Marshland surrounded by an industrial zone are the site for digs that have revealed remains more than 3,000 years old. The little museum in the visitor centre has a wonderful exhibition of bronze spears, harnesses, bracelets and pots.

Ancestral home of the Brudenell family, whose famous son was at the head of the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. The house dates back to the 16-17C. Situated around a central courtyard, it was enlarged in the 18 and 19C. The largest part is the great hall of 1571, with splendid Renaissance décor and a miraculously well preserved ceiling. The miniscule oak room is more intimate and houses some charming portraits of women and children.

The story of Stamford embraces its Saxon origins up to its starring role in a BBC television serial, Middlemarch, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by George Eliot. In a more macabre vein are the life-sized wax models of Daniel Lambert, the fattest man in England at the time weighing 330 kilos, and one of the dwarf, Charles Stratton, nicknamed "General Tom Thumb".

These are the oldest of the university's central buildings. Old Schools, the School of Law and Theology, was given a Palladian façade. Senate House is a blend of Roman Wren and new Palladianism by James Gibbs.