Stamford has long been lauded as a lovely stone town. Sir Walter Scott claimed that Stamford was “the finest sight on the road between Edinburgh and London” and the historian WG Hoskins said “If there is a more beautiful town in the whole of England, I have yet to see it”. More recently the Sunday Times declared it as ‘Britain’s top place to live’.

Stamford developed where the Roman Ermine Street, linking London to York, forded the River Welland. It appears as Stanford in the 1086 Domesday Book. The name means ‘stony ford’. Several Parliaments were hosted in Stamford in the Middle Ages.

Prosperity was originally based upon the wool trade and then in the Georgian era the advent of stagecoach travel along the Great North Road (now the A1). Several former coaching inns survive, their large doorways being a clue. None are more famous than the George Hotel which dates from 1597, its unique ‘gallows’ sign spanning the entire road. The George occupies the site of a medieval Knights of St John building.

In 1967 the town’s extraordinary architectural heritage ensured its place as England’s first conservation area. There are over 600 listed buildings in and around the town. Largely 17th and 18th century mellow limestone buildings with some older timber framed buildings. Stamford has the finest collection of medieval churches – five in all – of any small town in England. The area is known for its stone and slate quarries and the Collyweston stone slate is found on the roofs of many Stamford buildings.

 As seen on screen

The industrial revolution largely bypassed Stamford and its wealth of lovely buildings has made Stamford a very popular film location. Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, The Buccaneers, Da Vinci Code, The Crown were all filmed here.

Proposed Agenda

Coach departs at 9.00am from Lock Keepers Car Park and Cannon at 9.10am.

On return departs Stamford at 4.00pm.