St. Alban's, county of Hertford.—See Alban's, St.

ST. ALBAN'S, county of Hertford.—See ALBAN'S, St.—And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Stalbridge (St. Mary)

STALBRIDGE (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, in the union of Sturminster, hundred of Brownshall, Sturminster division of Dorset, 7½ miles (E. by N.) from Sherborne, and 111 (W. S. W.) from London; containing, with the tythings of Gomershay, Thornhill, and Weston, 1882 inhabitants, of whom 1297 are in the town. This place, in Domesday book written Staplebridge, at the time of the Conquest belonged to Sherborne Abbey. The town, and the greater part of the parish, are situated on a rock which supplies building materials for the neighbourhood; the streets are partially lighted by subscription, and the inhabitants are well supplied with water. From the south end of the main street another street diverges; and at the intersection is an ancient stone cross, 30 feet high, including the height of the pedestal, which is ornamented with sculptured emblematical figures. The body of the cross is the frustrum of a pyramid, twelve feet high, with fluted angles; it is decorated on one of the faces with a figure of Our Saviour having a lamb at his feet, and at the bottom with shields of arms, and is surmounted by shrines, in one of which is a representation of the Crucifixion. Above these are enriched canopies, terminating in a crocketed pinnacle formerly surmounted by a cross. The whole is supported on three octagonal flights of steps, which diminish in the ascent. In the park once belonging to the manor-house, the Anglesea cricket club is held; and a building has been erected for the accommodation of the members, who meet weekly during the season: the park is now converted to agricultural purposes, and is surrounded by a wall five miles in circumference. Stalbridge was formerly noted for the manufacture of stockings: several of the inhabitants are at present employed in winding silk. A branch of the river Stour, and the Dorsetshire and Somersetshire canal, pass through the parish. In the reign of Edward I. a grant of a market and fair was made to the abbot of Sherborne; the market is now on Tuesday: on every alternate Tuesday is a great market for cattle; and fairs are held on May 6th and Sept. 4th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 4. 7., and in the gift of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: the tithes have been commuted for £1200, and the glebe contains 53 acres. The church is a spacious structure, with a lofty embattled tower, and contains some ancient monuments. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Stalham (St. Mary)

STALHAM (St. Mary), a post-town and parish, in the Tunstead and Happing incorporation, hundred of Happing, E. division of Norfolk, 14 miles (N. E.) from Norwich, and 122 (E. N. E.) from London; containing 729 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises about 1600 acres, is situated on the road from Cromer to Yarmouth, and bounded on the west and south-west by the river Ant. The town or village is spacious, and a considerable trade in corn is carried on, for which there are commodious wharfs, one at Wayford Bridge, and another to the south. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5; patron, the Rev. B. Cubitt; impropriator, the Rev. R. Johnson. The great tithes have been commuted for £357, and the vicarial for £194; the glebe comprises 6 acres. The church is a handsome structure in the early and later English styles, with a square embattled tower; it has the remains of a richly-carved screen, and the font is elaborately sculptured. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. At the inclosure of the parish, 60 acres of land were allotted to the poor, who have also £20 a year arising from bequests. Part of a Roman pavement was discovered about the year 1800, to the south of the village.

Stalisfield (St. Mary)

STALISFIELD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Faversham, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 2¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Charing; containing 378 inhabitants. It comprises 2226 acres, of which 608 are in wood: the soil is generally clay, and the substratum flint rock; the surface is hilly. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.; patron and appropriator, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The great tithes have been commuted for £335, and the vicarial for £820; the glebe comprises 3 acres. The church is a handsome cruciform structure.

