Looking back at stories up to 200 years old from the Rutland & Stamford Mercury's long archive
The Rutland & Stamford Mercury once again takes a look into its long archive to find stories from years gone by.
10 years ago
People are being urged to join a public demonstration to protest against plans to close Stamford Museum at the end of this month.
Stamford Heritage Trust steering committee learned last week that its bid to take over the museum had failed when Lincolnshire County Council deemed its proposal to be unacceptable.
Now trust chairman, Stamford town and South Kesteven district councillor Harrish Bisnauthsing (LibDem) wants people in Stamford to come out on Saturday, June 25, to protest against the museum’s closure.
The museum will shut as part of the council’s cost-cutting plans and the authority will be spending £170,000 in creating a heritage “hub” in Stamford Library in High Street.
Coun Bisnauthsing is asking people in Stamford to support the trust’s campaign to keep the museum open.
He said: “We need to have a positive campaign of disruption and protest to make them aware at the county council that Stamford people are not going to take this lying down.”
A swarm of bees created a stir when they landed on a gravestone.
Traders and shoppers in Stamford were surprised to see thousands of honey bees flying over Stamford before landing on the grave in St Michael’s churchyard on Friday last week.
The Lincolnshire Association of Beekeepers was called but by coincidence beekeeper Jonathan Meyer was in town for a haircut and took care of the swarm.
Swarms may appear to be a frightening sight but they are a good thing as it shows that colonies of honey bees are thriving.
The swarms, which are harmless, are formed when honey bees move out of a hive and look for a new site to form a colony.
South Kesteven District Council contacted the Lincolnshire Association of Beekeeper but luckily Mr Meyer was passing.
He went home to pick up his equipment and started coaxing the bees into a cardboard box to remove them from the churchyard.
Mr Meyer said: “It’s a bit awkward because they are on the back of a gravestone but I’m trying to get them into the box so I can take them away.
“There could be up to 10,000 there but it’s a natural phenomenon and they don’t normally sting when they swarm.”
Building work on a long awaited skatepark could start in December if a lottery grant application is successful.
Stamford Skatepark Committee is planning to install a bowl-shaped sunken ramp on the town’s Recreation Ground.
The group is submitting a £50,000 grant application to the Big Lottery fund this month and it now has raised £102,000 in fundraising and pledged grants.
Teenagers in Stamford have been skating in car parks and in the town centre for three years following the closure of the wooden ramps at the Rec.
Committee secretary Sally Jordan is excited to be at this stage.
She said: “We can see light at the end of the tunnel. It has been three years since the old skatepark was pulled down and three years is long enough.
“We are getting so close now. The Big Lottery application is very involved and there are lots of criteria we have to meet before we get the money.”
25 years ago
Health chiefs claim Bourne Hospital will not close if a planned supermarket is built next door, the Mercury can reveal exclusively today.
Far from closing, North West Anglia Health Care Trust is bidding for a £1 million extension and improvement programme for the hospital.
Fears the hospital could be closed have come following an application by Tesco Stores to build a supermarket on the land between the hospital and the Opico factory on South Road.
And at a special meeting on Monday, a group of concerned residents re-formed the Save Bourne Hospital Action Group to fight any possible threat closure.
The group is worried the supermarket will be used as an excuse to close the hospital because of strong indications in correspondence from the previous health authority that any nearby industrial development would result in its closure.
A group spokesman added: “We are not against the development. We are against Bourne Hospital closing, and if the store is built there we fear that is what will happen. The authorities are looking for any excuse.”
But Mrs Audrey Bradford, director of service development, said : “We have no plans whatsoever to close Bourne Hospital or to move the site. In fact we have plans to improve facilities and have approached Trent Regional Health Authority for funding to develop Bourne Hospital.”
Bourne Abbey church clock is to be brought up to “the present time”.
The clock, which dates from 1883, has been wound manually twice a week by a succession of dedicated volunteers over the years.
