Tma01

North Street, Stilton.

North Street, like City Road, was once a country lane, they are both now well established and home to a variety of businesses and housing, one school, three pubs, a small hotel and village hall. In 1959 North street became a bypass from the A1 and it became a ghost village and it was almost split into two separate villages as the high volume of traffic made it almost impossible to cross the road safely.   The 90’s and the development of the A1M steered traffic away from the village and it was able to regain its village composure, leaving it with the widest village road in the country running through the middle, unlike City Road, there are no pedestrian crossings or Lollypop Lady to cross this busy street.

In 1962, Stilton held it’s first ever ‘Cheese Rolling’ event, which has since become a widely recognized, yearly tradition. It is a time when Stilton is filled with local villagers, surrounding villages and towns people congregate and people from as far as Europe come to participate in the event. Maypole dancing, stalls and fair rides can be found, consuming alcohol in the street is also commonly seen, something which is quite unique in comparison to most other streets. The entire road is closed to all traffic for the day, people living along the street have to park their cars elsewhere if they are going to use them on this day,   using the space differently from the other 364 days of the year, a range of people come to the street, many of which don’t come at any other time of the year so it transforms a relatively quiet village into a thriving, bustling place.

Stilton Country Club’(working mens club) is similar to Municipal Bar on City Road in that it no longer has the same sort of people going and activities being run. Our club now attracts many of the younger generation who seem to go to drink there because it is cheaper than any other pub in the village.   Similar again, the Muncipal Bar on City Road, activities such as crib and...