Stallingborough (St. Peter and St. Paul)

STALLINGBOROUGH (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Caistor, E. division of the wapentake of Yarborough, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 6 miles (W. N. W.) from Great Grimsby; containing 437 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Humber, and comprises about 4000 acres of land, the greater portion being pasture and meadow; the soil is generally clay, the surface chiefly level, and the scenery enriched with wood, of which the prevailing kind is ash. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 10. 10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln, with a net income of £127: certain tithes belonging to the bishop have been commuted for £63. 15. 5., and those of the impropriators for £90. 3.; the glebe comprises 54 acres. The church, with its tower, fell down in 1746; the chancel, and a burialplace of the Ayscough family, were rebuilt of brick, in a neat modern style. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Stalling-Busk

STALLING-BUSK, a chapelry, in the parish of Aysgarth, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York, 17 miles (W. by S.) from Middleham. The village is situated south of the Ure, in the picturesque vale of Raydale, and in its neighbourhood is the fine lake of Semmer or Seamere water. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Aysgarth, with a net income of £91: the chapel is supposed to have been built in the 17th century. At Marcett, a small hamlet about a mile west of the village, is a place of worship for Methodists.

Stallington

STALLINGTON, a liberty, in the parish and union of Stone, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill, N. division of the county of Stafford, 5 miles (N. by E.) from the town of Stone; containing 91 inhabitants. The manor anciently belonged to Stone Abbey.

Stalmine, with Staynall

STALMINE, with Staynall, a township, and chapelry, in the parish of Lancaster, union of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 5 miles (N. N. E.) from Poulton; the township containing 504 inhabitants. The greater part of the township was early held by a family of the local name, various members of which made donations of land to the monks of Furness, who seem to have subsequently acquired the whole manor, which they retained till the Dissolution. The township comprises 2138 acres, of which 333 are common land or waste. The estuary of the Wyre bounds the chapelry on the west, and Lancaster bay bounds it on the north. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Lancaster, with a net income of £267. The impropriate tithes of the township have been commuted for £284, and the incumbent's for £130. The original chapel was dedicated to St. Oswald: the present building was erected in 1806, and dedicated to St. James; it is a plain oblong structure with an open belfry for two bells, and will accommodate about 400 persons. Deer-horns have been found in the bog land; and Roman drinking-cups similar to those in the British Museum, and a spear-head, have been dug up.

Staly, county of Chester.—See Stayley.

STALY, county of Chester.—See Stayley.

Stalybridge

STALYBRIDGE, a market-town, in the union of Ashton-under-Lyne; partly in the Hartshead division of the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster; partly in the township of Dukinfield, parish of Stockport, and partly in the township of Stayley, parish of Mottram-in-Longdendale, hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester; 1 mile (E. by S.) from Ashton, 7 miles (E.) from Manchester, and 8 (N. E. by N.) from Stockport; containing about 24,000 inhabitants. The town is seated in a deep valley, extending along both sides of the river Tame, which here divides Lancashire and Cheshire, and flows into the Mersey at Stockport. The name of Staly, originally Staveleigh, is derived from an ancient family who, in the reign of Edward III., occupied Stayley Hall, a portion of which mansion still remains; the addition arises from a bridge over the Tame, that connects the two counties, and which has been rebuilt. The town has been paved, and otherwise much improved, under an act obtained in 1828, authorising the appointment of commissioners for the direction of its police affairs, &c., and by which it was constituted a market-town. It is lighted with gas under an act granted for that purpose in 1842. A spacious town-hall, combining a marketplace, was erected in 1831, and opened December 30th in that year. The hall is a stately and well-built fabric, with a handsome entrance surmounted by massive pillars; the portion of the buildings appropriated to the market contains ample and neatly-arranged stalls for butchers' meat, fish, and fruit, and a gallery for the sale of general wares. The market-day is Saturday; and four cattle-fairs are held in the year. The magistrates for the two counties hold weekly petty-sessions in the great room of the town-hall; and the Ashton-under-Lyne court of requests for the recovery of small debts, presided over by a barrister, comprises Stalybridge within its jurisdiction. A police force has been maintained since 1828.

