A Curious Tale of a Natural Curiosity

A peculiar little story before I bid Stamford goodbye...

In 1806, the Stamford Mercury (which claims to be Britains' oldest newspaper) reported that a man from Leicester named Daniel Lambert who weighed in excess of 50 stone, was having a carriage built in order to 'exhibit himself as a natural curiosity'.

The naturally reclusive man charged a (then) hefty admission fee of one shilling - the profits of which, it is presumed helped pay for his servants who assisted him and specially-made clothes.

In June 1809, Lambert arrived in Stamford for the races and lodged at the Wagon and Horses Inn, where he died suddenly. Such was his size, a wall of the inn had to be completely demolished in order to remove his body.

At the time of his death, Daniel Lambert weighed 739 pounds (almost 53 stone or 336 kilos) - his waist measured 9ft 4ins, his calf measurement 3ft 1in.

He was buried in the church yard at St Martin's, Stamford and he maintains the dubious distinction of being one of the most obese men in history to this day. Items of his clothing are still on display in Stamford Museum.

Stamford Museum
Broad Street
Stamford
PE9 1PJ

Tel: 01780 766317

Setting the scene for Middlemarch

The drive across the west Norfolk flats, into Lincolnshire and around the Wash, was eerily quiet... Even RoadTour, which usually chats away at fairly regular intervals, was silent for the entire journey into Lincolnshire. So it was a relief to find civilisation once again in the form of Stamford - a beautiful, historical stone town just off the A1.

With more than 600 medieval and Georgian listed buildings lining the numerous narrow cobbled streets, alleys and picturesque squares, Stamford is virtually untouched by modern architectural influence which made it the perfect setting for the BBC's costume drama Middlemarch.

The town’s name derives from a stone ford – then the only crossing point over the River Welland - over which Queen Boudicca is reputed to have chased the Romans in AD 61. Lying as it does on the main Roman route (Ermine Street) from York and Lincoln to London, Stamford attracted many other royal and noble visitors - Sir Walter Scott described the town’s mellow limestone facade as 'the finest scene between London and Edinburgh'.

Yet in spite of all these credentials, Stamford does appear to be slightly off the tourist trail. Its streets are refreshingly devoid of the troups of American sightseers and coach loads of French exchange students which you find in just about every other English historical town.

So I felt I blended in rather well with the locals as I mooched around its pretty streets. Nestling alongside the usual high street fare, there is a great range of independent stores, boutiques, galleries and other little treasures.

I loved this florist – the cutely named ‘Miss Pickering Flowers' on St Paul's Street. Just a few doors up on the same street, there’s a fantastic deli - Simpole Clarke - which has its own refrigerated cheese room where 100 different varieties of cheese are nurtured by owner Julie Simpole Clarke.