Stukeley and Stamford, Part I: Cakes and Curiosity: the Sociable Antiquarian, 1710-1737

William Stukeley’s antiquarian interest in his native Lincolnshire has not been widely noted. He is more often associated with his pioneering work on Stonehenge and Avebury, which systematically recorded the sites and their geographical context and began the process of preserving them from destruction. However, he was a keen Lincolnshire man, like his contemporaries Maurice Johnson (the founder of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society) and Sir Isaac Newton.

This volume illuminates Stukeley’s fascination with South Lincolnshire, especially the town of Stamford. It was characteristic of Stukeley that he became deeply involved with anywhere he lived, first investigating its history and attempting to find remnants of it in the existing buildings around him, then setting up social groups to bring together like-minded local people with the intention of further study. The book brings together three texts from the early part of the career of William Stukeley, largely relating to the years he spent in the town of Stamford: the Iter Oxoniense (1710), Stanfordia Illustrata (1735-6) and the minute book of the Brazen Nose Society (1736-7). These are now brought together for the first time and presented in their complete form, with introduction and notes.