Sturmer Local History Group was established in 2011 to create an archive recording the oral and material heritage of Sturmer and as part of their Heritage Lottery Funded All Our Stories project, the group are now creating a heritage trail for the village with support from the research team at Cambridge Community Heritage.
The trail will tell the history of the village beginning with the Neolithic period and going on to highlight Roman remains at Wixoe villa, the 9th Century church with connections to the Battle of Maldon, the 14th Century pub which is still operating, and continue chronologically through to the Victoran period which saw the arrival of the railway and the building of a number of now listed buildings. The photographs shown here are of the Red Lion Pub in Edwardian times (above) and today (below).
The History Group aim to create a recreational and informative trail detailing Sturmer’s village history and natural history which will be approximately 4miles long using the disused railway line. The history of the community will be explained by interpretation boards in the children’s park, at the village hall, the church and the mere, after which the village is named (bog on the River Stour – Stourmere).
As a way of making their archive available more widely and creating a digital record of their project, the group have started loading old and new photographs of Sturmer to the website HistoryPin, which you can see here.
Historypin is a user-generated archive of historical photos and personal recollections. It is a great tool for local groups and is being used to run events and projects with families, community groups, libraries, schools, archives and museums. You can explore existing collections of photographs, audio clips and navigate tours on a streetview map compiled by other people, or you can create your own. The Historypin Local Projects webpage has ‘how to’ guides, case studies of ideas as well as activity resources available to download.
Everyone interested in the local history of Sturmer is invited to attend a meeting at 7.30 p.m. at Sturmer Village Hall tomorrow evening, Tuesday 5th March, to find out more about how to get involved with the project. You can follow the latest news from Sturmer Local History Group on their new website here.
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