter 4, p 61). A Matter of Time identified sites in broad terms as enclosures, circles, cursus, pit-alignments and ridges, focusing along the Ouse, Trent and Welland Valleys, resulting in the discovery of previously unidentified sites, including the Maxey complex (Fig 1). It was in the exceptionally dry summer of 1976 when Dr Stephen Upex discovered the Etton site through aerial photography (Pryor, Etton 1982-7, p.7) (Fig 2). Fig 2: Etton crop marks, photo by S J Upex, (Pryor, Etton 1982-7 p.7) The Etton and Maxey excavations were triggered by the widespread gravel extraction around Peterborough. Extensive deposits of gravel exist around Peterborough having been deposited by the many rivers including the Nene, Welland and Witham which flow into the Wash.These needed to be extracted to use for the building of the Peterborough ‘New Town’. The excavation at Etton was undertaken over a five-year period from 1982-87, enabling the whole site to be excavated, with the exception of a small section which runs under the Maxey Cut (a part of the Welland River which has been straightened). The enclosure is oval shaped and approx. 197m by 145m, forming a single ring of ditches (Fig. 9). The high-water table in the area, meant that the early excavations revealed considerable amounts of organic matter, which on other sites would have decayed. Therefore, as well as the pottery, stone tools and animal bones typically found in the ditch ends, string, birch bark (used as mats), and some 5,000 pieces of worked wood were found ( www.Peterborougharchaeology.org : ‘Maxey and Etton Neolithic landscape’). In one pit a complete quern was found, with leaves and twigs packed round it, showing that it had been carefully and purposefully placed (Pryor: Etton, 1982-87, p.23). The extensive and well-preserved wood resulted in more accurate dating of deposits through radiocarbon dating. The site was within a meander of the River Welland, and would have regularly flooded, a factor which must have been known to those building it (Pryor, Etton 1982-87, p.21) The organic matter revealed a substantial timber gateway at the north entrance, together with evidence of a ‘fence’ or other dividing structure down the west side of an area to the south and east of gateway F of the causewayed enclosure (Pryor, Etton 1982-87, p.100). It is possible this dividing structure served as a divide between the seasonal camp and the ceremonial heart of the enclosure, or potentially between the commercial/market/feasting part and the area used for excarnation or other religious functions. As it was possible to dig the inside of the enclosure, it confirmed that enclosures more generally were not used for permanent habitation, although there may have been some seasonal occupation, with some possible structures as well as screens. One entrance seems to have a ‘guardhouse’ attached (Pryor, Etton 1982-87, p.102), although due to the ditch on the outside it would be difficult to defend, therefore, this may have been accommodation for a ‘caretaker’ or some form of religious guardian. Also revealed were many small pits, however, whilst some contained high status items, flint and animal bones, many were very small, with little to determine their purpose. Human bones were found in the outer ditches, which may have previously been excarnated, a method of disposing of bodies where they are left to be picked clean by birds and other animals, but the site does not appear to have been a primary burial site (Pryor, Etton 1982-87, p.353). It was soon evident from the excavation of the ditches that soon after they were first dug, and the first items placed in, they were then filled in, before subsequent excavation down to the level of the first deposits, new deposits were made, and then again filled in, on a cyclical basis (Pryor, Etton 1982-87, p.67). The Etton site appears to have been used intensively for a period of about 100-200 years in the second quarter of the fourth millennium BC, thereafter less frequently, with renewed activity in a limited area when the cursus monument was constructed (F Pryor: Etton 1982- 1987, p.353). As referenced above, the ditches were infilled and then reopened on a cyclical basis, with the deposits becoming smaller but more extensive with each level. One potential explanation for these ditches is that each one belongs to a particular family; as they aged, the families grew from the original ‘nuclear’ family to include cousins etc - hence, more offerings, and smaller, as there was less room (Pryor, The Fens, Chapter 4, p.98). Over a five-year dig of this extensive site, so much was found, as detailed in the 429-page report. However, the discussion above has focused on the finds and observations that are most appropriate and insightful in helping to expand our knowledge of these monuments and our understanding of the other sites in the Welland Valley. Fig 3: Maxey landscape, based on crop marks; Pryor, The London Magazine Etton is unique from the other three sites, in that it seems to be part of a much larger ceremonial site, which includes cursuses at both Etton and Maxey, together with the Maxey Henge (see Fig 3 above). The cursuses are of a similar date to the causewayed enclosures, being long narrow corridors bounded on two sides by a ditch and bank. Their usage is unclear, but would seem to be some form of ceremonial pathway. There are two on this site: one to the southeast of the Etton causewayed enclosure, and ending within the monument; the other to the west running parallel to this from the Maxey cut up to the current River Wellend. The henge was dug multiple times in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and cuts across the Maxey cursus. At 126 metres in diameter its size would indicate that this was larger than the more famous one at Stonehenge. It is unusual as it had a central round mount and an oval barrow in its entrance (Historic England research records, Monument No.1030942). Whilst the Henge would have been built some years after the causewayed enclosure, it would seem to indicate that this was a site of particular importance to the people in the area. Although very little has been dug outside the Maxey/Etton complex there is aerial photographic evidence of cursuses at both Barnack and Bainton, also within the Welland Valley, and so cannot be excluded as part of this ritual landscape. Maxey church, which is located in the North-West corner of the complex, sits on a small rise, which could be the remnants of a barrow, possibly a Neolithic long barrow. It is, though, how Maxey and Etton fit into and help explain the wider Welland Valley at this time that is of particular interest in this case. The Etton causewayed enclosure is one of five that are within a 5 km area: Uffington, Barholm, Northborough, Etton and Upton. Whilst Upton is within this radius, this paper’s specific focus is on the Welland Valley, and Upton, together with another enclosure at Southwick, would seem to be part of the Nene Valley area, hence they will not be included in this study. The Etton causewayed enclosure is of similar size and shape to the others in the Welland Valley, so it would seem reasonable to assume that there was communication between the different communities that built the enclosures, and if they were liaising with each other in regard to the size and shape, it would not be unreasonable to assume at least some similarities in their usage. As the others have not been dug (with exception of the small dig at Northborough), the Etton excavation provides invaluable help in understanding the other three. Fig 4: Map showing location of the four causewayed enclosures (blue ovals) As previously referenced above there are three other sites within the Welland Valley, as shown on the map above (Fig 4). Fig 5: View across the enclosure at Uffington towards the Welland Uffington is probably the most impressive in its location, sitting on a rise above the River Welland. With clear views across the valley, to what is now Burghley House, it would also have been visible from the other side of the valley. It is not situated at the very top of the hill, which suggests its location was chosen to be visible from the river and across the valley which would not be possible if it was at the peak of the hill. Identified through crop marks, though it must be noted the crop marks are incomplete, its dimensions are most likely around 130m by 150m with two ditches approximately 8m apart. ( www.Heritagegateway.org.uk : ‘Uffington Causewayed Enclosure’). Fig 6: Barholm, across the enclosure towards Uffington and the Welland The Barholm site sits on a slight rise above the River Welland, most likely just above the Neolithic flood plain. It is similar in size and shape to that at Uffington (Fig 9). Based on aerial photography the ditches have a ‘sausage-link’ shape, which may indicate larger ditches having been amalgamated over time ( www.heritagegateway.org.uk : Lincolnshire HER, Barholm and Stowe). Excavations of the area in the late 1960s to the southwest of the Causewayed enclosure revealed evidence of Late Neolithic settlement (EAA 61, The Fenland Project, No.7: Excavations in Peterborough and the Lower Welland Valley 1960-69). Fig 7: Northborough enclosure, looking West towards Village, and Maxey beyoind The Northborough site is the closest site to the Fen edge, with the Welland running to the north and east, on a flat site, only marginally elevated above the river. As with Uffington and Barholm, the Northborough site has two circuits of ditches and is approximately 170m by 130m (Fig 9) but with the addition of an outer enclosure of ditches measuring 230m by 180m (Fig 8) (Wessex Archaeology, Northborough Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure, p.1). This is the only one of the four sites discussed to have two rings of ditches and to have been partly excavated (completed as part of the Channel 4 Time Team series released 2004). Due to time constraints, the Northborough dig excavated only a small number of pits. However, these did reveal one very interesting item: a pot shard. Although it is not unusual to find pots in these pits, it was evident this pot had only been partially fired, so would have not been useable for cooking wear ( Time Team , 2004). Therefore, this pot seems to have been specifically made to be placed in the pit, which could reveal an element of pre-planning and a pragmatic approach to the items to be deposited, i.e. whilst respecting the ancestors or Gods to whom the offerings were made, there is little point wasting