Stamford Castle

William the Conqueror erected a castle at Stamford in 1068, barely two years after Hastings’ battle. These powerful motte-and-baileys must have overawed the Saxon peasantry. Yet where are they now? Stamford’s was ruinous by 1340 and obliterated under the Tudors. Only the odd trace of it can now be seen, built into what was left of a later Great Hall. Now, it serves as the town’s war memorial, which seems wonderfully apt. We look forward to the fulfilment of the psalmist’s prophecy:

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. (46:9)