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Coordinates: 52°29′21″N 0°17′33″W / 52.48915°N 0.29238°W
| Stilton | |
  Stilton
Stilton shown within Cambridgeshire |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| District | Huntingdonshire |
| Shire county | Cambridgeshire |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PETERBOROUGH |
| Postcode district | PE7 |
| Police | Cambridgeshire |
| Fire | Cambridgeshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | North West Cambridgeshire |
| List of places: UK • England • Cambridgeshire | |
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Stilton is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire. Stilton lies south of the city of Peterborough. It lies on the old Great North Road, 70 miles from London and was an important coaching stop in the days before motorised transport. It lies just south of Norman Cross. In 1998, the village was additionally bypassed by the new A1(M), with access limited to the A15 intersection at Norman Cross.
The village gave its name to the famous Stilton cheese. The most widely accepted explanation is that the cheese came down to be sold at the coaching inns in Stilton. In 1722 Daniel Defoe (the author of "Robinson Crusoe") ate some cheese in the village and mentioned that the place was already famous for its cheese. Traditionally it is thought that supplies were obtained from the housekeeper at Quenby Hall [1], near Melton Mowbray, and were sold via her brother-in-law to travellers in Stilton's coaching inns, namely The Bell or The Angel[2].
Today Stilton cheese is made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. The manufacturers of Stilton cheese in these counties applied for and received Protected Geographical Status (PDO) in 1996 so that production is limited to these three counties and must use pasteurised milk. Consequently Stilton cheese cannot now be made anywhere else, even in Stilton itself. This is because there had been no evidence at the time of the application for PDO 1996 that cheese using the same recipe as modern Stilton cheese had ever been made in the village. However recent evidence indicates that it is unlikely that the village would have been a centre for selling of cheese, unless cheese was also made in the area. Furthermore a recipe for a cream cheese made in Stilton in the early 18th century has since been discovered and since more than one type of cheese was usually made, it is possible that a blue cheese was also made in the area.[3]
References
- ^ Quenby Hall
- ^ http://www.stilton.org/ Silton Village site]
- ^ BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme, "Food Myths", 20 September 2009
External links
- The Bell Inn
- Stilton Village Website.
- Stilton Cheese Rolling Championships.
- About the Time Team excavation
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