The cotton manufacture is almost the exclusive branch of trade; and its increase, and that of the town and population, have of late years been exceedingly rapid. For several centuries, a few straggling habitations were all that constituted the place; and little improvement was observable until its situation, and its proximity to ample supplies of coal, caused it to be chosen as a site for factories. The first cotton-mill was erected by a person named Hall, in 1776, and the first steam-engine was introduced in 1795. In the year 1814 the number of cotton-mills was 12; in 1825 the number was 22: it had increased in 1841 to 33, and is now more. In 1748, the village contained but 34 houses and 140 inhabitants; at present, the town ranks as one of the principal places for cotton-spinning in the kingdom, and it is calculated that at least 14,000 persons are now employed exclusively in the manufacture. Excellent fire-bricks are made here in large quantities. The facilities of communication have extended commensurately with the prosperity of the district. The road from Manchester runs on the north side; the Huddersfield canal passes parallel with the Tame through the centre of the town, and there are two railways at present completed; one being a short branch of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire railway, and the other a branch of the Manchester and Leeds railway. A third railway is in progress, connecting the district in a direct line with Huddersfield, in Yorkshire. The neighbourhood was formerly much covered with wood; it still presents some bold and impressive scenery, and from the hills near the town, one of which is 1300 feet above the level of the water, many fine and extensive prospects are obtained. The house of Thompson's-Cross received its designation from a plain cross which stood at the junction of several narrow lanes, at the entrance of the town from Manchester.

The old living of Stalybridge is a perpetual curacy, with an income of about £100; patron, the Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The chapel, at Cocker Hill, dedicated to St. George, was erected by subscription in 1776, and is of octagonal form; its interior is remarkably light and elegant, and the elevated site upon which it stands renders it a fine object when viewed from the vale of the Tame. An additional church, also dedicated to St. George, was built in 1840, partly by a parliamentary grant and partly by subscription, at a cost of £4500; it is situated to the west of Cocker Hill, is in the early English style, with a square tower, and contains 1200 sittings, whereof 500 are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Ashton; net income, £140. At Stayley and Dukinfield are other churches. There are places of worship for General and Particular Baptists, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Methodists of the New Connexion, Independents, and Roman Catholics. A day school, under the auspices of the British and Foreign School Society, has been established; and handsome and commodious day and Sunday schools have been built by the National Society, aided by subscription. Several other schools are maintained in connexion with the dissenting congregations. A mechanics' institution, to which an excellent library is attached, was opened in 1825; the laboratory is provided with very superior chemical and pneumatical apparatus, and there is a well-arranged and valuable collection of fossils and other geological specimens, principally obtained from the coal-measures in the immediate district. Among other buildings are, a Temperance Hall, erected at a cost of about £800, for scientific lectures and a school; and a " Forresters' Hall," built in 1836, at an expense of about £2200. The chief room of the latter has a gallery and organ, with a handsome window of stained glass 72 feet in height and 36 in width. In this Hall, is an evening school for the children of the members. Besides a branch of the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, here is a savings' bank, established in 1828; the number of depositors in a recent year was 822, and the amount of deposits, £34,115. The interest of £100 was left in 1822, by the Rev. John Cape Atty, to be distributed on Christmas-day, to the poor attending Cocker Hill chapel. A petrified tree, the trunk about twelve feet in length and ten or twelve inches in diameter, was discovered in a stone-quarry in March 1831; it lay in the bed of a rock about 30 feet below the surface, and is now preserved in the museum of the Natural-History Society at Manchester.

Stamborne (St. Peter)

STAMBORNE (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Halstead, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 10 miles (N. W.) from Halstead: containing 540 inhabitants. It is about four miles in length, and three in breadth. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £15, and in the patronage of the Duchy of Lancaster: the tithes have been commuted for £500, and the glebe consists of 20 acres. The church is an ancient edifice with a tower, and has an east window of stained glass. There is a place of worship for Independents; and a national school is partly supported by an endowment from Mrs. Cole. Sir John Fairwell, governor of the Tower under William III., was interred here.

