Part 14

After the Restoration the history of Grantham is that of any quiet country town, until the coming of the railway and the establishment of the engineering works. The most startling event in its story was the pulling down of the Market Cross by Mr. John Manners, then lord of the manor, in 1779. He was compelled to restore it by _mandamus_ the following year. The ecclesiastical history of the town is equally peaceful. The church was invaded by galleries and box-pews; the rood-screen, if it had not already gone, was taken down; the western part of the nave was left unused, and glass screens to shut out the draught closed in the eastern bays of the nave and the chancel. The ringing gallery, which blocked up the lower part of the tower, was removed in 1752; and, though one cannot regret the opening out of the noble western arch, it is probable that other woodwork in the church might have been better spared. The encumbrances of the building were removed during the nineteenth century. Something was done at a restoration which took place in 1851, during the incumbency of Mr. William Potchett. The western part of the south aisle was re-roofed, and the present tracery of the west window of the aisle seems to have been put in. Part of a fund left in 1795 for the beautifying of the church was applied in 1853 to filling the west window of the north aisle with stained glass of a painful brilliance, and the staining of the other two windows of the west front took place between 1852 and 1855. Under Mr. George Maddison, vicar from 1856 to 1874, Sir Gilbert Scott thoroughly restored the whole building. This restoration, completed in October 1868, gave us the church substantially in its present state. While the chancel clerestory was removed, an act of compensation was performed in the recusping of the tracery in the windows of the north aisle. Eight years later followed the restoration of the north porch. Since then, the church has received many beautiful gifts—Sir Gilbert Scott’s chancel-screen; Mr. G. F. Bodley’s reredos, which has been heightened of late years to conceal the east window and add a gradine to the altar; Mr. Kempe’s stained glass; and, latest of all, the restored reredos in the crypt, the lofty font-cover, the organ-case, and the restoration of Hall’s chapel, which are the work of Mr. W. T. Tapper.

One thing remains to be noted in connection with the church—its two libraries. The second of these is of no special interest. It was given to the church in 1764 by Dr. John Newcome, Dean of Rochester, and Master of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and placed within rails at the east end of the south aisle. It was then removed to Hall’s chapel in 1806, and found a third home at the west end of the south aisle towards the end of the century. It has been removed again within recent years. The other library was given in 1598 by Francis Trigg, vicar of Welbourn, and was housed in the room over the south porch, which seems to have been repaired, if not rebuilt, about this time. The books, bound for the most part in stout oak boards, are set, as in mediæval libraries, with their leaves outwards, and are chained to rings on an iron rod in front of each shelf. The collection includes some early printed books of the fifteenth century, and editions of Fathers and mediæval theologians. The library was intended for the use of the vicars; and in 1642 one Edward Skipworth left a small endowment to supply it with firewood in winter, that the vicars might prosecute their studies. Gifts were made to it from time to time. Henry More presented his writings to it, and Dr. Sanderson gave it one of the few copies of Philip II.’s _Polyglot_, printed at Antwerp, which had escaped destruction by sea. Of the eight volumes, only two and a fragment remain. A verger is said to have been found lighting a fire with some of the leaves. Fortunately, the full value of the library is now appreciated; and, if it does not attract many earnest students, it is at any rate regarded with intelligent curiosity.[81]

With the gift of Francis Trigg, “_Welborne quondam Concionator amans_,” we leave Grantham. No longer the small market town, whose City Fathers never stirred in the streets without their gowns, the Alderman distinguished by his tippet with its gold clasps, but a busy manufacturing and railway town, with growing suburbs and a population of from 20,000 to 30,000, it yet keeps something of its country aspect. The trees at the back of the church and along the North Road, the splendid chestnut in Finkin Street, close to the middle of the town, the easy escape from the houses to the slopes of the Harrowby Hills, or the canal path to Harlaxton, make it a pleasant place to see or stay in, and compensate for the bleak features of its approach from the south. Though no one could claim for its surroundings the privilege of startling beauty, yet there is no more smiling a piece of country in the English Midlands than that of which it is the centre. Cut off from the Fenland flats on the east by a long table-land with a gradual eastward slope, and on the south by the broken country towards Bourn and Stamford, it has on the north the long line of pretty villages which mark the road to Lincoln, and on the west the vale of Belvoir, overhung by the wooded escarpments of the Leicestershire Wolds. It is the centre of a country which possesses some of the most beautiful village churches and the noblest houses in England. Due north of the town is Belton House, where Wren’s gifts of moderation in proportion and of masterly internal spacing are at their best; and just beyond is Syston, high on the brow of a hill, and gazing across the intervening ridges at Belvoir. Between Grantham and Belvoir are the great modern houses of Harlaxton and Denton. Harlaxton, a palace in size, is set on a terrace at the end of a straight drive which dips down from the Melton road and then rises gradually towards the house, and is backed by a view of wood and hill. And on the south, not comparing with these in size, are the beautiful little houses which the wool merchants of these parts built for themselves—Anthony Ellys’ house at Great Ponton, and Thomas Coney’s high stone mansion at Bassingthorpe, and, farther on, the larger hall which Richard Thimelby built in 1510 at Irnham. These are all within no long distance from the town, and all, except Belvoir, within the county. For those whose acquaintance with Lincolnshire is limited to its legendary reputation of flatness, fogginess, and, if one may use the word, fenniness, there could be no better object-lesson than the climb along the lane from Great Ponton to Bassingthorpe, or the walk from Harlaxton to Grantham, with the great spire of St. Wulfran’s framed, like the vignette on the title-page of a book, within the arches formed by the intervening trees.