But the Parochial Church Council has now decided it is time to install an electrically driven automatic winding system to take it into the next century.
The clock itself will not be changed but the winding of its three weights will be modernised.
The work, which will be carried out within the next three months, is expected to cost about £5,000 and the church council is hoping Bourne residents will contribute.
Canon John Warwick said: “It is a very old clock, but it is quite reliable and is never more than two minutes out. We are fully expecting to get the clock done in the next three months.
“The cost of the project will be £5,000 and we are hoping that as the clock is a town amenity everyone will contribute towards it.”
Bad weather failed to put the dampers on the Helpston Gala.
The day raised in the region of £2,400, which will help to pay for the upkeep of St Botolph’s church.
Visitors were able to wander around various stalls on the village green, including plants, bric-a-brac, tombola and books. People also enjoyed the fairground organ and swing boats and the old game of quoits.
Displays in the church included an exhibition from the John Clare County Primary School, Helpston under fives and photographs of John Clare country by Peter Moyse. There was also an exhibition of photographs of various Helpston characters organised by George Boyden.
A new event for this year’s gala was an off-road Land Rover “safari”, organised by gala chairman Stephen Jackson, taking people on a tour of Hilly Wood to see the glorious display of bluebells.
Gala secretary Jennifer Britton said: “The weather was not as good as we hoped but we were very pleased especially with the amount we raised and the organising committee would like to thank everyone who helped organise the event and those who came along to support it.”
50 years ago
The Duke of Edinburgh is to visit RAF Wittering, home of the revolutionary Harrier jump jets, on Friday, July 9.
A spokesman for the station said that Prince Philip would arrive by train at Peterborough at 10 am.
He will be met by Air Marshal H. Burton, Air Officer Commanding in Chief Air Support Command.
Prince Philip will travel by road to Wittering and the main part of his visit will be to see a Harrier site operation
To spend £13,500 on altering Bourne Corn Exchange would be a waste of public money, Coun Laurie Warner told Bourne Urban Council on Tuesday.
“The Corn Exchange was bought for £1,450 and has made losses of well over £1000 a year,” he said. “It is madness to spend another £13,500 and it is a waste of public money.
“This is for social pleasure, and we all moaned about spending £17,000 on Wilson’s folly (the bridge at Wilson’s Drove). This is one of the maddest things placed before this council.”
Coun T. N. Bates, chairman of the estates committee, said that we were living in times when facilities for leisure were most important. Although he realised that £13,500 was a lot of money, he did not think that it was wasted money.
“If we do not do something with the Corn Exchange to make it suitable for Bourne’s social occasion, we shall have people commuting to surrounding towns.
“There is nothing to match the Corn Exchange in Bourne for functions for 200 people.”
Coun Percy Wilson, along with other councillors, supported Coun Bates.
During a four-day survey 2,175 Kesteven schoolchildren took sandwiches to school for their mid-day meal.
The county Education Committee heard at Stamford yesterday that according to a survey taken during May 11 to 14, some 1,800 school meals per day less were taken by children.
This is a reduction of approximately ten per cent on the corresponding figures of last year.
The number of children who have become entitled to free school meals had increased by over 600 since the autumn term 1970 when the figure was approximately 1,300 pupils.
Total number of pupils remaining on school premises for a mid day meal had shown no significant reduction.
Quantity surveyor Alan Baker has turned an old school bus into a holiday home on wheels for just £135.
Mr Baker (27) and his wife Kathy (21), of Barnack Road, Stamford, plan to take the bus – a 1950 Bedford – to Devon and Cornwall next month.
The couple went for a trial run two weeks ago when they spent the weekend at Yarmouth.
“We bought the bus at Mablethorpe over a month ago,” said Mr Baker. “It was still being used for public transport and if we had not bought it, it would have continued its life as a school bus.”
The interior of the vehicle has been fitted with a sink unit, a cooker and beds.
