Stamford was in sheep country and townsfolk traded in wool and also manufactured woollen cloth and garments. The town, on the river Welland marking the border between Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, was one of the five boroughs of the Danelaw along with Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln. Unlike them it did not become a shire town, that part to the south of the Welland looking to Northampton and that to the north to Lincoln and its cathedral. Its fortunes changed somewhat when the woollen cloth trade moved more to the Cotswolds and Yorkshire. Yet, Stamford remained important being on routes both east-west as well as north-south, having the Great North Road running through it (although no longer).
William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth I's most trusted adviser, was the son and grandson of Stamford burgesses and became the first Baron Burghley. Of central interest to British manufacturing, he master-minded British patent law which provided protection to those who wished to exploit their inventions here. Many chose Britain in preference to their native land for this reason. The law gave British manufacturers vital protection for the early years of their invention. I wrote of this in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World. The image is of Burghley House, the home of the Cecils.
In the decades following the civil war, Stamford became a fashionable place for the gentry to live, but at the same time a bustling hub for all kinds of trade. Looking at the occupations of freemen at the time, textiles remained the largest but far from dominant.
The nineteenth century almost passed Stamford by. The town failed to get the north-south railway to pass through the town, the railway company choosing the Peterborough to Grantham route instead. Stamford was eventually linked by the Peterborough to Leicester line. With the exception of Blackstones, the town failed to embrace the steam age, once again yielding the advantage to Peterborough. The other downside of the railways was the much reduced coach traffic and associated spending through the town.
In the twentieth century, Blackstones was producing diesel engines, competing with Hornsby of Grantham (later Rustons & Hornsby) and Ransomes of Ipswich. Hayes & Sons manufactured coaches and JH Pick produced motor cars until 1925. In 1969 Blackstones merged with Mirrlees of Stockport keeping production in both towns under the ownership of Hawker Siddelely as Mirrlees Blackstone
Northern Electric Wireless and General Engineering Company was founded in Manchester in 1935 and shortened its name to Newage Engineers. This company bought Stamford Electrical and moved its generator business to Stamford where, in 1967, it manufactured the world's first brushless alternator. In the 1990s the company spun off its transmission business into Newage Transmissions which became an independently quoted company. Newage Engineers eventually became part of Cummins Inc.
Further reading:
Alan Rogers, The Book of Stamford (Buckingham: Barracuda Books, 1983)
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