Stamford, Barnack and Burghley Park, 31st May 2026

Starting in the free, long-stay car park in Wharf Road, Stamford, Scott led eight members on a 9.2 mile walk out of the town, passing the remains of St Leonard’s Priory, then between the River Welland and the railway on the Torpel Way to Barnock for lunch at St John the Baptist Church. After lunch, we walked through the Hills & Holes Nature Reserve to join the Hereward Way (aka Ermine Street) and through Burghley Park to London Road and back across the river to the start.


Thanks John for the photos.
The briefing - Wharf Road car park

St Leonard's Priory - jointly refounded by William the Conqueror and the Bishop of Durham in about 1082

River Welland

Uffington Signal Box

One of the many buildings in Barnack made from the local limestone

The Old Chapel, Barnack

St John the Baptist Church - lunch

Arising from the rubble of a mediaeval quarry, Barnack Hills and Holes is one of Britain’s most important wildlife sites.  The unique hummocky landscape of the Hills and Holes was created by quarrying for limestone. The stone, known as Barnack Rag, was a valuable building stone first exploited by the Romans over 1500 years ago. Quarrying continued in mediaeval times when the Abbeys at Peterborough, Crowland, Ramsey, Sawtry and Bury St. Edmunds all used Barnack stone, and the monasteries frequently argued over the rights to it.

Barnack Windmill is a tower mill built of Barnack stone in 1797.  Its commercial use as a mill ceased in 1914 and for a time it stood derelict. Its interior machinery survives complete and the mill was restored in 1959–62

Burghley Park.

Fine avenue of trees in the park


North and South Bottle Lodges - entry to Burleigh Park
   

Back over the River Welland