Stamford Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

A.D. 922. This year, betwixt gang-days and midsummer, went King Edward with his army to Stamford, and ordered the town to be fortified on the south side of the river. (ASC)

Medieval town wall at Stamford, believed to have been built between 1135 and 1154. The wall may have been damaged in the "sack" of Stamford in 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, though the severity of the damage is open to question. It is clear that it was not wholly destroyed as there is later documentary evidence for residents of the town applying to make private doorways in the walls. The parts that remain show evidence of modern restoration and coping. (PastScape)

Town Wall to North of North Walk House II Town Wall, C1300, raised C1720. Section of town wall, coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. 18 metres of 2 metre high rubble wall with 5 buttresses and 3 gargoyles. The wall was raised in ashlar C1720 with a coped top. To the left 3 metres of further rubble walling with quoins and a gateway with plank door. This section has stone slate coping. The original section to the right has a deep earth bank to the rear, reached up a flight of 15 stone steps with a single square pier with ball finial. (Listed Building Report)
West tower of mediaeval walls, near site of St Peter's Gate. At angle of street. Coursed rubble, 3 stages. One slit opening in top stage. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005007, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number li108
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1360072 , 1062903
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 347829; 904687; 904693; 904700; 904684; 904578; 506192; 506144; 508515.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 30628 and others.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 137
  Osborne, Mike, 2010, Defending Lincolnshire: A Military History from Conquest to Cold War (The History Press) p. 50, 51
  Purton, P.F., 2010, A History of the Late Medieval Siege: 1200-1500 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 299
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 24, 45, 60, 68, 88-9, 93, 190, 267
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 63
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 145
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 266
  Mahany, C., Burchard, A. and Simpson, G., 1982, Excavation in Stamford, Lincolnshire 1963-1969 (London: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 9)
  RCHME, 1977, 'Castle' and 'Town walls' in An Inventory of Historical Monuments: the Town of Stamford (HMSO) p. 3-5 online transcription, (plan) plate 57
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 67 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 122
  Allen, T., 1934, History of the county of Lincolnshire Vol. 2 p. 319
  Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p. 216 online copy
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 231
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Mahany, C. and Roffe, D., 1982, 'Stamford: the Development of an Anglo-Scandinavian Borough' Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies Vol. 5 p. 197-219 online transcription
  Mahany, C., 1978, 'Stamford Castle and Town' South Lincolnshire Archaeology Vol. 2 p. 1-32 (whole issue)
  Phillips, C.W., 1933, The Archaeological Journal Vol. 90 plan opp p. 381 online copy
  Armitage, E., 1904, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol. 19 p. 209-245, 417-455 esp. 434 online copy
Guidebooks
- Stamford Civic Society, 2006, Outside Saint Peter's Gate (Interpretation board) online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Ingram, James, (ed) 1912, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Everyman Press, London) AD922 view online transcription (Ingram's translation and notes date from 1823. More recent translations of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles should be consulted for serious study)
  Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1833-44, Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in turri Londinensi (1204-24) (Record Commission) Vol. 1 p. 370b Vol. 2 p. 26 (grants of timber) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1258-66) p. 155, 469; (1266-72) p. 121; (1292-1301) p. 512; (1307-13) p. 493; (1327-30) p. 136; (1330-34) p. 523; (1350-54) p. 237 (murage grants)
  Rotuli Hundredorum_ (Record Commission) Vol. 1 p. 357 (misuse of murage) Translation, by David Roffe, of extract
  online copies of CPR (A grant of murage in 1251 (CPR (1247-58 p. 103) usually attributed to Stafford may have been Stamford)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 300
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 89 online copy; Vol. 5 p. 5 online copy

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