Stambridge, Great (St. Mary and All Saints)

STAMBRIDGE, GREAT (St. Mary and All Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 1¾ mile (E.) from Rochford; containing 431 inhabitants. It comprises 2545 acres, of which 1700 are arable, 388 pasture, and 12 woodland. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20, and in the gift of the Charter-House, London: the tithes have been commuted for £700, and the glebe comprises 20 acres. The church is situated on an eminence, and consists of a nave, south aisle, and chancel, with a tower and shingled spire.

Stambridge, Little

STAMBRIDGE, LITTLE, a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, l½ mile (N. E. by N.) from Rochford; containing 126 inhabitants, and comprising 601 acres. Here is a large brewery. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £12, and in the gift of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £167, and the glebe comprises 30 acres. The church is an ancient edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel.

Stamford

STAMFORD, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the wapentake of Ness, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 46 miles (S. by E.) from Lincoln, and 89 (N. by W.) from London; containing 6385 inhabitants. Its original name, Seanforde, signifying "a stone ford," was derived from the circumstance of the passage across the river Welland here being paved with stone; it was afterwards called Stanford, which was subsequently changed to its present appellation. The town is of remote antiquity, its origin being ascribed by tradition to a period long before the Christian era. The earliest authentic account respecting it is by Henry of Huntingdon, who records that the Picts and Scots, having ravaged the country to Stamford, were here defeated by the Britons, aided by the Saxons under the command of Hengist, who had been called to the assistance of the Britons by their king Vortigern. It was one of the five cities into which the Danes were distributed by Alfred the Great, when, after defeating them, he allowed that people, with Guthrum their prince, to settle in the kingdom: the inhabitants of the cities were called Fif-burgenses, or Five-burghers, and subsequently Sefen-burgenses, on the addition of two more cities. A castle was erected by Edward the Elder, early in the 10th century, on the bank of the river, opposite the town, to check the incursions of the Danes, and of the Five-Burghers and other internal enemies; but every vestige of it long since disappeared. Another castle on the north-west of the town, the foundations of which are still visible, was fortified by Stephen, during the war with the Empress Matilda, and was captured by Henry of Anjou, her son, afterwards Henry II. The town appears to have been at this period inclosed by a wall, and traces of gateways are discernible on the east and west sides: the river flowed on the south; and though there are no traces of a gate towards the north, the street is called Scot-gate, from the gate which formerly stood there.

Seal and Arms.

The barons met at Stamford in the 17th of John, to concert those measures which led to the signing of Magna Charta by that monarch. In the reign of Henry III., the Carmelites, and members of other religious establishments, here commenced giving lectures on divinity and the liberal arts, which being attended by a number of youths of good family, led to the erection of colleges, and Stamford became celebrated as a place for education. Its importance in this respect was so great, that, on dissensions occurring in the reign of Edward III., amongst the students in the university of Oxford, a considerable number of those from the northern parts of England, with several professors, removed hither. But they soon returned to Oxford, in consequence of a royal proclamation; and statutes were passed by both universities, by which any person taking a degree at either of them bound himself by oath not to attend any lectures at Stamford. A part of the gate of Brasenose College, standing in St. Paul's street, is all that now remains of the university. Stamford suffered much during the war between the houses of York and Lancaster, a great portion of it being burnt and otherwise destroyed about 1461; and it never afterwards regained its former importance.