STAMFORD

BY V. B. CROWTHER-BEYNON, M.A., F.S.A.

Of the picturesque and interesting old towns in which the county of Lincoln is so rich, it may be questioned whether any can excel, or even equal, Stamford. Though unable to claim a life-long acquaintance with this delightful, old-world borough, the present writer confesses to have quickly fallen a victim to her charm, a feeling which time has only served to increase.

Possessing, as she does, such strong claims to the attention and appreciation of the historian, the antiquary and the artist, it is small wonder that Stamford has provided the theme for a large number of printed publications, ranging from Butcher’s _Survey of Stamford_ (1646) down to handbooks issued as recently as 1907 and 1908. Chief among these must be reckoned Francis Peck’s monumental _Academia tertia Anglicana, or the Antiquarian Annals of Stamford_, a most exhaustive, albeit a somewhat wordy and diffuse work, issued in 1727. The present brief account of Stamford makes no pretension to originality, and represents merely a compilation drawn from the many excellent works which have already been contributed by other and abler hands, and to the authors of which the writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness.[82]

Situated on the banks of the river Welland, which divides the town into two unequal portions and which here forms the boundary between the counties of Lincoln and Northampton, Stamford presents the peculiarity of a town which is in two counties, in two dioceses (Lincoln and Peterborough), and under two civil jurisdictions, though the municipal borough includes the greater part of both portions of the town.

In a volume whose scope is confined to the county of Lincoln, it may savour of trespass to deal with the Northamptonshire portion of Stamford; it is, however, hardly practicable to give an intelligible account of the history of the place without some reference to “Stamford Baron” (as the part south of the Welland has been designated since the middle of the fifteenth century),[83] though every endeavour will be made to introduce as little extraneous matter as possible.

The remote history of Stamford is enveloped in a veil of romance which present-day knowledge has perforce torn rudely away. The establishment here of a British University in 863 B.C. by a British prince, Bladud, seems to rest solely on the statement of Merlin of Caledonia, writing in the sixth or early in the seventh century A.D., and the fable need not detain us further.

When we come to the period of the Roman occupation, we might, in view of the fact that the great military road, Erming or Ermine Street, crosses the Welland close to the present town, expect to find evidences of a considerable Roman settlement at this important point of the road. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that, with the exception of some comparatively insignificant discoveries to the west, between Stamford and Tinwell, nothing has at present come to light which can be said to point to the existence of a settlement in Roman times on the site of the present Stamford. Possibly the proximity to the south and north, respectively, of the important stations of Durobrivæ (Castor) and Causennæ[84](Ancaster) may have rendered it unnecessary to establish another and intermediate station. At any rate the fact remains that we cannot adduce any proof of the existence of a settlement or village here till Saxon times, and it is probable, therefore, that the name Stamford or Stanford (a name of Saxon origin, from _stan_, stone, and _ford_) is the first and only one which the place has borne. The name doubtless had reference to the ford by which, before the erection of a bridge substantial enough for horse traffic, communication between the two sides of the Welland was maintained; and though we find, as is commonly the case with place-names, many variations of spelling, such as Staunford, Staunforth, Staundforde, &c., the name has remained substantially the same.

The earliest contemporary reference to Stamford is found in a charter of Wolfere, King of Mercia, dated 664, wherein “all that part of the town of Staunforde ... beyond the bridge,” is stated to belong to the Abbey of Medeshamstede (Peterborough).[85] It appears, therefore, that even at this early date the town occupied both sides of the river, and was, we may fairly suppose, a place of some size. A few years before this, namely, in 658 (if we may believe the testimony of Prior Wessington of Durham, writing in the fifteenth century),[86] was founded the earliest religious house in the Stamford district. This was St. Leonard’s Priory, erected by Wilfrid, the friend of Oswy, King of Northumbria, and afterwards Bishop of York. Wilfrid bestowed this new foundation upon the monastery of Lindisfarne, where he had received his education, and on the removal of the monks from Lindisfarne to Durham, the Priory of St. Leonard, Stamford, became a dependency of Durham. The site of this priory (of which more anon) is about a quarter of a mile eastward of the present town.

