All three iconic buildings, as well as the Lincolnshire market town of Stamford, were built using the beautiful, honey-coloured Clipsham Stone. Clipsham is similar to Bath stone in that it's an oolotic* limestone formed in the Jurassic era.
Today, Stamford is widely regarded as one of the finest stone towns in England. There are now over 600 listed buildings here, made from mellow limestone. The existing street pattern has essentially remained the same since Saxon times, although it is now lined with Medieval, Jacobean and Georgian buildings.
The reason, apparently, that Stamford had so many Medieval churches is that it was one of the five Danelaw boroughs (with Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln and Leicester) and was also a Royal Borough. This meant rich benefactors could commission churches.
This is Treak Cliff, the only place in the world where the rare and beautiful mineral Blue John has been found. Treak Cliff is made of limestone rock from the Carboniferous period and is around 359 million years old. Blue John is about 290 years old.
The Great Stone of Fourstones, or the Big Stone as it is known locally, is a glacial deposit on the moorlands of Tatham Fells, England, straddling the county border between North Yorkshire and Lancashire, near Bentham in the District of Craven.
Stamford prospered under the Normans with an economy based mainly on wool; it was particularly famous for its woven cloth called haberget. The town's excellent communication routes via the Great North Road and via the River Welland to the North Sea ensured the success of its trade.
Hackney is home to one of the largest Charedi Orthodox Jewish communities, outside New York and Israel. The Charedi community was established in Stamford Hill in the 1920s, growing significantly during the Second World War as new arrivals fled the Holocaust.
A quintessentially English town, Stamford has been the setting for various novels, films and TV series, including Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice and The Crown. Come set jetting with us to see some of the lovely locations used in these productions, and the history of the buildings featured.
Stamford regularly features in The Sunday Times list of the best places to live in the UK and was crowned as the best place to live in the Midlands in 2021.
Mazeras is a popular cladding stone whose origin is coastal Kenya and it's mined from the ground in sheets. It has graduated from mainly being used around the compound to decorating walls inside houses or offices. It comes in yellow/brown, red, black, and green colors.
Limestone is a popular choice for church construction due to its light colour and soft texture, which makes it easy to carve intricate designs. Some of the most famous limestone structures in the world include the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
Whinstone (dense igneous stone) is used in buildings and boundary walls, as pinning stones, and for paving. Sandstone and whinstone rubble boundary walls are a feature of the conservation area.
And while there are ultra-Orthodox doctors, many of whom immigrated from abroad or found religion later in life, a Hasidic doctor who grew up in a local Hasidic community is as rare as a unicorn. For Yehuda Sabiner, the path to medical school was an unorthodox one.
Stamford is usually thought of as posh and upmarket by outsiders. Some of it is. Most of it isn't. It is not run-down like many towns of a similar size.
Some of the best places to live in Stamford, CT include Springdale, Glenbrook, and Shippan Point. Springdale is a great choice if you want to get that “small-town” feeling, while staying close to the action of the city. Glenbrook is more urban, with a pretty even split between homeowners and renters.
The unique nature of Stamford and the qualities it possesses means it is attracting an increasing number of house buyers and holidaymakers from the capital. This has caused house prices to skyrocket and according to Rightmove the average house price in the town has increased by 4% in just a year (2020-2021).
Recent research shows that the two oldest stone circles in Britain (Stenness on Orkney and Callanish on the Isle of Lewis) were constructed to align with solar and lunar positions. Most sites do not contain evidence of human dwelling, suggesting that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies.
A menhir is a single upright prehistoric stone monument, similar to a stele. Saint Raphael has many examples of these stones dating back five thousand years. Menhirs, most likely contemporary to dolmens, were monoliths erected for largely unknown reasons.
In addition to sapphire, ruby and possible diamond, the country has yielded topaz, beryl, and many varieties of semi-precious stones including cairngorm, amethyst, garnet, tourmaline, agate, zircon, 'Blue John' flourite and jet. There is also an unconfirmed report of Scottish emerald.
