Northfields was the first proper suburb of the town. It was made possible after the Marquess of Exeter agreed to the enclosure of the open fields in 1875.Until 1871, the whole area north of the town had been open fields. Most of the country had been enclosed much earlier. When the Enclosure Act was passed an explosion of building began, houses started being built gradually in the Northfields of the town over the next 30 years. This development became the first suburb of Stamford. Local builders, Woolston, Rouse, Hilliam and Hinson bought plots, local brickyards supplied the bricks and polychromatic brick patterns were often used.

William Rouse

Thomas Woolston

All the houses had been built by 1910 on the following new streets –

• Vine Street,
• Kings Road,
• Conduit Road,
• Queen Street,
• Recreation Road,
• Emlyn’s Street,
• Bentley Street,
• Alexandra Road,
• Princes Road
• and Stanley Street