The town is pleasantly situated on the side of a hill rising gradually from the northern bank of the Welland, across which river is a stone bridge of five arches connecting Stamford with Stamford-Baron, or St. Martin's, in Northamptonshire. The houses are chiefly built of freestone from the neighbouring quarries of Ketton, Whittering, and Barnack, and are covered with slate. The streets are lighted with gas, from works erected in 1824 at an expense of upwards of £9000; an act was passed in 1841 for paving and otherwise improving the town, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. The surrounding country is finely varied, and the approach to the place from the south is very pleasing. Stamford was visited by the Queen in November 1844, during Her Majesty's stay at Burghley. The theatre, erected in 1768, is a neat and commodious edifice, lighted with gas; there are assembly-rooms in St. George's square; and races are held annually in October, on a good course a mile in circumference, part of Whittering heath, near the town. On the bank of the river are excellent cold and hot water baths. The trade is principally in coal, rafts, malt, and beer, and is much promoted by the Welland, which is navigable hither from Spalding for boats and small barges. The Syston and Peterborough railway, completed in 1847, passes by the town, which is thus 12½ miles from Peterborough; and in 1846 an act was passed for making a railway from this line, near Stamford, to Rugby, nearly 35 miles in length. The markets are on Monday and Friday, the latter noted for corn, for the sale of which a handsome building has been recently erected; butchers' and fish markets were built in 1807, by the corporation. The fairs are on Tuesday before February 13th, the Monday before Mid-Lent, on Mid-Lent Monday, the Monday before May 12th, the Monday after the festival of Corpus Christi, and on November 8th and 9th.

At the time of the Conquest, Stamford was governed by lagemen, or aldermen; it was not incorporated by charter until the 1st of Edward IV. In 1663, a charter was granted by Charles II., wherein the chief magistrate is first styled mayor, and which was confirmed in 1685 by James II. The government is now vested in a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, under the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76; the borough is divided into two wards; the municipal boundaries are co-extensive with those for parliamentary purposes, and the number of magistrates is six. The town first sent members to parliament in the reign of Edward I., and continued to do so, with occasional intermissions, until 1542, since which period it has exercised the privilege without interruption: the borough includes the parish of StamfordBaron, and comprises an area of 2399 acres: the mayor is returning officer. The recorder holds quarter-sessions; and petty-sessions take place every Monday. The powers of the county debt-court of Stamford, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Stamford. The town-hall, rebuilt in 1776, is a large detached building, standing in the main street near the bridge, and containing a sessions-room, house of correction, gaol, guard-room, and other apartments.

Stamford at one time contained 13 parochial churches, but several in the liberties were destroyed by the northern soldiers, in 1461; and the number was again reduced, in 1538, at the dissolution of monastic institutions: under an act of parliament passed in 1547, certain parishes were consolidated, and five churches were allowed to remain. All Saints' parish contains a population of 1978; that of St. George, 1600; St. John the Baptist, 1211; St. Mary, 337; and St. Michael, 1259. The living of All Saints is a rectory, with that of St. Peter's consolidated, valued in the king's books at £12. 7. 8½., and in the patronage of the Crown for one turn, and the Marquess of Exeter for two turns; net income, £431. The church is a handsome structure combining some fine specimens of the early and later English styles, with a lofty embattled tower surmounted by an elegant octangular crocketed spire; it was built about 1465, at the expense of John Brown, a merchant at Calais, who was buried within its walls. The living of St. George's is a discharged rectory, with that of St. Paul's consolidated, valued at £5. 3. 11½.; net income, £124; patron, the Marquess of Exeter: the tithes have been commuted for £79. 5., and the glebe contains 6 acres. The church, a spacious plain edifice with a square embattled tower, was built in 1450, by William Bruges, the first garter king at arms. The living of St. John the Baptist's is a rectory, with that of St. Clement's consolidated, valued at £8. 8. 6½., and in the patronage of the Marquess for two turns, and R. Newcomb, Esq., for one turn; net income, £167. The church, rebuilt about the year 1452, principally in the later English style, has a neat embattled tower adorned with pinnacles, and a good south porch; the roof, and the screen separating the chancel from the nave and aisles, are very handsome. The living of St. Mary's is a discharged vicarage, valued at £4. 18. 9.; net income, £87; patron, the Marquess. The church, which is supposed to have been built about the end of the 13th century, on the site of one erected so early as the Conquest, is considered the mother church of Stamford; it is principally in the later English style, with some portions (particularly a very fine tower and spire) of early English architecture, highly deserving the attention of the antiquary. The living of St. Michael's is a discharged rectory, with the vicarage of St. Andrew's and the rectory of St. Stephen's consolidated, valued at £18. 14. 2.; net income, £136; patron, the Marquess of Exeter. The late church was built early in the thirteenth century. It was much altered, and an embattled tower at the west end was erected, in 1761; and in 1832, whilst the workmen were employed in improving the interior, by widening the arches and diminishing the number of pillars, the walls gave way, and nearly the whole of the roof and the body of the church fell into a mass of ruins. The present church was built on its site, and consecrated October 26th, 1836. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics.