100 years ago
No Sunday Letters – As from the 12th June, inclusive, there will be no delivery or despatch of letters on Sundays, and no collection will be made from the town and country pillar and wall boxes. A collection will be made from the town pillar and wall-boxes between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Mondays only, to connect with rural despatches at 6 a.m. and to all parts at 7.15 a.m. The public office will be open from 8.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for acceptance of telegrams and the sale of postage stamps. Letters will not be accepted for registration, neither will there be a delivery of letters to callers.
Fireman’s Wedding – A marriage took place quietly at All Saints’ church, Stamford, on Saturday between Mr. Walter Goodley, eldest son of Mrs Goodley and the late Mr. George Goodley, and Miss Gertrude Round, younger daughter of Mrs. Round, younger daughter of Mrs. Round, of Stamford, and the late Mr. T. H. Round, of Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent. Mr. A. Goodley (brother of the bridge-groom) acted as best man, and Miss Phyllis BaddeleY was best girl. The ceremony was performed by the Vicar (Rev. E. Louis C. Clapton, R. D.), and the bride, who was given away by her uncle, Mr. A. Baddeley, was charmingly attired in grey. Mr. Goodley is well-known in the town, holding several public offices, including borough auditor, secretary of the Volunteer Fire Brigade, and income-tax collector. Later in the day the happy couple left for Skegness,where the honeymoon is being spent.
New Triumph For Oil – The Kitson Empire Lighting Company have achieved a new and signal success with their oil vapour burner system. At the invitation of the local food controller (Mr. J. H. Bowman) they experimented with one paraffin oil burner as a substitute for coal in a baker’s oven that had not been in used for 12 months. Several unexpected difficulties were surmounted, and after the burner had been in use for four hours on the first day and four-and-a-half hours on the second day a splendid batch of bread was baked on the third day. We think we are stating no more than the fact when we observe that this is the first occasion such a result has been achieved by this means and the possibilities of development must be patent. The firm are to be congratulated on their enterprise and its successful issue, and the public may feel contented in the knowledge that should the coal supply fail utterly the means of providing them with the “staff of life” are not wanting.
Sun Causes Fire – Damage estimated at about £30 was occasioned by a fire which broke out at the house of Mrs. Bentham, 3, Park-lane, St. Martin’s, Stamford, on Tuesday evening. The outbreak is believed to have been caused by the sun reflecting on a looking-glass and setting fire to curtains. A bedroom window frame was destroyed, and a quantity of furniture, etc., was damaged. The Fire Brigade were summoned, and, under the command of Chief Officer A. Bacon, were quickly on the scene, with the hose cart and steamer, but the out-break was under control upon their arrival, and they confined their efforts to ensuring that the smouldering woodwork was extinguished. The hose cart and steamer were not required.
150 years ago
Stamford Union – There was a large attendance of Guardians at the Board on Wednesday last, the meeting being special for the purpose of rescinding a resolution that there should be two relieving-officers instead of one. The objection to revert to the arrangement in existence prior to the appointment of Mr. Rollinson to the Barnack district was avowedly to save the additional cost of the districts being again separated, which would amount to £30; and the argument in support of the resolution for two officers was that the interest of the ratepayers as well as the real wants of the poor would be better maintained by a closer examination of each case than one person could give to 37 parishes, with a population of more than 18,200, and extending over an area of 52,858 acres. If a relieving-officer, in consequence of his time and physical strength being too much taxed, should fail to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the position of each applicant’s family, the Union may easily lose a vast deal more than it is expected to gain by being too parsimonious. On a division the motion for rescinding the resolution and the election of only one relieving-officer was carried by 22 to 6.
On Wednesday last a testimonial tea meeting was held in the Wesleyan chapel, Empingham, after which a handsome silver-plated teapot was presented to Mrs. Jackson, who has gratuitously presided at the harmonium for the past three years.
We are requested to state that the cattle bought in Mr. Walton’s name at Mr. Searson’s sale were not for the Marquis of Exeter.