The ninth century was a period of stress in this part of England, and Stamford was called upon to furnish a contingent of young fighters to defend the country against the marauding Danes. The Danes, however, proved too strong, and Stamford soon fell under the foreign yoke and was joined with Lincoln, Leicester, Derby and Nottingham to form the Danish “Five Burghs.”

Space will not permit us to narrate the varying fortunes of the opposing forces—English and Danes—in the almost incessant struggles which marked the period preceding the Norman Conquest—struggles in which Stamford was held sometimes by one party, sometimes by the other, and not infrequently was in the hands of both, when the river formed the dividing line between the rival camps.

In the year 972 Eadgar granted, or, it may be, confirmed to the Abbey of Peterborough the privilege of coining money at Stamford, but the exact position of the mint in the southern part of the town cannot now be determined. It is an interesting and significant fact that coins of the Stamford mint have been met with in considerable numbers in hoards found in Scandinavia.[87]

The fortification on the north bank of the Welland was doubtless originally a Danish earthwork, an English stronghold being erected by Alfred in opposition on the south side, near the present Midland Railway Station. When the Danes had secured a foothold they seem to have replaced their earthen defences by stone walls which encircled their settlement. At the present day considerable portions of the Stamford town walls are in existence, though these have obviously been reconstructed from time to time, and nothing earlier than Norman work can be positively identified in the portions still remaining. Perhaps the most striking vestige now to be seen is a round bastion on the west side of the town, near Rutland Terrace. Speed’s map of Stamford (1600) shows eleven towers in the line of the walls, together with seven principal gates and two posterns. The southern town does not appear to have ever been defended by walls, though it had five fortified gates.[88] All the gates in both sections of the town have now been demolished, the last (St. George’s Gate) as lately as 1806. The water-mill, situated near the Castle, was originally built by Edward the Confessor, and is still known as the King’s Mill, though the present structure is of the eighteenth century.

Soon after the Conquest the Danish castle was replaced by a substantial Norman building, and the site is still marked by an Early English gate and a portion of the arcaded wall of a chamber which was subsequently used as a manor court. At present the Castle site is occupied by an iron foundry, and it is among the buildings, sheds and heaps of scrap iron connected therewith, that the visitor has to search for what remains of the old mediæval stronghold. It seems a sad pity that a spot of such historic interest and picturesque position should ever have been allowed to fall into the state of unsightly neglect which characterises it to-day.

The dawn of the twelfth century saw the beginning of the long era of building in and around Stamford, the visible results of which have rendered the town so famous among generations of ecclesiologists and students of architecture. St. Leonard’s Priory, already mentioned, which had suffered severely during the Danish incursions, was rebuilt at this time, and, judging by the remains of the nave of the Priory Church (which is all that now remains), must have been a noble edifice. The west front, the portion latest in date (_c._ 1190) of the existing fabric, is one of the finest examples of its kind in the country. In the centre of the lowest stage is a blocked doorway surmounted by a round arch of four highly enriched orders. The arch is supported by groups of elegant detached shafts, terminating in foliage caps of Early English character and exquisite workmanship. On either side of this central door is another smaller recess of similar character. Above, in the second stage, is an arcade of seven round-headed arches with chevron ornament, three being open and four blocked; while over this again, in the gable, is a vesica-shaped moulded recess. Sad to relate, this beautiful old building is now doing duty as a cart-shed!

Stamford is not rich to-day in architecture of the Norman style, and St. Leonard’s Priory, a small portion of what remains of St. Paul’s Church (now used as part of the Grammar School premises), an arch on the west side of St. Mary’s Hill, known as the “Pack-horse Arch,” and a few fragments of the original Hospital of SS. John and Thomas (now incorporated in Lord Burghley’s Bedehouse at the south extremity of the bridge), are perhaps all that we can assign to this period. We must not, however, conclude from this that Stamford was ill equipped with churches and religious foundations in the twelfth century. All Saints’, Water Street, on the south side of the river, was erected in 1066, but has now entirely disappeared, while the original church on the site of the present St. Martin’s was begun in 1133. All Saints’ College (attached to Crowland Abbey) and St. Mary’s Benedictine Nunnery, founded in 1109 and 1120 respectively; St. Giles’ Lazar House (1150); the House of the Holy Sepulchre and Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene (of about the same date and with some remains still visible in a private residence known as “The Hermitage,” close to the George Hotel); St. Michael’s Priory (1156); the Hospital of St. John the Baptist and St. Thomas of Canterbury (1170); and a cell (_c._ 1200) of Peterborough Abbey, in Burghley Park (traces of which are said to remain in the kitchens of Burghley House)—form a list which, though incomplete, abundantly attests to the religious activity which existed here at this time. All the above were in the Northamptonshire part of the town. Of those on the north side, there is documentary evidence that the Church of “All Saints in the Mercat” (_i.e._ Market), so called to distinguish it from All Saints’, Water Street, was in existence in 1170, while we may assert, on architectural grounds, that the Church of St. Paul was also erected in the twelfth century. Among buildings of slightly later date we may mention the Hospital of St. Leger (1208), near St. Paul’s Church; St. Mary’s Priory, Newstead, for Austinian Canons, founded in 1230 and situated about a mile eastward of the town; and the Friary of SS. Mary and Nicholas, for Dominicans (1230), on the south side of St. Leonard’s Street—of all of which houses no traces now remain.