The Ratcliffe free school here was founded by Alderman William Ratcliffe, about the year 1530, and endowed by him with estates now producing £547. 16. per annum. The remains of the ancient church of St. Paul were assigned for the school-house: in 1608, a dwelling-house, garden, and orchard, nearly adjoining, were vested in feoffees for the master's use; and in 1726, the dwelling-house was rebuilt by subscription. The school is entitled to one of the twenty-four scholarships at John's College, Cambridge, augmented by the first Lord Burghley; and Thomas, Lord Exeter, in 1613, founded three fellowships and eight scholarships at Clare Hall, Cambridge, with preference to candidates educated at Stamford school, provided they are equally qualified with their competitors.

The charitable institutions are numerous and liberally endowed. The principal is the hospital or bede-house, founded and largely endowed by William Browne, in 1493, for a warden, confrater, twelve aged men and two nurses, who are incorporated, and have a common seal. The edifice is a very neat structure, containing a house for the warden, apartments for the confrater, and rooms for the aged men and the nurses, with a chapel in which prayers are read daily by the warden or the confrater. Truesdale's hospital, in Scot-gate, was instituted in 1700, and rebuilt in 1833, for twelve men, with their wives and a nurse; and as, on the decease of any inmate, his widow must quit the hospital, the sum of five shillings a week was bequeathed by H. Fryer, Esq., to each person so leaving it, for the remainder of her life. Snowden's hospital, endowed in 1604, and rebuilt in 1823, affords an asylum to eight women: Williamson's callis, or almshouse, has apartments for ten. All Saints' callis, for men and women, is supported by incidental legacies, and by subscriptions from the corporation. Peter's Hill callis, for an unlimited number of women, is endowed by the corporation with the interest of £200, arising from the Black-Sluice drainage. The principal bequests for charitable purposes are, one of £1800, by John Warrington, Esq., for the benefit of the widows of All Saints' callis and Snowden's hopital; £3000, left by Mr. Fryer, for the poor of Snowden's hospital and Peter's Hill callis; the rent of four houses left by Mrs. Williamson, to be paid in sums of three shillings and sixpence a week each, to six women; and an estate producing £50 per annum, left by Mr. W. Wells, for the education of children under ten years of age belonging to the parish of All Saints. A handsome infirmary for Stamford and the county of Rutland, capable of receiving thirtytwo patients, was lately erected near the town, by subscription; and towards its support upwards of £7000 stock were bequeathed by Mr. Fryer, and £2000 collected by ladies at a bazaar. The poor-law union of Stamford extends into four counties, and comprises 37 parishes or places, of which 14 are in Northampton, 13 in Lincoln, 9 in Rutland, and one in Huntingdon; the whole containing a population of 17,066.

A Benedictine priory, dedicated to St. Leonard, and valued at the Dissolution at £36. 17. per annum, was established here, it is supposed in the 7th century, and refounded in the time of William the Conqueror, when it was made a cell to the monastery of Durham; the site is a small distance from the town, though formerly included within it, and a portion of the conventual church still remains. Of a Carmelite friary, instituted in 1291, the west gate still exists, a handsome specimen of the architecture of that period; the infirmary occupies a portion of the site. Part of an outer wall, and a postern, are the only remains of a convent of Grey friars founded by Henry III. A Dominican priory was founded before the year 1240, a Gilbertine priory in 1291, an Augustine priory before 1346, and an hospital, or house for lepers, in 1493. A custom called bull-running was for many years practised here on St. Brice's day (November 13th), said to have originated in William, Earl of Warren, having in the reign of John granted a meadow for the common use of the butchers of the town, on condition that they should find a bull to be hunted and baited on that day. Stamford gives the title of Earl to the family of Grey of Groby.