time finishing something to a high standard to put it in the pit. Phosphate analysis was higher in the eastern half of the enclosure, which could indicate stock-related activities (Wessex Archaeology, Northborough Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure , p.16). This could represent a number of different uses for the site; as seasonal cattle market, a place to bring in the livestock for some form of seasonal health check, or marking, or for some ceremonial purpose. Again, solidifying the argument that these enclosures had a multifunctional and significantly varied purpose. Fig 8: Artistic impression of Northborough, Channel 4, Time Team (Victor Ambrus) Three of the sites, at Northborough, Etton and Barholm, would have experienced seasonal flooding due to their low-lying locations. It would, therefore be unlikely there would have been any permanent settlement within the sites, and the lack of any evidence found at both Etton and Northborough would further reinforce the view that these sites were used seasonally and not for any permanent settlement. It is worth noting that two excavated causewayed enclosures at Kingsborough, Isle of Sheppey are within70m of each other, and of similar size, shape and timescale. However, one is oriented to look over Kent, the other over the sea. Finds within these sites seem to indicate differing methods of usage. Whilst there are still deposits within the ditches, they vary in type, and one site seems to have hosted grand ceremonial activity, with the other, having a quieter more private existence (Allen, Leivers, Ellis; Prehistoric Society, Causewayed enclosures and later Neolithic Farming). So, whilst there are numerous similarities between the four causewayed enclosures in the Welland Valley, it is entirely likely, that the different groups had some individuality in the way that they were used. Fig 9: Plans of the Causewayed enclosures; The Creation of Monuments p.110. What do these four monuments tell us, then, about settlement in the Neolithic landscape of the Welland Valley? The Early Neolithic period has left very little evidence of settlement, yet, settlements have been located at both Maxey and Barholm: two at Maxey, one about 500m north of the causewayed enclosure and the other, Etton Woodgate, about 80m west ( www.Peterborougharchaeology.org : ‘Maxey and Etton Neolithic landscape’). At Barholm the settlement is about 1km to the east of the enclosure. Here, excavations took place in 1965, revealing five periods of occupation: late Neolithic, early Iron Age, Romano- British, Medieval and late Medieval/early Modern. The discovery of post-holes, pits and ‘working-hollows’, together with Grooved ware and Mortlake pottery, clearly showed occupation during the late Neolithic period, so probably during the later period of the causewayed enclosure. However, the site was not fully investigated due to the open drain to the east, the inhibiting presence of a large amount of topsoil dumped by the quarry to the north and significant time constraints. Thus, early occupation cannot be discounted (Simpson: The Excavation of a Late Neolithic Settlement at Barholm, Lincolnshire). Using Tim Darvill’s suggested settlement distribution model, the causewayed enclosures would be set within a community of farms spread along the Welland Valley providing a focal point for those dispersed farms, with Northborough being the last one before the sparsely populated Fens. These theories have grown from geographical theories such as the Thiessen Polygons (also known as Voronoi diagrams), the theories of primarily urban population distribution by Christaller, and latterly in the 1960s the advent of Quantitative Geography. These were then applied to prehistoric populations and expanded upon by both Cunliffe and Tim Darvill. Christaller claimed that cities, towns and villages developed within a hierarchical network where each location would fit a certain functional niche that defined its size and character (Ducke & Kroefges; Identifying Settlement patterns and territories , 2007, p.2). The Voronoi diagram uses classic point pattern analysis, however, this is quite a rigid method and has many limitations. The difficulty with many of these distribution models is the assumption that there is a hierarchy of settlements, which in the early period of the Neolithic seems unlikely, with settlements being very small and generally self-sufficient, with the exception of limited trading in pottery and other consumables. The existence of these monuments, though, does suggest some form of hierarchy within the population, which would organise, communicate and manage the sites. Even if the enclosures were built over a period of time, their size and the effort involved in construction with basic tools, would suggest there was a reasonable population available to carry out the work, and as mentioned previously some level of management and organisation. The sites at both Etton and Northborough seem to have provided evidence to support the theory that the enclosures were a multifunctional hub for a dispersed farming community, probably providing a central ‘home’ for the fledgling tribal system. However, these monuments were built in the early part of the Neolithic period as the population transitioned from the Mesolithic nomadic hunter gathers to the settled farmers of the Bronze Age. It is entirely possible, therefore, that there was still some nomadic activity, possibly after the harvest. This in some ways underlines the importance of these monuments to the communities that used them, providing a spiritual and ancestral base. If this is then extrapolated along the Welland Valley, it would indicate a relatively well populated area, with each causewayed enclosure supporting the community around it, with the river very much providing a link between these communities as a possible method of transport and a focal point. The Welland Valley is a fertile agricultural region now, and this is likely to have been the case in the Neolithic period, with the wooded ‘uplands’ (if one can call the small hills in the region uplands) and the fertile river valley, with the close proximity to the Fens with their fish and wildfowl for food, as well as reeds for thatch and fodder and peat for fuel. Unsurprisingly, then, the area was described as well populated in the Iron Age/Roman period, as evidenced by the sheer quantity of Roman archaeology found in the area, and the intervening Bronze and Iron Age period also shows plenty of occupation, with both settlements and barrows. Yet can these conclusions be expanded and extrapolated to the wider Midlands and Southern England region? Most probably. Previously, it was believed that in the prehistoric period the main areas of population were in the uplands, where the absence of ploughing has left hillforts, barrows and evidence of settlement. However, work done to produce A Matter of Time , and subsequent aerial photography has revealed considerable crop marks in the river valleys and the lowlands, which would suggest the reverse is indeed the case, and that these areas were the main areas of population. New crop marks are being revealed each year, which can only increase the number of sites identified or at least identifiable. The river valleys then, as now, were ideal sites for occupation, with fertile soils, availability of water for domestic use and fishing, together with the woodlands in the upper reaches of the valleys. Our Mesolithic ancestors will have travelled extensively throughout England, and these sites may already have been locations for summer camps, or sites to track the migrating herds. There is growing support for the idea that such enclosures were built at places which were already important features of the humanly perceived landscape, as long- term patterns of cyclical and routine behaviour produced landscapes which had become socially inscribed with meaning long before the construction of the first Neolithic monuments (P Topping (ed.) Landscapes, The Neolithic, and Kent 1997 ref: Bradley 1993, Tilley 1994). Therefore, with the advance of agriculture to a more settled existence, the valleys would have made an attractive place to settle, with sites close by already of importance to the population. In conclusion, the Etton causewayed enclosure is incredibly important to the understanding of this type of monument due to the extent of excavation possible, together with the high level of preservation of organic matter. This enabled analysis of the use of the majority of the site as a whole, together with more accurate dating of activity. Within its setting of the Welland Valley, with the three other causewayed enclosures at Uffington, Barholm and Northborough, it provides a complex that give us the opportunity to interpret these monuments in the wider context of the landscape, and how this can impact our understanding of the territorial settlement patterns of the time. The evidence of some settlement at both Maxey and Barholm lend support to the theories that these enclosures formed a central hub for the dispersed farming and semi-nomadic populations at the time. The number of these enclosures in such a small area, together with the physical effort required to build them and the level of organisation needed, suggests that the population in the region would have been relatively high and have some degree of organisation and a possible fledgling tribal system. With improved photographic techniques, together with Lidar and other ground penetrating radar analysis, more sites should be identified. In some areas of Southern England, such as large parts of Kent, virtually no causewayed enclosures have yet been found. As more sites, and hopefully clusters such as in the Welland Valley, are identified and excavated, our understanding of both these monuments, the people that used them, and the communities they supported can only increase. Bibliography Records and Archival Sources Historic England, ‘Research Records: Monument No: 1030942’ (2012), < https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1030942&resourceID=19191 >[accessed 2/12/2022]. Secondary Literature Allen, M., Leivers, M., Ellis, C., Stevens, S., Clelland, S., Bayliss, A., . . . Stevens, C., ‘Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures and Later Prehistoric Farming: Duality, Imposition and the Role of Predecessors at Kingsborough, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, UK’, in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (74) (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 235-322. Oswald, A Ed. Flatman,J., Herring, P., McOrmish, D., ‘Causewayed Enclosures: Introduction to Heritage Assets’, Historic England (Swindon, 2018). Barber, M., ‘Landscape, the Neolithic and Kent’ in P. Topping (ed.), Neolithic Landscapes. Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 2 (Oxford, 1997), pp. 77-86. Darvill, T., Prehistoric Britain (London, 1987). Ducke, B., and Kroefges, P., ‘From Points to Areas: Constructing Territories from Archaeological Site Patterns Using an Enhanced Xtent Model’ in A. Posluschny, K. Lambers and I. Herzog (eds.), Layers of Perception. Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (Berlin, 2009). Healy, F., ‘Causewayed enclosures and the Early Neolithic: the chronology and character of monument building and settlement in Kent, Surrey and Sussex in the early to mid-4th millennium cal BC’, in South East Research Framework resource assessment seminar (Cardiff, 2005), pp. 1-29. Oswald, A., Barber, M., and Dyer, C., The Creation of Monuments, Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures in the British Isles (London, 2001). Pryor, F., et. al., Etton: Excavations at a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure near Maxey, Cambridgeshire, 1982-7 (Liverpool, 1998). Pryor, F., The Fens: Discovering England’s Ancient Depths (London, 2020). Pryor, F., ‘The Ritual Landscapes of Pre-Roman Britain’ in The London Magazine (London, 2022) < https://thelondonmagazine.org/article/the-ritual-landscapes-of-pre- roman- britain >[accessed 28/12/2022]. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, A Matter of Time; an Archaeological Survey(London, 1960). Simpson, W.G., Gurney, D., Neve, J., and Pryor, F., 'The Fenland Project No.7: Excavations in Peterborough and the Lower Welland Valley 1960–69' in East Anglian Archaeology 61 (1993). Wessex Archaeology, ‘Northborough Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results’ (Salisbury, 2005). Websites ‘Formation of Crop Marks’, Historic England (2020), < https://historicengland.org.uk/research/methods/airborne-remote-sensing/formation- of-cropmarks/ > [accessed 20/11/2022]. ‘Maxey and Etton Neolithic Landscape’, Peterborough Archaeology (unknown), < https://peterborougharchaeology.org/maxey-etton-neolithic-landscape >[accessed 12/11/2022]. ‘Neolithic Causewayed Camp: Barholm and Stowe’, HeritageGateway (unknown), https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MLI30052&resourceID=1006 >[accessed 20/12/2022]. ‘Find a Site’, The Megalithic Portal < https://www.megalithic.co.uk >[accessed 2/12/2022]. ‘Uffington Causewayed Enclosure’, HeritageGateway (unknown), < https://www.heritagegateway. o rg.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=347828&reso urceID=19191 >[accessed 15/12/2022]. Media ‘A Neolithic Cathedral?’, Time Team (Channel 4, 2005), < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nt3-ue5IUA >[accessed 19/12/2022]. A print version can be downloaded HERE This research essay is published with the permission of the author. SDLHS is not responsible for its content. Previous Next

< Back A novel match - World War One munition girls play football 1917 One of the interesting and amusing football matches ever seen in Stamford was played on the New Cross Road ground on Saturday afternoon, when eleven of Messrs. Blackstone & Co.’s munition girls played Blackstone’s F.C. The girls wore the regulation men’s soccer clothes, whilst as headgear they were wearing the familiar blue and red munition mob caps. A large crowd assembled and the members of the fair sex came in for plenty of applause and good-humoured chaffing. Of course, they were outclassed by their opponents, who, it should be said, had to play with their hands tied with tape behind their backs. There were many humorous interludes, especially when the girls handled the ball (without being penalised), if such an action would help them score or prevent the men from scoring. Munition Girls After a pleasantly contested game, the girls had to admit defeat by 10 goals to 7. In the first half Miss Sandall, who also officiated as “lineswoman”, kicked off, while after the interval Mrs T. W. Pinder set the ball rolling. A pleasing incident occurred when Miss Sandall was presented with a nice bouquet by the munition girls. Mr E. Dunn was referee and Mr J. Porter the other linesman. The teams were as follows:- Blackstone’s Works F.C. - S. E. Laxton; P. Hardwick, and J. Starsmore; J. Charity, A. A. Leonard (captain), and A. Nutt; A. Loweth, A. Farrow, A. Walker, J. Tomms, and D. Ringham. Blackstone’s Munition Girls:- Misses C. Holmes; E. Drage, and H. Birch; M. Brewin, M. Turner, and C. Piggot; A. Tomms, F. Barlow (captain), N. Cummins, E. Rudkin, and S. Lilly. The goals for the girls were scored by Miss Tomms (4), Miss Lilly (2), and Miss Rudkin (1); for the Works by Walker (2), Nutt (1), Charity (1), Farrow (1), Ringham (2), Tomms (2), and Loweth (1). The gate realised £5 16s 0d, and the match was a benefit for Mr. F. Palmer who sustained a severe sprain in a recent match. The secretary (Mr. H. W. Simpson) admirably made the arrangements. Source Stamford & Rutland News, and South Lincolnshire & North Northamptonshire Chronicle (Wednesday) October 31st 1917 p6/c1 Notes The game was played on Saturday October 27th 1917. A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back My School-Days in Stamford by EDITH NESBIT [The article below was written by Edith Nesbit and is part of her memoirs entitled My School-Days which was serialised between October 1896 and September 1897 in The Girl’s Own Paper . It has been suggested that the period in question was between the autumn of 1866 and the spring/summer of 1867. Nesbit was most famous for her children’s novel, The Railway Children (1906), and the subsequent award-winning film of the same name. This memoir gives us a picture of a dame school in Stamford from the viewpoint of an eight-year-old schoolgirl, albeit written in her late thirties. And, of course, her opinion that she never ‘wished to see Stamford again’. (Chris Hunt).] I spent a year in the select boarding establishment for young ladies and gentlemen at Stamford, and I venture to think that I should have preferred a penal settlement. Miss Fairfield, whose school it was, was tall and pale and dark, and I thought her as good and beautiful as an angel. I don't know now whether she was really beautiful, but I know she was good. And her mother, dear soul, had a sympathy with small folly in disgrace, which has written her name in gold letters on my heart. But there was another person in the house, whose name I will not put down. She came continually between me and my adored Miss Fairfield. She had a sort of influence over me which made it impossible for me ever to do anything well while she was near me. Miss Fairfield's health compelled her to leave much to Miss ----, and I was, in consequence, as gloomy a cynic as any child of my age in Lincolnshire. My chief troubles were three, my hair, my bands, and my arithmetic. My hair was never tidy, I don't know why. Perhaps it runs in the family for my little daughter's head is just as rough as mine used to be. This got me into continual disgrace. I am sure I tried hard enough to keep it tidy. I brushed it for fruitless hours till my little head was so sore that it hurt me to put my hat on. But it never would look smooth and shiny, like Katie Martin's, nor would it curl prettily like the red locks of Cissy Thomas. It was always a rough, impossible brown mop. I got into a terrible scrape for trying to soften it by an invention of my own. As we all know, Burghley House is by Stamford Town, and in Burghley Park we children took our daily constitutional. We played under the big oaks there, and were bored to extinction, not because we disliked the park, but because we went there every day at the same hour. Now Harry Martin, he wore striped stockings and was always losing his handkerchief and suffered from his hair almost as much as I did. So when I unfolded my plan to him one day in the park, he joyfully agreed to help me. We each gathered a pocketful of acorns, and when we went to wash our hands before dinner, we cut up some of the acorns into little bits, and put them into the doll's bath with some cold water and a little scent that Cissy Thomas gave us, out of a bottle she had bought for twopence at the fair at home. "This," I said, "will be acorn oil, scented acorn oil." "Will it?" said Harry doubtfully. "Yes," I replied, adding confidently, "and there is nothing better for the hair." But we never had a chance of even seeing whether acorns and water would turn to oil, a miracle which I entirely believed in. The dinner-bell rang, and I only had time hastily to conceal the doll's bath at the back of the cupboard where Miss ----- kept her dresses. That was Saturday. Next day we found that Miss ----'s best dress (the blue silk with the Bismarck brown gimp) had slipped from its peg and fallen on to the doll's bath. The dress was ruined, and when Harry Martin and I owned up, as in honour bound. Miss Fairfield was away in London and so we were deprived of dinner, and had a long Psalm to learn. I don't know whether punishment affects the hair, but I thought, next morning at prayers, that Harry's tow-crop looked more like hay than ever. My hands were more compromising to me than anyone would have believed who had ever seen their size, for, in the winter especially, they were never clean. I can see now the little willow-patterned basin of hard cold water, and smell the unpleasant little square of mottled soap with which I was expected to wash them. I don't know how the others managed, but for me the result was always the same. Failure; and when I presented myself at breakfast, trying to hide my red and grubby little paws in my pinafore, Miss ---- used to say: "Show your hands, Daisy, yes, as I thought. Not fit to sit down with young ladies and gentlemen. Breakfast in the schoolroom for Miss Daisy." Then little Miss Daisy would shiveringly betake herself to the cold bare schoolroom, where the fire had but just been kindled. I used to sit cowering over the damp sticks with my white mug, mauve spotted it was I remember, and had a brown crack near the handle. Sometimes I used to pull a twig from the fire, harpoon my bread-and-butter with it, and hold it to the fire: the warm, pale, greasy result I called toast. All this happened when Miss Fairfield was laid up with bronchitis. It was at that time, too, that my battle with compound long division began. Now I was not, I