This week at The Archive we have added 228,457 brand new pages from across the United Kingdom and Ireland, with five brand new titles joining us from Wales and England, including the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald. Meanwhile, from Callender to Croydon, from Liverpool to Louth, from Merioneth to Matlock, we have updated 46 of our existing titles.
So read on to discover more about both our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to find out more about an Easter weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon in the late 1890s.
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We start our journey through our new titles of the week in North Wales, in the market town of Holywell, Flintshire, with the Flint & Holywell Chronicle. Part of the historic Chester Chronicle series of newspapers, the Flint & Holywell Chronicle appeared every Friday at the cost of 40p, with dedicated health, environment, business and sport sections.
Winning the title of ‘Welsh Weekly Newspaper of the Year’ in the late 1990s, the Flint & Holywell Chronicle also reported on the latest from the Welsh Assembly, as well as publishing a TV Guide and an obituaries section.
In 2006 the title was merged with the Deeside and Mold and Buckley editions of the Chester Chronicle to form the Flintshire Chronicle. Although affiliated with the Chester newspaper, which traces it origins all the way back to 2006, the editorial content of the Flintshire-based newspaper is entirely separate.
From Wales to Cornwall now, and we’re delighted to welcome a new addition to our collection of Cornish newspapers, which is the St. Ives Weekly Summary. A charming publication, the St. Ives Weekly Summary, or to give it its full name of the St. Ives Weekly Summary, Visitors’ List and Advertiser, was founded in 1888 in the seaside town and port of St. Ives, Cornwall.
Filling four pages, the newspaper cost only one halfpence, and published the railway timetables for the town on its front page. True to its name the St. Ives Weekly Summary featured a ‘Weekly Summary’ of events in the town, with updates from church meetings, notifications from the town’s police force, and tidings of those who had passed away over the last seven days.
Meanwhile, the newspaper also contained correspondence, news on the fishing trade, the latest from the St. Ives Petty Sessions and details of visitors to the seaside town.
We remain beside the sea to introduce our next new title of the week, but we travel from the West Country to the South East of England, to Kent, and the port town of Sheerness, to introduce the Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser to The Archive. Sheerness lies on the Isle of Sheppey, an island off the north coast of Kent, and its newspaper the Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser was founded in 1858, two years before the first road link between the island was established with the construction of the Kingsferry Bridge.
Liberal in its politics, the Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser appeared every Saturday, at the cost of just one penny. The first ever edition of the newspaper was published on 16 January 1858, the inaugural editorial declaring how ‘every exertion shall be used to make it as a correct an organ of local information, and as much a Sheerness Paper as possible in so confined a space.’ The publication contained news from the County Court, correspondence, ‘Town Talk’ from London, as well as news from further afield.
Circulating in ‘Sheerness and East Kent generally,’ the Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser is published to this day as the Sheerness Times Guardian, continuing to represent the town of Sheerness and in its inhabitants. Indeed, the publication regards itself as ‘an independent voice on Sheppey and a forum for Islanders’ views and opinions.’
Our penultimate stop on our tour of this week’s new titles is in London, where we are delighted to welcome the Hammersmith & Fulham Independent to our collection. The ‘No. 1 paper serving Hammersmith, Baron’s Court, West Kensington, Shepherd’s Bush and Fulham’ in West London, the Hammersmith & Fulham Independent was a local edition of the West London Independent.
Filling over twenty pages, this newspaper contained the news from the local area, as well as extensive classified columns, a television guide and a motoring section.
Our final new newspaper title of the week brings us to Warwickshire, and the birthplace of the bard himself, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald. Established in the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1860, this traditionally Liberal newspaper appeared every Friday and circulated in ‘Stratford-upon-Avon, South Warwickshire, East Worcestershire, and North Gloucestershire.’
