Location and History
The village sits astride an ancient ford on the River Derwent.
The Romans established a fort here about 70 AD, around which later developed a large linear civilian settlement focused on a bridge one mile (1.6 km) south of the present town. Iter I of the Antonine Itinerary lists "Derventio" as being seven Roman miles from Eboracum (York) which matches the distance from York. In relation to known discoveries under the town of Malton, antiquaries always assumed that Malton should be called Derventio. The remains at Stamford Bridge were not known to them, lying undiscovered under arable and pasture fields until quite recently. In consideration of this archaeological evidence, and in absence of any other possible contenders, Stamford Bridge should be considered to be Roman Derventio.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066 marked the end of the Viking era in Britain.
The settlement was called Pons Belli by the Normans, meaning battle bridge. Rents of freeholders and cottagers were recorded in 1368 and there was a common oven recorded the same year.
The A166 east-west road crossing the river at Stamford Bridge is one of the main roads from York to the East Riding and the coast. The road bridge in the village was closed on 5 March 2007, for just over 11 weeks, so that essential repairs could be carried out, in light of the enormous volume of traffic that uses it, exceptional for such an old bridge (dating from 1727). The bridge re-opened on 22 May.
In 1882 the population was 449; in the 2001 UK census the parish population was 3,394.
The village suffered from record floods in November 2000 which seriously flooded 30 businesses and homes. Flood defences have now been installed, costing £3.7 million.
The history of Stamford Bridge is covered in British History Online: Catton Kexby, Scoreby, and Stamford Bridge West, and Catton High and Low Catton and Stamford Bridge East
Read more about this topic: Stamford Bridge, East Riding Of Yorkshire
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)