Stamford

STAMFORD, a township, in the parish of Embleton, union of Alnwick, S. division of Bambrough ward, N. division of Northumberland, 6 miles (N. E. by N.) from Alnwick; containing 90 inhabitants. It comprises 1560 acres, of which 230 are rich old pasture: limestone and coal are both wrought on the estate, which is the property of the Earl of Tankerville. The village is small, and situated about a mile north-east from Rennington, Embleton lying to the north; it is also about midway between the coast and the road from Belford to Alnwick.

Stamford-Baron.—See Martin's, St.

STAMFORD-BARON.—See Martin's, St.

Stamford-Bridge, East

STAMFORD-BRIDGE, EAST, a township, in the union of Pocklington, parish of Catton, WiltonBeacon division of the wapentake of Harthill, E. riding of York, 8 miles (E. N. E.) from York; containing 408 inhabitants. Near this place, in 1066, was fought the celebrated battle between Harold and Tosti, from the effect of which, and the long fatiguing march immediately after, to meet William the Conqueror at the other extremity of the island, the English army became so exhausted as to suffer defeat at the battle of Hastings. The township contains an area of 1076 acres, occupying the left bank of the navigable river Derwent, and intersected by the road from York to Bridlington; the surface is for the most part level, and the scenery embraces views of the Wold hills. A large fair for cattle and for hiring servants is held on the 1st and 2nd of December. Burtonfield House, a recently-erected mansion surrounded with plantations, is situated here; and in some gravel-pits on the grounds, have been found the skeletons of men slain in the above desperate conflict.

Stamford-Bridge, West

STAMFORD-BRIDGE, WEST, with Scoreby, a township, in the parish of Catton, union of York, wapentake of Ouse and Derwent, E. riding of York, 7½ miles (E. N. E.) from York; containing 150 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 1940 acres of land. The navigable river Derwent, on which is a large flourmill, separates this township from that of East Stamford-Bridge. The tithes have been commuted for £40. 12. 6. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Christopher Wharton, in 1787, gave £600 in support of a school, of which the income is about £22; the expense of a school-house, erected in 1795, was defrayed out of accumulations.

Stamford-Hill, Middlesex.—See Hackney.

STAMFORD-HILL, Middlesex.—See Hackney.

Stamfordham (St. Mary)

STAMFORDHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Castle ward, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 12½ miles (W. N. W.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; containing 1777 inhabitants. This parish is the finest champaign part of Tindale ward, and is about 5½ miles in length from east to west, and 4½ in breadth from north to south. It comprises the townships of Bitchfield, Black Heddon, Cheeseburn-Grange, Fenwick, Hawkwell, Heugh, Ingoe, Kearsley, East and West Matfen, Nesbit, Ouston, Ryall, and Walridge. The district is well cultivated; and contains abundant seams of coal and limestone, both of which are wrought, the latter for agricultural purposes. The village, situated in the township of Heugh, is principally of modern erection, and consists chiefly of one long broad street; in the centre is a covered market-cross, erected in 1736, by Sir John Swinburne, Bart., for a market, now discontinued. A fair is held for cattle and pigs, on the second Thursday in April; and there are statute-fairs on the Thursday before Old May-day, on November 14th, and the last Thursday in February. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 18. 1½., and in the patronage of the Crown, with a net income of £574. The church, erected about the 13th century, is in the early English style, and stands west of the market-cross; the chancel was built by the Fenwicks, of Fenwick Tower, and contains several monumental inscriptions to that ancient family and the Swinburnes. At Ryall is a chapel of ease; and a church has been just consecrated at Matfen. There is a place of worship in the village for Presbyterians, at Matfen one for Wesleyans, and at Cheeseburn-Grange one for Roman Catholics. A free school was founded in 1663, by Sir Thomas Widdrington, Knt., who endowed it with seventysix acres of land, now producing about £160 per annum.