© William Morgan

Stamford Racecourse, looking down the straight mile at Stamford, the home of the Cecils, Earls and Marquesses of Exeter. Burghley House is approximately one mile, carrying straight on. Racing started nearby, or on the course, in Henry VIII's reign, took place on a number of occasions, even regularly, in the 17th century and continuously from 1701 to 1874. (The town of Stamford (90 miles (145 km) NNW of London) is in Lincolnshire although the course itself, in the parish of St. Martin's, has been in Cambridgeshire since reorganisation in 1974, previously Northamptonshire, the old Soke of Peterborough).

© William Morgan

The stand at Stamford, built shortly after 1766 was restored in 1803 after damage by a stay of the Rutland Local Militia. It became a ruin after the cessation of racing in 1874, until it was restored once more in the 1990s. The top is obviously alien. It is less than 40 feet (13m) long, so was only for the great and good, with the weighing room underneath.