An interesting sight for agriculturists was witnessed in Stamford on Monday, by the working of a quantity of agricultural waggons, mounted upon springs, and made to “type” endways the same as an ordinary cart, and intended to be used with an agricultural locomotive. By means of an improved coupling they were enabled to follow each other round sharp corners very easily, and without danger to passers by. They were built by Messrs. Hayes & Son.
A concert was given in the Tallington school-room on the 1st inst. by the choir assisted by two or three friends from a distance. Miss Carroll and Miss Layton played some pleasing duets on the piano and harmonium. The singing was very good, and gave great satisfaction.
On Monday evening an address was delivered I the lecture-room of the Stamford Institution by Mr. J. C. Buckmaster, explanatory of the objects of the International Exhibition recently opened in London. The subject was handled in an interesting manner by the lecturer, who succeeded in securing the close attention of a numerous and respectable audience.
Market Deeping – The benzoline accident which occurred here on the 24th ult. outside a show has resulted in the death of the poor girl Fanny Bushell. After eight days of intense suffering, which at last produced lock-jaw, she died at 10 o’clock on the 1st inst., her 18th birthday. An inquest was held at the Bull inn on Saturday last, before Mr. Edwards, coroner, when the particulars elicited were as described in the Mercury of last week, and a verdict of “accidental death by fire from benzoline” was recorded. A liberal response has been made to the calls of the distressed condition of the family. Besides clothing, food, &c., £13 8s. 6d. has been collected.
200 years ago
To be Let, and entered upon immediately,
A Desirable and compact Tithe-Free farm, in excellent cultivation and well-watered, containing 67A. 1R. 14P., situate in Corby, in the county of Lincoln – A House, Garden, Paddock, and 8 Acres of Grass land, may be had with the above farm at lady-day next. The Stock, may, at the option of the tenant, be taken at a fair valuation.
For further particulars enquire of Mr. Cook, Irnham, near Corby, Lincolnshire. Irnham, June 4th, 1821.
G. Fludyer, Esq. returned to his tenants 10 per cent. on the whole of their last year’s rental, at his audit on Thursday the 31st ult.
Mr McAdam continues to extend his influence over the roads of the country: last week he was appointed surveyor to the commissioners of some of the principal districts in Suffolk. He has had much to contend with on the great roads in the Stamford districts, from the bad quality of the materials in the neighbourhood, but he seems at length to have triumphed over opposition. The present state of the roads is really beautiful; and the change from the condition in which they lately were, is the subject of high admiration with travellers.
A correspondent requests we will give a hint to Overseers, and to private individuals who interest themselves in the welfare of those around them, that this is the season when the old men and infirm poor of a parish may be employed advantageously to the community, and in a way not distressing to themselves, in cutting thistles and nettles in lanes and road-sides; the neglect of which work at the right season, often occasions the great spread of weeds on neighbouring lands.
Valuable and Modern Household Furniture, fine-toned Piano-forte by Tomkinson, modern-built Phaeton and Harness, Two very useful Ponies, and Effects, Stamford.
To be Sold by Auction,
by Mr. Dewar,
On Wednesday and Thursday the 13th and 14th of June, 1821, upon the premises, St. Peter’s-Hill,
All the valuable Household Furniture and Effects, the property of Dr. Sharp,who is leaving Stamford; comprising four-post and tent bedsteads and hangings, mattresses, goose-feather-beds and bedding; mahogany double and single chests of drawers, dressing tables, and wash-hand stands; mahogany dining, card, and sofa tables; sets of dining and drawing room chairs, sofa; fine-tones piano-forte by Tomkinson, billiard table, mahogany secretary and book-case with glass doors, pedestal sideboard, chimney and swing glasses, window curtains, Turkey and Kidderminster carpets, fenders and fire irons, books, fine print by Hogarth, china and glass, kitchen utensils, brewing copper and utensils, sweet casks, fine ale, and numerous other effects.
Also a handsome modern-built phaeton and harness, and two most excellent ponies, saddles, bridles, &c.
Catalogues of the whole may be had of the auctioneer.
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