think, a very dull child, and always had an indignant sense that I could do sums well enough if any one would tell me what they meant. But no one did, and day after day the long division sums, hopelessly wrong, disfigured my slate, and were washed off with my tears. Day after day I was sent to bed, my dinner was knocked off, or my breakfast, or my tea. I should literally have starved, I do believe, but for dear Mrs. Fairfield. She kept my little Body going with illicit cakes and plums and the like, and fed my starving little heart with surreptitious kisses and kind words. She would lie in wait for me as I passed down the hall, and in a whisper call me into the store closet. It had a mingled and delicious smell of pickles and tea and oranges and jam, and the one taper Mrs. Fairfield carried only lighted dimly the delightful mystery of its well-filled shelves. Mrs. Fairfield used to give me a great lump of cake or a broad slice of bread and jam, and lock me into the dark cupboard till it was eaten. I never taste black-currant jam now without a strong memory of the dark hole of happiness, where I used to wait, my sticky fingers held well away from my pinafore till Mrs. Fairfield's heavy step and jingling keys came to release me. Then she would sponge my hands and face and send me away clean, replete, and with a better heart for the eternal conflict with long division. I fancy that when Miss Fairfield came downstairs again she changed the field of my arithmetical studies; for during the spring I seem to remember a blessed respite from my troubles. It is true that Miss ---- was away, staying with friends. I was very popular at school that term I remember, for I had learned to make dolls bedsteads out of match-boxes during the holidays, and my eldest sister's Christmas present provided me with magnificent hangings for the same. Imagine a vivid green silk sash, with brilliant butterflies embroidered all over it in coloured silk and gold thread. A long sash, too, from which one could well spare a few inches at a time for upholstery. I acquired many marbles, and much gingerbread, and totally eclipsed Cissy Thomas who had enjoyed the fleeting sunshine of popular favour on the insecure basis of paper dolls. Over my memory of this term no long division cast its hateful shade, and the scolding my dear mother gave me when she saw my sashes' fair proportions docked to a waistband and a hard knot, with two brief and irregular ends, was so gentle that I endured it with fortitude, and considered my ten weeks of popularity cheaply bought. I went back to school in high spirits with a new set of sashes and some magnificent pieces of silk and lace from my mother's lavendered wardrobe. But no one wanted dolls' beds any more; and Cissy Thomas had brought back a herbarium: the others all became botanists, and I, after a faint effort to emulate their successes, fell back on my garden. The seeds I had set in the spring had had a rest during the Easter holidays, and were already sprouting greenly, but alas, I never saw them flower. Long division set in again. Again, day after day, I sat lonely in the schoolroom, now like a furnace and ate my dry bread and milk and water in the depths of disgrace, with the faux commencements and those revolting sums staring at me from my tear-blotted slate. Night after night I cried myself to sleep in my bed, whose coarse home-spun sheets were hotter than blankets. All because I could not get the answers right. Even Miss Fairfield, I fancied, began to look coldly on me, and the other children naturally did not care to associate with one so deficient in arithmetic. One evening as I was sitting as usual sucking the smooth, dark slate pencil, and grieving over my troubles with the heart-broken misery of a child, to whom the present grief looks eternal, I heard a carriage drive up to the door. Our schoolroom was at the back, and I was too much interested in a visitor, especially one who came at that hour and in a carriage, to be able to bear the suspense of that silent schoolroom, so I cautiously opened its door and crept on hands and knees across the passage and looked down through the bannisters. They were opening the door. It was a lady, and Mrs. Fairfield came out of the dining-room to meet her. It was a lady in a black moiré (type of textile) antique dress and Paisley shawl of the then mode. It was a lady whose face I could not see, because her back was to the red sunset light; but at that moment she spoke, and the next I was clinging round the moue skirts with my head buried in the Paisley shawl. The world, all upside down, had suddenly righted itself. I, who had faced it alone, now looked out at it from the secure shelter of this screen. For my mother had come to see me. I did not cry myself to sleep that night, because my head lay on her arm. But even then I could not express how wretched I had been. Only when I heard that my mother was going to the South of France with my sisters, I clung about her neck, and with such insistence implored her not to leave me and not to go without me. I think I must have expressed my trouble without uttering it, for when, after three delicious days of drives and walks, in which I had always a loving hand to hold, my mother left Stamford, and she took me, trembling with joy like a prisoner reprieved. And I have never seen, or wished to see Stamford again. EDITH NESBIT A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back Saracen's Head in Stamford By Alan Rogers Thomas Chapelleyn to Richard Wykes and Elizabeth Wykes, bond for £10 endorsed with a condition relating to the building and repair of an inn called le Sarsynneshed, Saracen’s Head in the parish of St Mary at the Bridge Stamford. March 24th 1435. Source. People & Property in Medieval Stamford by Alan Rogers. (838. MB 4/58) A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back The Battle for 51 High Street, Stamford By Richard Asher The story of a Listed Building and the battle to save it in the 1960s A talk given for the Stamford Local History Society on 4th Dec 2025. Photograph - Stamford Library The property pictured was 51 High Street Stamford This photograph was probably taken in the 1930s. In the 1960s, it became a battleground between the modernisers and the conservationists, as equally important locally as the famous battle for the Euston Arch was in London. I particularly want to talk about No. 51. That is because for me this is a personal memory. Although I was not involved in the dispute itself (I was still at school at the time), this building is part of the reason I was born in Stamford, my home town, and the town whose history has come to mean so much to me. So, let me explain. My dad, Fred Asher, was born and brought up in the tiny village of Dunsby, the other side of Bourne. When he was 14, he left school and started to work as an office boy for a local business in Bourne called Longstaff and Lyall Ltd. They were auctioneers and land agents. He eventually became an assistant to Thomas R Lyall, one of the directors. Fred Asher auctioning livestock (photo R Asher) After the war, having been in the army, my dad returned to work for Longstaff and Lyall at Bourne. [i] However, in 1947, Thomas Lyall asked him to run the Stamford office. In 1949, my dad married my mum, and they set up home in Stamford. I was born the following year in Stamford Hospital. Longstaff and Lyall occupied 51 High Street as their Stamford office. The Company had been based there since about 1938. Subsequently, my dad became a qualified Auctioneer and a Partner in the business (see left). So, you see, if my dad had not been sent to the Stamford office at 51 High Street, I may never have been born in Stamford. No. 51 was thought to date back to at least the 1600s and had been at different times, a public house (The Windmill), a school, and a private house. John Daffurn’s book “Stamford Assets” recalls that it was one of the buildings acquired by the Newcombe family in the nineteenth century and recounts two unusual deaths that occurred in the building [ii] . This photograph shows the front of the building just before it was demolished. ( Photographs RCHM ) On the back of the building in the pargetting, you can just about make out the shape of a windmill, and next to it a date “1690”. It is not clear if the two images are connected, but in his book “Stamford Pubs and Breweries” Martin Smith speculates that it could have been one of the larger Inns of the town [iii] . Photograph RCHM I remember the building well from the early nineteen sixties. What was it like inside? Well, the photograph below gives some idea of the main office on the ground floor and, yes, that is me aged about 14 in the centre of the photograph. Photograph - R Asher The place was in poor repair and the facilities limited, just one toilet used by all the office staff, who numbered about 7 or 8 people. There was no hot water, and no central heating, with just very ancient gas fires. The only way to wash the tea pot and mugs was to disconnect the gas pipe to the fire in the general office and reconnect it to a gas ring on which to boil the kettle. The same process was repeated, once the mugs had been washed and dried, to make the tea. Only then could the gas fire be re-connected, until the next time tea was required! I also recall being sent to collect a sheet of hardboard from Scholes’ shop at 3 Ironmonger Street. This sheet was to put over the wooden floor in one of the first-floor offices, as the typists had been complaining that their high-heel shoes were getting caught in the holes in the floorboards! In those days I had no idea what a Listed Building was or what it meant. But subsequently I discovered that the building had been subject to a Building Preservation Order and was a Grade II listed building. Around 1963, the owner of 51 High Street was approached, along with the adjoining owners at 46, 47, 48, 49, & 50 High Street and 4, 5, & 6 Maiden Lane, by the Pearl Assurance Company Limited with a view to the Insurance Company acquiring all of the properties on the High Street between the then Co-op Drapery store (now Weird Fish & Magnet Kitchens) and the National Westminster Bank branch, on the corner of Maiden Lane (now Starbucks). Pearl Assurance were a major player in the insurance industry. They were, like all the large insurance companies of the day, heavily into property development as a way of investing for future returns. They had decided that Stamford was ripe for a development of new shops, and particularly a branch of one of the