Geographical Magazine
Discovering Britain: The cobbled streets of Stamford
Written by
Rory Walsh
For this month’s Discovering Britain Rory Walsh hears how student politics shaped Stamford
At the lush lawn of Stamford Meadows, the River Welland gently meanders below a panoramic key-cut skyline. Honey-coloured houses line cobbled roads along a winding, medieval street plan. The town still echoes with the clatter of horse-drawn carriages; historic Stamford is ideal for filming period dramas, including
Middlemarch and
Pride and Prejudice. ‘It’s a very pleasant place to live,’ says geographer and local business owner Jo Kemp, who created this viewpoint.
In 1967 Stamford became England’s first Conservation Area. Legends claim it was also the site of Britain’s first university, founded in 863 BC by the mythical King Bladud. Apparently, he also used magic powers to create the city of Bath to cure himself of leprosy. More reliable evidence of Stamford’s lost halls of academia dates from1333. Kemp explains, ‘Northern academics claimed they were being denied scholarships at Oxford’s Merton College in favour of southern colleagues. So, they set up a breakaway university in Stamford’.