Rare Herald history unearthed in Tiddington

Old houses often throw up surprises during renovation and property investors Stein Paget-Wall and Paul Grundy stumbled across a rare piece of Herald history this year whilst working on a project in Tiddington.

The pair have recently completed a scheme to renovate 9 Main Street and divide it into two properties, but during the work a stash of Heralds dating back to 1863 were discovered in the bottom of an old wardrobe.

Stein said: “The building had been used as a photography studio before we purchased it, but there were certainly parts which hadn’t been touched for 50 years or so.

“I’ve found some interesting things whilst developing older properties over the years, and this find was certainly one of them.

“The stack of papers was about two inches thick and there seems to be about a year’s worth of copies, some are a bit fragile. There was also an old auction catalogue from around the same period with them.

“There is a bit of society and club news in them and articles on local matters, it’s all written in quite a matter-of-fact way, it’s not quite a sensationalist as news these days.”

The Stratford Herald has been published continuously since 1860 and past issues are stored at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust archive on Henley Street, where they are available to read.