|
Burghley House -
Photo: Lincolnshire County
Council |
The "capital" of the Fens
under the Danes, Stamford became an important
woollen centre in The Middle Ages and its cloth
was famed throughout Europe. The ensuing wealth
paid for many of its beautiful old buildings,
which were partly responsible for encouraging the
government to designate the town as Britain’s
first conservation area in 1967.
This elegant town has a number
of early parish churches, including St Mary’s with
its magnificent 13th century spire.
|
The manor of Stamford was
inherited by William Cecil, favourite adviser to
Queen Elizabeth 1, in 1552. He built Burghley
House, widely regarded as the country’s largest
and most grandiose surviving Elizabethan house.
Stamford has another claim to
fame – in St Martin’s churchyard lies ‘the biggest
Englishman ever’, Daniel Lambert, who weighed 52
stones when he died in the early 19th century.
|
