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Delve into the past with Mercury Memories
10 years ago
An engraved brick or plaque to commemorate the forthcoming wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton could be built into a planned toilet.
The Friends of Stamford Recreation Ground are hoping to install a new toilet block on the park in July if they are able to raise £78,000 through the Spend a Penny campaign.
25 years ago: February 2, 1996 â Staff at Stamford Homes are raising a glass to success after 50 years in the housebuilding business. To celebrate half-acentury in the construction trade the Stamford-based builders have launched their very own traditional brew. Pictured: Sales and marketing director Helen Jones with managing director Mick Noble, staff and the anniversary beer
Top 10 Things You Probably Never Knew About Witches
As the phrase ‘witch hunt’ still shows, the Witch Craze of the early modern period is now an infamous byword for superstition, hysteria and irrational cruelty. Yet witch beliefs and persecutions remain surprisingly misunderstood. When people talk about ‘witch burning Puritans’ for example, they wrongly assume that Puritans killed more witches than did High Anglicans or Catholics, whilst witches were almost never burned in England or America. The same goes for ‘medieval superstition’. The Middle Ages had far fewer witch accusations or deaths than the time of Shakespeare or Charles II, or indeed the Ancient Romans. Finally, although the British Witchcraft Act of 1736 outlawed official witch persecution, popular beliefs and popular violence ran on – and on, and on… Well into the twentieth century alleged witches were still in danger of their lives in Britain, Europe and North America.