Stamford Town Hall volunteer creates calendar of events which give glimpse into town’s history

If you’ve ever wondered what was happening in Stamford hundreds of years ago, a new project will give a glimpse into the past.

Heritage enthusiast Ursula Jones has been a volunteer at Stamford Town Hall for more than 10 years - a role which has led to some interesting discoveries.

After coming across hundreds of fascinating stories and events, she is creating a calendar of ‘noteworthy occurrences’ for every day of the year.

Ursula said: “The information belongs to the town people.

“People don’t always realise what the town hall does and they have had no reason to find out because it’s not like a borough council where you go to discuss things such as housing. In democratic terms it’s a parish council.

“This will be a very good way of showcasing what history we have here.”

Just like each little detail is recorded now by the council staff, documents give a rich history of what was going on throughout the years.

There are bright posters advertising shows and events, newspaper clippings and coroners’ reports.

The event for January 2 was the opening of Stamford’s first coffee shop in 1880, which was located in the shop now home to Barnado’s and offered tea, coffee and cocoa for 1p a cup.

The Royal Mint transporting thousands of pounds worth of coins through the town is the notable occurrence for January 25 and on April 6, 1874 an Easter Monday gala was held on the Recreation Ground involving hot air balloon, donkey racing, and old and young ladies running for prizes.

Other snippets such as nuisance pigeons and coroner’s reports all still make the news today but other aspects of town life were much different.

Victoria Newton, culture and heritage officer at Stamford Town Council, said: “You realise how wild living in Stamford was.

“We see it now full of coffee shops and lovely architecture but you realise there were people of all levels of society - sometimes struggling to get by and facing huge tragedies and setbacks.

“You can imagine how vibrant the town was.”

On this day (Friday, February 7) in 1903 a Scotgate Baker, Mr Reed, a brought pride to Stamford by winning the gold medal for excellence and purity in cottage bread at a national competition.

His bakery, a two-storey stone building with a bakehouse in the garden, had been serving the town for nearly a century.

“A true triumph for a man whose loaves became part of Stamford's rich history,” said Victoria.

The dates span from the 13th to 20th Century, and for some days Ursula is struggling to choose her favourite event while for others she is still searching for a notable occasion.

Once the project is completed the snippets of history will be shared on Stamford Town Council’s social media.

“Artificial intelligence can’t do this,” said Victoria.

“It really revolves around humans accessing the collections.”

Heritage work at the town hall is all contributing to bringing back a museum to Stamford, a project which Victoria has been working on since she was employed by the council in 2023.

The Lincolnshire County Council-run museum in Broad Street closed in 2010, and moved a small number of exhibits to Stamford Library.

In 2019, discussions started about Stamford Town Council opening a museum using the collections and a committee was set up towards the end of 2021.