fast-expanding national supermarket chains. In those days, there was no such thing as “out-of-town shopping” or hypermarkets and a 6,000 sq. ft. “in town” supermarket was considered the right size for a town such as Stamford. It should also be remembered that, in those days, Stamford High Street was still a main road. Rear servicing was an important requirement to prevent serious traffic hold ups on the High Street. Thus, the plan was to build a new Tesco supermarket, and 4 new shop units, with offices above. All the shops would be serviced from an access in Maiden Lane. This plan required the demolition of 47 to 51 High Street and 4 to 6 Maiden Lane. The battle lines were drawn. The situation was quite complex. On the conservation front, in favour of retaining the listed buildings (which were 51 High Street and 5 & 6 Maiden Lane) were the relatively newly formed Stamford Civic Society and some of Stamford Borough councillors. On the other hand, others of the Stamford Borough Council members were all for the modernisation of Stamford. The County Council – in those days the Kesteven County Council was also split. The Ministry of Transport, who had a say because the High Street was part of the A16 Stamford to Boston Trunk Road, wanted the development to go ahead because it would allow them to insist on the building line being set back to permit them to almost double the road width at this narrow part of the High Street. The debate went on for over 3 years as to whether the buildings should be demolished. Site meetings were held between Stamford Borough Council, Kesteven County Council, and the developers. Plans were revised and resubmitted. Eventually, it was agreed that all the buildings on the High Street should be demolished (including 51), but on Maiden Lane only No 4. It was decided that 5 & 6 Maiden Lane should be saved from demolition. Also, the new building erected at No 4 Maiden Lane must incorporate the doorway to the Albert Hall (at No. 46 High Street) which was to be taken down and rebuilt in its new position – at the back of No 4 Maiden Lane, where it remains to this day – where few people know it exists – and usually it is hidden by dustbins. The Department of Transport did not fully get its way either. The building line was to be set back, but only by 3 feet, leaving a slight dogleg in the pavement between the new development and the bank (now Starbucks). But, then, in the 1970s, the High Street became a pedestrian precinct anyway! So, the demolition of 51 High Street got underway in the summer of 1966. But that was not the end of the story. During demolition, what was described by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments as “a painted studwork wall C1600” [iv] was discovered. The photograph shows the wall in situ soon after it was discovered. Photograph RCHM Photograph RCHM Urgent discussions were held, and it was agreed that the wall should be removed for conservation. This photograph (on the left) shows a remarkable painted panel from the wall soon after conservation. The wall is now in the Stamford Museum Store carefully protected by a Perspex screen. The story of its removal and its remarkable journey from Stamford to Lincoln and back to Stamford would provide enough material for another article. Photograph of the wall in the Stamford Museum Store by R Asher Photograph - Richard Asher Also, found “built into the chimney was a limestone panel” [v] . This proved to be the stone in this photograph. The inscription has been translated [vi] as: Ye who enter this house Pray for Blanche wife of Lord Wake Daughter of Henry Earl of Lancaster On whom God have true mercy. It is believed that this was the memorial stone for Lady Blanche Wake, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Lancaster. She was the great grand-daughter of Henry III. It is thought that she was buried in the Greyfriars Church in Stamford in 1380. How the stone found its way to the High Street is not known, but it could have been used as building material after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. The fully restored stone is now on the north wall of St George’s Church where the above photograph was taken. In conclusion, should 51 High Street have been allowed to be demolished? In my view it should not. Although dilapidated, and in need of substantial modernisation, it could have been repaired and conserved. However, the conservation movement, was not as advanced then as it is now. Whilst the property was a Listed Building, there was no conservation area legislation allowing planners to consider individual buildings in the wider street view context. Historic Buildings could only be considered on their own merits, not as a contribution to the street scene. On the plus side, if the building had not been demolished, we would never have been able to see two magnificent medieval artifacts which we have today – the painted wall and the Wake Memorial. Also, within a year or so of its demolition, Stamford was designated the first Conservation Area in the country under the new Civic Amenities Act – I like to think that this designation as the first Conservation Area was spurred on by the response to the demolition of 51 High Street. My boyhood memories of 51 High Street, helped me to appreciate the historic buildings of Stamford even more. [i] The firm name was changed in the 1950s to just Lyall & Co. [ii] “Stamford Assets a catalogue of Newcombe Family Property”, John Daffurn, Eptex 2024. [iii] “ Stamford Pubs and Breweries ” Martin Smith, Spiegl Press 2006 [iv] The Town of Stamford, A Survey by the Royal Commission on Historical Monument s” HMSO, London 1977 [v] ibid [vi] Taken from “ Grey Friars or White Friars? In search of Stamford’s Friaries”, Linda Ball, Chalybate Books, 2021. A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back William Shakespeare and Stamford Chris Hunt 2022 Hidden away within William Shakespeare’s King Henry IVth Part 2; a mention is made, almost in passing of Stamford. A seldom performed play which on occasions is shorted by the removal of some of the conversations between minor figures. In Act 3 Scene 2 there is a conversation between Robert Shallow, a Justice of the Peace in Gloucestershire and his colleague Justice Silence, as they wait for the arrival of Sir John Falstaff who is recruiting soldiers for the Royal Army. Their conversation strays into a discussion of Shallow’s youthful indiscretions at Clement’s Inn which is part of the Inns of Chancery. It is within this part of the play that Stamford is mentioned:- Justice Shallow. “Yes, that Sir John, the very same. I saw him beat Scogan on the head at the gates of the Court, when he was just a lad, only this tall. On that same day I happened to have a fight with a man called Sampson Stockfish, a fruit seller, behind Gray’s Inn. Oh Jesus, Jesus. I’ve had some wild times! And now so many of the men I used to know are dead.” Justice Silence. “That will be us one day.” Justice Shallow “You’re right. I know you’re right, that’s for sure. As the Psalms say in the Bible. “death is certain.” Everyone will die. What price are people charging for a good set of young bulls at Stamford Fair?” Justice Silence. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t there.” Justice Shallow. “Death is certain. Is Dooble, that old man from your hometown, still alive?” Justice Silence. “He’s dead. Sir.” Justice Shallow. “Jesus, Jesus, dead! He was such a good archer, and now he’s dead? He had an excellent shot! John of Gaunt loved him, and used to bet money on his incredible aim. Dead! Oh, he would have hit the target even from two hundred and forty yards away! He could shoot straight at the target from two hundred and eighty yards away, maybe even two hundred and ninety, it was quite something to see! How much are they charging for twenty ewes now?” Justice Silence. “That all depends on their quality, but twenty good ewes would be worth about ten pounds.” Justice Shallow. “But old Dooble is dead?” Justice Silence. “Here comes two of Sir John Falstaff’s men. I think.” At this stage of their discussion more characters join them on stage and the conversation changes. In these preceding paragraphs Justice Shallow and Justice Silence seem to be talking about different things and then not listening to what the other has said. So what have we learnt about Stamford? Probably nothing as we have not discovered the price of two young bulls at Stamford Fair. And as to the price of twenty good ewes, was this the cost of sheep at the time of King Henry IV (1399-1413), or was that the price of sheep at the time the play was performed? It has been suggested that the play was written between 1596 and 1599, it was registered at Stationers Hall in August 1600 and published in quarto form by the end of the year. So why did Shakespeare choose Stamford when he could have chosen any other provincial town and also why choose a Lincolnshire market town when the two characters are men from Gloucestershire? Of course we shall never know. A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back THE EARLY DAYS OF TRADE UNIONISM IN STAMFORD AND THE LABOUR DISPUTE AT MESSRS BLACKSTONE & CO IN 1890 By Chris Hunt, 2024 Before the birth of the Labour Party, the interests of the working classes were disjointed and badly organised in a world where the machinations imposed by the Poor Law and the threat of the Workhouse were ever present. Of course, the ‘lower class’ was split into various groups, no more so than the differences between skilled and semi-skilled workers. The new Unions in the 1880s and 1890s were set up to protect the interests of skilled workers against semi- and unskilled workers, as well as to improve their members’ pay and conditions. In Stamford the major industrial firm was Messrs Blackstone & Co. (Rutland Ironworks). The move from their cramped site on St Peter’s Street to a more expansive site on Ryhall Road, allied with becoming a limited company in 1889, was the foundation for the next hundred years of progress. At this period in the firm’s history, it almost solely built agricultural and sundry equipment. It was not until 1896, with the employment of the Carter Brothers and the introduction of the lamp start oil engine, that the company diversified away from horse-drawn farming equipment. On Friday May 23rd 1890, Blackstone’s workers met at the Oddfellows Hall on All Saints Street to discuss their grievances. Five years previously, during a period of agricultural depression, the workforce had been offered a choice of a wage cut or