Martin Stamford Baron

"MARTIN-STAMFORD-BARON, a parish in the borough of Stamford, soke of Peterborough, county Northampton, half a mile S.E. of Stamford. It is situated on the navigable river Welland, and may be considered a suburb of Stamford. A Benedictine nunnery was founded here in the reign of Henry II. by the Abbot of Peterborough. The surface is varied and well wooded. Freestone is quarried- The old Elizabethan mansion, once the seat of the great Lord Burleigh, and still known as Burleigh House, is now the residence of the Marquis of Westminster. The tithes were commuted for land under an Enclosure Act in 1795. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Peterborough, value £225. The church, dedicated to St. Martin, is of the 15th century, and contains monuments to several of the Cecil family, including the great Lord-Treasurer Burleigh. There is a hospital for a warden and 12 poor brethren, founded by William Lord Burleigh in 1597, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £100, subsequently augmented by various gifts. The charities produce about £150 per annum, which is appropriated to the support of the schools and in assisting the poor."