Monday 27 February 2012

Visiting Stamford Town

The weather has finally turned for the better this week. We experienced a bit of sunshine and the wind has died down a bit so going outside is more favorable. We decided to take a drive and visit Stamford, a town about an hour away from us. This town has a reputation as being one of the best preserved late Medieval towns in Britain.

As usual one of the first things we did was locate the tourist information center and found a local map of the town. Inside there was a historic walk thru town that pointed out many of the interesting sites.


The red dots show the walking trail thru town and the green dots are the interesting sites we could find thru out the town.

As a family we enjoy doing these types of walks as you can often get a really good feel for the town. There were lots of interesting side streets and cute specialty shops along the way.






Standing outside one of the historic buildings and Daddy and the kids plotting the next stop on our route thru town.
















Below of some pictures of the town. Almost all of the building are made of limestone.





















One of the pedestrian walking districts for shopping


















Lots of interesting statues found through out the town


















Many of the old buildings date to the late 14th century.













Graveyard outside a church near the center of town. Stones were so old we could not read the dates or many names.












There are many old churches in this town, each one more impressive than the other. Just beautiful!




































Brass rubbings found inside one of the churches. These are very common here. I have never seen this in the states. These were from the 1470's and were so old you couldn't clearly distinguish some of the details.












Several churches had hand carved and painted angels on the ceilings directly over the alter. So pretty


















Many stained glass windows. I love stained glass windows, however all of these stained glass windows were installed/replaced during the Victorian period.















An old doorway found in a church



















There were a few late medieval timber frames shops.













One of many side streets we found with hidden shops

















According to the brochure we got from the tourist board the reason this town remain unspoilt was that the industrial revolution bypassed this town mainly due to the Cecil family who were the land aristocrats who owned the large Burghley House outside of town. The family discouraged expansion and modernization resulting in the railway bypassing Stamford as did much of the economic growth that occurred int he late 19th century.

We enjoyed our day out and I wish to go back to visit the Burghley House. It is still a privately owned home and does not open for visitors until mid March.

13 comments:

  1. Just gorgeous! Love the hand carved angels on the church ceiling! You must have felt like you were taken back into time with all the beauty and well preserved buildings and artifacts. Clicked a vote for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We love exploring churches, grave yard and old towns. There is so much history here

      Delete
  2. What a cool town. We usually get our information from travel books, but getting a good map at the Tourist Info is a great idea. Those narrow European walkways are so amazing. There were lots in Italy and we seem to find them many places. I'm ready for spring so we can start exploring move villages here in Germany.
    http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We use guide books as well but we almost always seek out the tourist information as you never know what they have that will be fun. We love doing the walks around the town and trying to spot the historical sites:)

      Delete
  3. You have amazing adventures. What a blessing to be in a different country learning. I love reading about them and I feel like I am sharing them with you!

    Blessings,
    Tirzah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you we are blessed and we do know how extraordinarily lucky we are:)

      Delete
  4. Thanks for the narrated photography tour of Stamford. I absolutely love history and am grateful for the sharing you do of the places you visit. Those angels are so wonderful. I have never seen angels carved like that into a ceiling.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting how one family was able to make such a change in a town for so long! I just love the stained glass and limestone buildings. I also would love to have pedestrian only shopping areas and side streets with hidden shops. I wish I had read your blog fifteen years ago. It would have been enough to actually make us move to England, like we contemplated. Now, with our older kids striking out on their own, it's not something I'd do...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Cecil family did not want the peasants to have too much, they wanted to remain the top dog in the area, so to speak. You will just have to visit England one day. YOu will love it;)

      Delete
  6. Wow, I love your field trips. I have such a desire to visit England someday. Thanks for sharing this adventure.
    Blessings to you for another informative post with great pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I truly hope you and your husband make it over one day, there is just so much to see and do. I love sharing what we have been so lucky to see.

      Delete
  7. I just LOVE the architecture! Thanks for sharing at FTF!

    ReplyDelete