having to work an hour longer every day (except Saturdays). The men preferred working the extra five hours a week, thus raising their time at work from fifty-four to fifty-nine hours per week. Unfortunately, the firm later also reduced their wages, in some cases by a shilling and in some cases two shillings in the pound. Prior to the meeting, foremen from the various departments in the Works had met Mr Blackstone to raise their concerns and it had been felt that his reply was to some extent unsatisfactory. This was the reason for a private meeting at which Mr Alfred Clark (Moulder) was appointed to chair the meeting, Mr Arthur Smith (Fitter) as treasurer, and Mr Edwin Johnson (Iron planer and shaper) as secretary. Views were aired and a deputation was elected to meet Mr Blackstone, which they did on the Saturday afternoon. It was made up of Messrs A. Clark (chairman), Mr A. Smith (treasurer), Mr E. Johnson (secretary), G. Hill. R. Ringham and C. Hardy. As a result, a further private meeting of Blackstone workers was held on Tuesday, again at the Oddfellows Hall, when the deputation reported back on their meeting with management. The workers were demanding a reduction in their working week back from fifty-nine to fifty-four hours and an increase in wages back to the previous levels for those who had been employed when the pay cuts had taken place. It seems that Mr Blackstone had agreed to forego the percentage on piece work and to the increase of wages asked for, but refused the reduction of time. The latter part did not go down well with those at the meeting and it was further agreed that the deputation should talk again to management. One thing to the workers advantage was that there seemed to be plenty of orders at the time as it was reported that the works was busy. As a result of these discussions the workers got a pay rise but no reduction in their working week. Unfortunately for Mr Blackstone and the other engineering companies in the town the dispute at Blackstone’s had galvanised the working men of the town. On Saturday June 14th 1890, an open public meeting was held in the Oddfellows Hall, with approximately 120 working men present. Mr A. Clarke presided, supported by Messrs E. Johnson (secretary pro tem), W. Walden (treasurer pro tem), G. Hill, H. Ringham and C. Hardy, together with Mr Broadberry (president) and Mr Swain (vice president) of the Grantham branch of the Amalgamated Engineers, and Mr Hopkinson, the secretary from the Grantham branch of the Tyneside and National Labour Union. The Chairman said he thought that Stamford was the last town in the county not to have some kind of labour association and that it was quite time one was formed. Those present were informed of recent success amongst workers on Tyneside and in Leeds, Doncaster and Grantham. The men at the meeting were also reminded that fifty-four hours per week was now the norm across England. Mr Hopkinson informed the meeting that the contribution to the Tyneside and National Labour Union was 3 1/2d a week, with a 1s entrance fee; that the Union had been established for sixteen months and had 30,000 members; and that there was no sick benefit but there was an accident benefit and a dispute benefit. At this stage the meeting was informed that there might be a labour dispute at any time, especially in Stamford, which brought laughter from those present. Also that it was about time that there was one, which drew cheers from those present. Other benefits included a death benefit of £4 0s 0d at the death of a member and £2 0s 0d at the death of a member’s wife. Those present were told that if they joined the Union they would be helped until they had won their cause. They were reminded that one of the problems in Stamford was that they were disunited and that it was possible that improvements could be made to their working lives without necessarily going on strike. After further discussion, Mr E. Johnson moved that “having heard Messrs Broadberry and Hopkinson, we, the working men of Stamford, resolve to at once form a branch of the Tyneside and National Labour Union.” Mr Ringham of the Rutland Ironworks seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. About one hundred men then joined the branch. The issue of the working week and the reduction of hours had, however, for Mr Blackstone not gone away and clearly further talks took place for, on Monday September 1st 1890 just before their dinner hour, the workers were summoned by the ringing of a bell to a meeting outside the Workshop. They were addressed by Mr Blackstone, chairman of the directors. He thanked them on behalf of the directors and the shareholders of the company for their co-operation during the past year, especially at the busiest of time. Their request for the reduction of an hour a day in the time of labour had received the attention of the shareholders at a special meeting and it had been decided to grant the nine-hour system. This new arrangement would take effect at once. This was met with loud cheers. Thus in future the working hours would be from 6.00am to 5.00pm from Monday to Friday and from 6.00am to 1.00pm on Saturdays. (Of course, meal reliefs and breaks were unpaid). And so, from that Monday evening the staff went home at 5.00pm instead of 6.00pm. So began the gradual organising of union labour in Stamford. A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back LULU and the LUVVERS play the LANSBURY CLUB in STAMFORD on JULY 18th 1964 On the evening of Saturday July 18 th 1964 Lulu and her backing group the Luvvers played the Lansbury Club (later the Newage Club) on Wharf Road in Stamford. Very much described as a Glasgow band fronted by the sixteen-year-old Scottish singer Lulu, they took Stamford by storm. It was one of the largest crowds every witnessed at the Club with fans flocking to the town from miles around. One party of fans even went to the trouble of hiring a bus from Grantham. Hot from the success of the hit single, Shout, Lulu sang a full one-hour set, managing even to stop the dancing. Probably the club was too packed for people to move. She was described as having a sparkling personality, along with a chirpy little voice, and was wearing beige tight-fitting knickerbockers and a similar coloured top. All in all, it was a great night. Especially for Charles (Chas) Thompson, the doorkeeper, when Lulu sang Shout again as a special birthday treat. Lulu without tight-fitting knickerbockers and a similar coloured top Chris Hunt September 2025 A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

Are you looking for local history books? The Stamford Local History Society may be able to help you find the publication you are looking for. View a list of our books here and contact us today. BOOKS Several books have been published by members and former members of SLHS. Other books are listed here that relate to Stamford. Most are held at Stamford Library, and some are still available from local bookshops, Amazon or other retail outlets, whilst others may be out of print. If you have difficulty in obtaining a copy you require please CONTACT us as we may be able to help. The Harrison & Dunn Story A History and Memoir Michael Lee Book Design ISBN 9781036911416 William Stukeley's Stamford A selection of drawings from Stukeley's Designs of Stamford Antiquitys John F H Smith FSA Spiegal Press Ltd ISBN Courts, Yards and Terraces The Other Face of Stamford Keith Hansell and Philippa Massey Book Printing UK ISBN Stamford Assets A Catalogue of Newcomb Family Property John Daffurn Eptex ISBN 9780993147951 Stukeley and Stamford, Part 2 Tribulations of an Antiquarian Clergyman, 1730-1738 Edited by John F H Smith The Lincoln Record Society ISBN 9781910653104 George Glover (1812-1890): the unfulfilled potential of a Victorian architect The designer of Rock House and Terrace John Daffurn Eptex, 2022 ISBN 9780993147937 Grey Friars or White Friars? In Search of Stamford's Friaries Linda Ball Chalybeate Books ISBN 9781527285927 Stamford Fairs and Markets Origins of the Stamford Mid-Lent Fair Keith Hansell Hansell, 2021 ISBN 9781399911283 Stukeley and Stamford, Part 1 Cakes and Curiosity: the Sociable Antiquarian, 1710-1737 Diana and Michael Honeybone Lincoln Record Society ISBN 9781910653074 Stamford Tenants A history of Rock Terrace and its occupants John Daffurn Eptex, 2020 ISBN 9780993147920 William Cecil's Survey of Stamford A Town in Turmoil Alan Rogers Abramis, 2020 ISBN 9781845497699 Stamford History Tours Christopher Davies Amberley, 2019 ISBN 9781445659305 A-Z of Stamford: Places-People-History Christopher Davies Amberley, 2019 ISBN 9781445685298 Newstead by Stamford Priory A small but important house of Austin canons N J Sheehan Sheehan, 2018 ISBN 9780957503854 Stamford in 50 Buildings Celebrating 50 years of a conservation town Christopher Davies Amberley, 2017 ISBN 9781445672823 The Story of Stamford Hospital As told in the 19th, 20th & 21st centuries Friend of Stamford Hospital Spiegl Press, 2016 ISBN 9781526204042 Uffington in the County of Lincolnshire In-depth account of one of Stamford's neighbouring villages N J Sheehan Sheehan, 2014, 2019 ISBN 9780957503861 Guild, Hospital and Aldermen N Hill & A Rogers Abramis, 2013 ISBN 9781845495824 The Wardens: Managing a late Medieval Hospital Browne's Hospital, Stamford, 1495-1518 Alan Rogers (ed) Abramis, 2013 ISBN 9781845495992 People and Property in Medieval Stamford Alan Rogers (ed) Abramis, 2012 ISBN 9781845495480 Noble Merchant: William Browne Alan Rogers Abramis, 2012 ISBN 9781845495503 Stamford University: the stuttering dream The story of Stamford's repeated attempts to become a university town N J Sheehan Speigl Press, 2012 ISBN 9780993147920 The Act Book of St Katherine's Guild Stamford, 1480-1534 Alan Rogers (ed) Abramis, 2011 ISBN 9781845495091 Stamford Through Time Christopher Davies Amberley, 2010 ISBN 9781848684812 In Search of Daniel Lambert A winter talk for Stamford Museum at Stamford Theatre 5 March 2009 Philippa Massey Stamford Museum ISBN The Stamford Volunteer Rifle Corps David Nalson Stamford Museum, 2008 ISBN Ploughs, Chaff Cutters & Steam Engines Various authors Ed Ken Redmore Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology 2007 ISBN 903582309 Stamford Pubs and Breweries A history of the drink trade in Stamford Martin Smith Spiegl Press, 2006 ISBN William Browne's Town The Stamford Hall Book, Vol. 1, 1465-1492 Alan Rogers (ed) Stamford Survey Group, 2005 ISBN 9780950283210 Stamford Past Up-to-date modern account of Stamford's colourful past. Rich with images. Christopher Davies Phillimore, 2002 ISBN 1860772285 The Story of Stamford Stamford History Martin Smith Martin Smith & Walkers Books 2000 ISBN 1899141006 Stamford in Lincolnshire A collection of early Stamford photographs Chris Hunt Spiegl Press, 1985 ISBN Pick of Stamford History of the Pick Motor Company Michael Key Paul Watkins. 1994 ISBN 9781871615531 Stamford and the Civil War Civil War History Christopher Davies Paul Watkins, 1992 ISBN 9781871615296 Stamford Then & Now Chronicle of Architectural & Social Change Martin Smith Paul Watkins, Stamford 1992 ISBN 1871615364 A Century of Stamford Coachbuilding Coach & Wagon building Michael Key Paul Watkins, Stamford 1990 ISBN 1871615747 Stamford Memories Life in a country town during the 1930s and the 1940s Betty Clark Licolnshire Books ISBN The Book of Stamford Alan Rogers Barracuda Books, 1983 ISBN 9780860231233 A Short History of the Stamford and Rutland Hospital J Quinlan & A Rogers The Friends of Stamford Hospital, 1978 ISBN The Religious Foundations of Medieval Stamford The Religious Foundations of Medieval Stamford J S Hartley & A Rogers Univerity of Nottingham, 1974 ISBN 902031295 A History of Lincolnshire Alan Rogers Darwen Finlayson, 1970 ISBN 852080603 The Medieval Buildings of Stamford Alan Rogers Univerity of Nottingham, 1970 ISBN 902031023 The Making of Stamford Alan Rogers (ed) Leic. Uni. Press, 1965 ISBN 9780718510503

