This extract is from "Samuel Lewis Topographical Gazeetter - 1831"
STILTON, a parish (formerly a market town) in the hundred of NORMAN-CROSS, county of HUNTINGDON, 12½ miles (N.N.W.) from Huntingdon, containing 710 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £11.5.10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. Stilton gives name to the famous cheese so called, great quantities of which are sold here, though it is made in Leicestershire, twenty miles off. There is a small charitable endowment for poor widows. The place takes its name from Stivecle, signifying stiff clay, according to Stukeley, and is situated upon the Roman road, Ermin-street; though formerly a market town, it has dwindled into comparative insignificance. There is a fine spring about a quarter of a mile from the town, at one period celebrated for the cure of ulcerated legs, which properties are said to have ceased; and to the south-east are the remains of an ancient circular encampment.