By the 1880s, the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald was priced at three halfpence, consisting of eight pages. It reported on the news from both at home and abroad, as well as publishing special interest pieces on agriculture, sports and pastimes, and wit and humour. The newspaper also printed local news, a ‘Ladies’ Column,’ correspondence, ‘Gossip from the Capital,’ poetry and railway timetables. Finally, the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald published ‘District Intelligence’ from the likes of Alcester, Henley-in-Arden, Shipston-on-Stour, Chipping Camden, Coventry and Bidford.
The Stratford-upon-Avon Herald is published to this day, with its promise to ‘get to issues at the heart of the community,’ as well as to ‘cover the lighter side of life.’
That’s it from our five brand new titles of the week, but more treats are in store for you as we have updated 46 of our existing titles. Of special note are the new pages that we have added to special boxing title the Boxing World and Mirror of Life, whilst we have also added new pages to specialist Irish titles the Dublin Sporting News and the Lady of the House. Northern Ireland sees new pages added to the Weekly Examiner (Belfast), whilst we have updated one of our historic Scottish titles, the Callender Advertiser.
Our biggest update of the week comes to the South Wales Echo, to which we have added over 20,000 brand new pages. Meanwhile, we have added new pages to four of our other Welsh titles, including the Merioneth News and Herald and Barmouth Record and the Gwent Gazette.
An Easter Weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon – April 1896
In 1896, Easter Day fell on 5 April, and a few days later, our brand new Stratford-upon-Avon newspaper the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald reported on the Easter celebrations in the town. It revealed how the holiday was blessed with ‘perfect…climatic conditions,’ with ‘excursionists’ flocking to the area.
The article surveyed the visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon, describing how:
On Good Friday the town was full of cyclists, one striking feature being the number of lady devotees of the art in evidence, but, as usual, there were few railway trippers. On Monday the town was alive with all sorts of conditions of visitors – railway, cyclist, and vehicular, while there was quite an exodus of Stratfordians by the trips on the two lines out of the town.
For those who remained in Stratford-upon-Avon, however, there were more attractions ‘ahweel this year than ever.’ Visitors could attend a football match between the Association Reserves and Henley-on-Arden, whilst the river proved to be, as ever, a ‘great attraction.’ The Stratford-upon-Avon Herald tells of how the river was ‘crowded for the best part of the day with boats, manned by oarsmen expert and otherwise,’ whilst ‘the new steamer was well-patronised.’
With high volumes of traffic on the river, there were a ‘number of collisions,’ with one couple being tipped out of their vessel into the river by the church. Fortunately, a Mr. Davies, who rented out boats, and his son, were able to quickly lend assistance to the immersed couple, who were ‘conveyed to the Black Swan, and were able to leave in the evening none the worse for their ducking.’
Meanwhile, the parish church of the Holy Trinity was suitably decorated for Easter, with the ‘font, choir stalls, screen, pulpit, high and side altars being a-glow with primroses, azaleas, arum lilies, jonquils, and other blooms of the season, while other parts were decorated with moss and ferns.’
It was a busy time for the church. On Good Friday there was a matins service at eight o’clock, whilst a three hour service was conducted between twelve and three in the afternoon, with a children’s service in the evening being held. On Easter Day itself, services were held at six, seven and eight o’clock in the morning, with a children’s service in the afternoon, which was followed by evensong.
The following day, on Easter Monday, the town saw ‘brisk business’ at its refreshment houses, and then, in the evening ‘the visitors were all safely packed off again to their respective destinations.’
Find out more about how your town and ancestors marked the Easter holidays in the pages of our Archive today.
New Titles
| Title | Years Added |
| Flint & Holywell Chronicle | 1999 |
| Hammersmith & Fulham Independent | 1998 |
| Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser | 1858-1865, 1867-1893, 1897, 1912 |
| St. Ives Weekly Summary | 1893, 1901, 1903-1905, 1907-1910, 1912-1913 |
| Stratford-upon-Avon Herald | 1881-1884, 1888-1889, 1891-1898, 1911, 1936-1938, 1940-1944, 1946-1950, 1969, 1971-1972, 1974, 1984-1986, 1989-1999 |
Updated Titles
This week we have updated 46 of our existing titles.
You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.
You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page. You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.