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a history of Stamford's workhouse < Back Stamford Poor Law Union Dr Stella Henriques 1979 This article was written by the late Dr Stella Henriques, and first published in the Stamford Historian in February 1979. As a source for the article, Dr Henriques made extensive use of the files of the Stamford Mercury, which at that time were little used by local historians. In a brief introduction, Mr William Kirkwood puts the Stamford workhouse into context. The workhouse described here lasted some 65 years until, in 1899, the Guardians took the decision to build a new workhouse on the Bourne Road (now Ryhall Road); this new building was completed in 1902 and accommodated 175 inmates. After 1930 the new workhouse became a Public Assistance Institution and in 1948 became part of the new National Health Service as St. George’s Hospital. The building was demolished some years ago to make way for retirement housing. Introduction By 1836, when the building of the St. Martin’s workhouse was started, Stamford had known almost a hundred years of experience with town workhouses. During that time there had been two successive houses, one in St. George’s parish and the other in St. Michael’s parish, both of them shared by most or all of the parishes on the town. But a new house was needed after the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which created a new Stamford Union with a total of 37 parishes covering a large area of Rutland, Northamptonshire, the soke of Peterborough, Kesteven and even parts of Huntingdonshire. With such a large area after 1834, any comparison of figures from before the Amendment Act would be valueless. Yet it is important to remember that the town workhouse before 1834 also served a wider area than just the parish in which it stood. However, it was clearly much too small to serve the area of the new Poor Law Union and thus another one had to be built. The Poor Law Amendment Act had two other main results. It made Stamford for the first (and incidentally for the last) time the administrative centre of a region; and it strengthened the position of the Marquess of Exeter, whose estate it covered and who came to hold the position of Chairman of the Board of Guardians. This last fact does not necessarily however, explain the siting of the new workhouse. Most of Stamford’s land was as yet unenclosed, which made it difficult to find building land; so that the offer of the Marquess of a suitable site in St Martin’s parish would seem to have been an act of generosity. Not long after the period described below, the workhouse was rebuilt once more in St George’s parish, this time on the Ryhall Road. The present building is the second one on that site, having been erected in the twentieth century. 1836-1837 On January 20th 1836, the Marquess of Exeter laid before the new Stamford Union Board of Guardians a plan and estimate for a workhouse to contain 300 paupers. The buildings were to cover ‘2 rood and 10 perches of land and their expense was estimated by Mr Browning (the architect) at £3,880.’ Lord Exeter offered to sell for the purpose a piece of land on the north side of the road leading from St Martin’s to Pilsgate. Some people didn’t approve of this site as they considered it to be ‘low, damp and unhealthy, being in the neighbourhood of the river, and adjacent to meadows subject to being flooded’, and a Building Committee was appointed to investigate the whole subject of site and plan of the building. However, the committee decided that the new workhouse should be built on the site offered subject to some alterations to the plan, and when these were done it was adopted on the understanding that the alterations would increase the expense by £100. The house was to contain six wards: one for 40 able-bodied men, one for 40 able-bodied females, one for 51 infirm men, one for 51 infirm females, one for 60 boys and another for 60 girls. The Marquess accepted the proposed terms of £100 per acre. The plans were sent to the Board of Commissioners in London for approval and an application was made for a loan of £4,800 for building the workhouse, to be repaid in ten annual instalments of £480 each. Tenders for building the workhouse were now received, and that of Mr. Pilkington was accepted at a price of £3,645, exclusive of the charge for a wall to surround the whole premises which would cost £500 more. It was feared that there would be extra expense for the foundations ‘as the site is that of an exhausted stone pit’. In fact the site was questioned in mid-March when the contractor stated that to make the foundation on that spot would cost £900 more than had been allowed for in the estimate, and feelings ran high. The Marquess was entreated to consent to abandon the site but he refused to do so and in April, Mr Pilkington was told to fulfil his contract, the time for completing it being extended to the 25th March 1837 ‘in consideration of the time (as well as money) lost in the foundations.’ The vicar of St Martin’s complained that there would be an increase of clerical duties as the workhouse would be in his parish, so a Chaplain had to be appointed; also there was a necessity of providing a burial ground for the use of the Union. The loan of £4,000 was granted at 4% per annum and a petition was forwarded that the period for repayment be extended to 20 years. Fire insurance was to be borne at the joint expense of the Union and the contractor. In September, the corn-mill and dressing machine which had been ordered arrived from Birmingham; these were now put up so that there might be employment for such able-bodied men who might be admitted. The request by the Chaplain to the workhouse ‘that a surplice be found for him’ in addition to his £25 a year was ignored by common consent. Previously, the Board had met in the Town Hall, but on 5th May 1837, the Guardians met for the first time in the Board-room of the new workhouse, and a few days later, 17 men, 13 women, 22 children and two lunatics (sex unknown) had arrived from the earlier town poorhouse. 1850 In January 1850 there were 250 inmates, 49 more than the previous year at the same time; 917 persons were recipients of out-door relief as against 813 in 1849, and the cost of weekly maintenance was now £79. 8s. 0d as against £76. 5s. 5d in 1849. The following month, numbers were diminishing as far as able-bodied men were concerned as ‘work in the field was about to commence.’ On March 13th, the Inspector of Union schools made a favourable report on the industrial training of the children. It was also ordered that the inmates of the Union house should have two half-day holidays to visit Stamford mid-Lent fair and that the children should have a gratuity of 1d piece on each day. There were 165 paupers in the house, 35 less than at the same time in 1849. Contracts for supplies consisted of bread (2nds), per 4lb loaf, 3 ¾d; flour, per stone, 1/7d; Scotch oatmeal per 32 lbs, 4/6d; beef and mutton per stone 5/3d; black tea per lb 3/4d; Jamaica sugar, per lb 4d; Leicestershire cheese per lb. 6d; Patna rice per lb. 2d; salt per cwt 1/9d; yellow soap per cwt. £2. 2s. 0d; store candles per doz. 4/9d; butter (Dutch) per lb 9d; soda per cwt. 8/-; and hard pit coal, per ton 12/8d. It was interesting to note that by 1870 there were some changes and additions. The 4lb loaf was 4 ½d; beef and mutton had become separated and beef without bone per stone was 8/11d; mutton per stone 7/11d; suet (beef and mutton) per stone 6/9d; loaf sugar per lb 5d; peas (split) per bushel 7/6d; butter (salt) per lb 1/- or fresh per lb 1/4d; tallow soap (mottled) per cwt. £1.15.6; tallow soap (yellow) per cwt. £1.10.0. In March 1850 the Schoolmaster and Schoolmistress made an application for an increased allowance of rations on the grounds that the rations were more liberal for similar persons in the Unions of Bourne, Spalding and Sleaford, but as it was stated that the Stamford salaries were higher than in the other places the application was left ‘undetermined’. In April the Mercury reported that ‘In the face of much zealous prophecy to the contrary, the lower classes in this part of the country are happily better off than they had been for a long period. The complaints of deficiency of work are comparatively few, and able-bodied men find employment at a fair rate of wages. The Great Eastern Railway works at Peterborough afford labour to very many hands, and we hear that the Marquis of Exeter employs more than a hundred persons in some agricultural improvements he is effecting at King’s Cliffe.’ There were fewer inmates and the number of casual paupers nil; there had been 131 at the same time in the previous year. The Mercury concludes ‘Whatever may be the cause of this decrease of pauperism, the fact is gratifying in a moral and social point of view, and it will of course prove beneficial to the rate payers.’ In May, the returns continued to show a fall in the numbers: 143 inmates compared with 156 in 1849. Admission of casual paupers was three against 79 in May 1949. ‘It is believed the Bath Test is the principal agent which deters the application of vagrants. Not one in 100 will submit to a thorough washing.’ The following month the figures were even lower. The Government Inspector of Schools visited the Union-house in September and in the Visitors’ Book remarked that he found the state of education very satisfactory but there was ‘room for improvement in the spelling of the lower classes.’ Contracts were entered into for supplying shoes and drapery. By November, applications for outdoor relief were increasing – mainly for the infirm, widows and children. It was hoped that the start of works near Lynn on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire Estuary would give employment throughout the winter to labourers who couldn’t find jobs nearer home. At the December meeting of the Guardians, the Medical Officer complained that two of the sick inmates had greatly abused him, and that one of them had seized a poker and advanced towards him in a ‘threatening attitude.’ The second man had refused to take his medicine and said that he wasn’t being properly treated. However, the doctor was able to prove that this was not the case and the man was reprimanded. When the first patient was summoned to be sent before the Magistrates, it was found that he had discharged himself and left the premises. For Christmas Day, the Guardians subscribed among themselves and provided ‘festal fare’. Each man, woman and child was regaled with roast beef, plum pudding and ale, to the complete satisfaction of all. 32 able-bodied and 30 aged men, 42 able-bodied and 7 aged women, 42 boys and 41 girls and 11 infants. 1870 In January 1870, a man who came to Stamford as a confectioner was taken ill and complained that he had been kept in the Vagrant ward for two months. One of the Guardians (Dr Hopkinson) said that it wasn’t a proper place for a person suffering from disease and the Medical Officer was asked for an explanation. One cannot help feeling that the Medical Officer enjoyed giving it, for in his statement ‘he described the nature of the disease under which the man was suffering, and said that the infirmary of the Union-house was so full that the patient was really better in the tramp-ward than in the infirmary, the area of the latter not affording the proper number of cubic feet of air for those sent there’. He also referred to a minute made by him as far back as 10th June 1868, in which he pointed out the necessity of appropriating the fever hospital as an infirmary and using the infirmary as an infirm ward, and that a qualified nurse ought to be engaged by the Guardians. The Guardians agreed to the engagement of a nurse and Mr Heward (the M.O.) followed this up by asking for a small room in the house for a surgery ‘where he might see some of the patients and dispense medicine, and that a medicine chest with medicine be furnished by the Guardians his remuneration as a Medical Officer of the house being insufficient, taking into account the number of patients and the quantity of medicine required.’ This was discussed the following month. One of the Board members complained that at the Stamford and Rutland Infirmary the cost of medicine and instruments came to 4/6d per patient and of that 3/6d was spent on drugs, and that in a large dispensary in Berkshire, it was only 1/9d per patient. It was explained that in a district where low fevers and ague prevailed as in Lincolnshire, more costly medicine was used. So it was decided that the M.O. should have a room set aside for a surgery, his salary should be raised from £25 to £35 per annum and Cod liver oil and Quinine should be paid for extra as usual. Some weeks later a nurse for the infirmary was appointed. The severity of the weather in February brought about an increase in the number of able-bodied men seeking relief. In cases of families, bread was given, but in the main admission to the house was offered. A Poor-Law Inspector who was leaving the district reported that the receiving wards required to be whitewashed and properly furnished; the vagrant wards were in a dilapidated state and required more light and ventilation; the children’s day rooms and schoolrooms should have ‘boarden’ instead of stone floors; and the house generally required to be painted and whitewashed. When these recommendations were considered, the boarding of the schoolroom floors was resisted on the ground that they would need to be washed frequently and as they took a long time drying, there would be a greater risk than at present in the children catching cold. A notice containing a list of women, girls and boys requiring situations was affixed outside the Union-house gate. In April, an extremely heated discussion took place on the meaning of the term ‘destitution’. This arose from the case of a woman who had applied for relief. She was a widow with two children and lived in a house of £8. She had been helped in paying this by her uncle who had died. She had managed to keep herself by using her savings and small earnings for three years, but could do so no longer. It was contended against her claim for relief that while she had furniture, she could not be considered destitute. The Board agreed that in justice to the Ratepayers she must be refused relief; but in opposition it was remarked that the Board should be considered Guardians of the poor as well as the ratepayers, and that having so long tried to keep her family without troubling the Union, she should not be compelled to sell her household goods before she could claim relief. The application was refused by five votes to four. The number of inmates was and had been higher for some months than at the same period in the previous year, e.g. May 6th 1870, 203; 1869, 169; Outdoor relief was however less; 1870, 799 (£89. 19. 3) and 1869, 818 (£108. 3. 5). Seventy four vagrants were admitted. At the latter part of May, a large number of wives of Militia men applied for relief, their husbands being at Grantham for training, and allowances were made. The severe winter had been followed by a prolonged drought and in June many able-bodied men were out of work and applied for relief. The drought lasted for nearly three months with no ‘sensible amount of rain except for one day’. However, later some work was found in Southorpe woods, the steward of the estate having started grubbing operations earlier than intended so that the pressure of able-bodied applicants was somewhat diminished. A brick-maker from Bourne was summoned to appear to explain why he had not contributed to the support of his father who had been an inmate for some years; other sons were also summoned and the brick-maker was ordered (on order from Bourne Sessions) to pay 2/- per week for his father’s support. Later the father left the house. July 19th. The applications for relief were fewer but the number in the house continued in excess of the average – 185 as against 146 the year before and 60 vagrants. It was noted that one batch of bread was ‘very heavy’. On July 22nd the Marquess of Exeter gave permission for the Union School children to have a picnic in Burghley Park and sent £6 to be expended on small presents for the party. The 84 children were given tea, cake, fruit and a number of swings and other amusements were provided. Each child was given a basket of fruit. August. The new Poor Law Inspector reported that he was satisfied to find ‘that certain suggestions made by his predecessor had been carried out and that all the inmates of whom he had made enquiry admitted that they were kindly treated’. He also suggested, among other things, that there should be a fence in front of the infirmary to ‘keep the patients from the paupers who work or walk in the garden’. And that the receiving wards should be ventilated. It was agreed by the Board that the contract for meat next quarter should be beef and mutton separately, and not in aggregate, and that henceforward the inmates should have mutton twice a week and beef on Sundays. The relieving officer was asked to prepare a list of aged recipients of out-relief who would prefer to be paid entirely in money instead of money and bread. The intention to enclose the front of the infirmary with a ha-ha fence was recommended and the labour for such could be found in the house. As the autumn approached so did unemployment increase and also applicants for relief, many of whom had come from long distances in search of work. In October as there was a large number of old and some able-bodied men in the house without work, it was decided that they set to oakum picking. The cost of the material was 13/- per cwt and when picked was worth 20/-, so it was agreed to buy a ¼ of a ton of junk, inmates to pick 3lbs per day and tramps 1lb. December. The Central Board issued an order on the boarding out of pauper children. Previously children could not be placed in homes beyond the limit of their own Union. However the Guardians were now empowered to do so. The order recommended that there should be no boarding with out-door paupers; that, in the foster parents open air should be preferred to sedentary labour, that special attention should be paid to decent accommodation and the proper separation of the sexes; that great care should be taken to provide children with education and with clothing; and that all boarding out in large towns to be avoided. Christmas was now approaching and the usual Christmas dinner for the inmates was voted and it was also determined to give an extra shilling to families on out relief. The dinner was to be given on the 26th as Christmas Day fell on a Sunday. Before this, the inmates had a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding on the 20th to celebrate the coming of age of Lord Burghley. The Marquess sent £10 to be spent on articles for the women and children. There was also a Christmas tree for the children but that was reserved for the 26th. It was unfortunate that ‘owing to bad cooking’ the Christmas dinner for the 207 inmates was not enjoyed as much as usual. The number of inmates on December 30th 1869 and 1870 were as follows: 1870 1869 Inmates 207 215 Out-relief 797 856 A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next

< Back Stamford Races 1849 - Admission Ticket to the Red Stand on Thursday July 19th 1849 Submitted by Chris Hunt Stamford Racecourse was on Wittering Heath, this ticket was for one of the temporary stands erected for race days. The permanent stone-built Grandstand survives, all be it rebuilt as a permanent residence at the east end of Racecourse Road. The ticket is 90mm by 60mm. A print version can be downloaded HERE Previous Next