Of the Franciscan or Black Friary (_c._ 1250), near St. Paul’s Gate on the eastern side of the town, a small postern gate may still be seen; and of the Carmelite or White Friary (1260), situated a little to the north-east of the preceding, the picturesque gateway which now gives access to the grounds of the Stamford Infirmary but which is of later date (_c._ 1350), is one of the architectural features of the town. In 1292 the Gilbertine Canons of Sempringham, a community which has a special interest as being the only order originating in England, founded a Hall in St. Peter’s Street, on the west side of the town, a few remains of which are still visible; and in 1335 an Austinian Friary was established not far from the same spot, of which a fragment or two remain, built into an almshouse hard by. The list here given, which, it is to be feared, is somewhat in the nature of a catalogue, cannot fail to establish the fact that Stamford was an important centre of religious life during this period, an assertion which receives additional corroboration when we examine further the records of the church-building in the town.

Although Stamford can never have covered what we should now consider a large area, she possessed as many as sixteen churches, a number now reduced to six; and if those which remain may stand as a fair sample of the whole, Stamford, in her halcyon days, must have been able to furnish a veritable feast of architectural beauty. Of some of the churches which no longer exist little is recorded, as, for example, All Saints’, Water Street (already mentioned), St. Stephen’s, St. Thomas’, St. Michael’s Cornstall, St. Mary’s Bennewerk (_i.e._ within the “works” or walls), and Holy Trinity. These were all destroyed in 1461 under circumstances to be noticed hereafter. St. Clement’s (near Clement’s Gate, now known as Scotgate), St. Peter’s (situated on St. Peter’s Hill, and originally belonging to Hambleton, Rutland), and St. Andrew’s (in Broad Street), were removed under an Act of Parliament in 1553. The parishes belonging to both the above groups of vanished churches were subsequently apportioned to one or other of the surviving parish churches.

Perhaps this will be a convenient place at which to offer a few remarks—necessarily very brief and inadequate—concerning the churches which are still in existence, since no account of Stamford could be deemed complete which did not include some notice, however imperfect, of what many would deem her chief glory—namely, her Gothic architecture.

As a recent writer[89] has pointed out, it is essential that the student of the Stamford churches should bear in mind that the memorable year 1461, when the town was laid waste by the Lancastrian army, witnessed the partial or complete destruction of every church in the place; and that when the work of restoration began, the materials were re-used so far as was found possible, portions of those churches which it was decided not to rebuild being in all probability worked into the fabric of those of which the restoration was taken in hand. When we bear this fact in mind, certain features found in some of the churches can be explained which would otherwise be most difficult to account for.

_St. Mary’s Church_ occupies a striking position at the top of the hill leading from the Welland Bridge to the centre of the town. The thirteenth-century tower, surmounted by a beautiful fourteenth-century spire of the broach type, forms what many would consider Stamford’s fairest architectural possession. The arcading on the belfry and the elegant tracery in the spire lights are among the many exquisite features of this part of the building. The nave appears to have been rebuilt in the Perpendicular Period, though the material is largely of thirteenth-century date. The chancel is in the Early English style, while the chapel on the north side, of fifteenth-century work, contains a fine contemporary wooden roof which still preserves its original gilding and decoration.

_All Saints’ Church_ is favoured by its open situation, having in this respect a great advantage over the majority of the Stamford churches. Though alluded to in a document of the twelfth century, as stated above, no portion of the present fabric can be assigned to a date earlier than the thirteenth century. Of the latter period are the nave and chancel arcades and the remarkable arcading on the outside of the south and east walls. The pillars of the south nave arcade are singularly beautiful, having foliage caps surmounting banded, detached shafts. This church, moreover, is rich in monumental brasses, one of which commemorates William Browne (the restorer of this church in the fifteenth century) and his wife. Of this William Browne we shall have occasion to speak when we describe “Browne’s Hospital.”

_St. John’s Church_ is a strikingly uniform Perpendicular building, and affords an admirable example of the style. It contains a well-preserved oak screen as well as a good specimen of a timber roof, which retains some of its original colouring and has carved figures of angels under the principals. In the windows are some remains of fine old glass.