On the bus to Stamford - Scotgate

As Delaine’s 301 bus approaches All Saints Church it makes its way from the crossroads and down Scotgate – this was once the road north – hence its name. Cross over the road from your stop  at All Saints and you will come upon the old Scotgate Pub. This was rebuilt over 150 years ago when Phipps’ Brewery decided to open a wine and spirit store. And what a building! Using the best terracotta from local Blashfield’s factory, which also supplied the bricks for the V&A and other national landmarks, and resplendent with an ornate parapet boasting Phipps’ trademark, the Northampton Coat of Arms. With a large carriage entrance to facilitate the delivery of goods into the building, the store prospered until 1936 when it closed down, opening a year later as the Scotgate Arms. It carried variations of the name until the early years of the century when it was gentrified and opened as Cromwells. Its life as a pub came to an end and with the splendid facade intact it became the studio of the design agency Dsquared.

In a previous article we looked at the influence of the Brownes in the town, and Stamford was lucky to not only have one major Tudor benefactor but three. Farther down Scotgate you come across the beneficence of Thomas Truesdale, a lawyer who died in 1700. He had built Truesdale’s hospital as an almshouse for six poor men who were to receive clothes and a weekly payment funded by Truesdale’s estates in Morton and Baston. Over the years this expanded to eight but by 1832 it was decided that the buildings were in too bad a state of repair and they were replaced with almshouses designed by London architect George Basevi; they could accommodate twelve men and a nurse. Truesdale’s coat of arms is above the entrance together with the initials Th and T for his name. Comparisons have been made with William Browne – they both lived in the same house, 3 Broad Street (at different times), both founded almshouses and both are buried in the south chapel of All Saints Church.