The ''Stamford Mercury'' (also the ''Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', the ''Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', and the ''Rutland Mercury'') based in Stamford,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, claims to be "Britain's oldest continuously published newspaper title", although this is disputed by '' Berrow's Worcester Journal'' which was established in 1690 and ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...

'' first published in 1665. The ''Mercury'' has been published since 1712 but its masthead formerly claimed it was established in 1695 and still has "Britain's Oldest Newspaper". Three editions (Stamford and The Deepings,

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

, and Bourne) are published every Friday. The ABC circulation figure in 2011 was 16,675.

History and ownership

Stamford Mercury Limited was acquired by Westminster Press Provincial Newspapers in 1929 and divested to the East Midland Allied Press for £57,500 in 1951. From 1980, it was merged into EMAP Provincial Newspapers and from 1985, it was reorganised into Welland Valley Newspapers. In 1996, EMAP divested 69 newspapers including the ''Stamford Mercury'' to Johnston Press in a deal worth £211 million. In 2007, the Welland Valley stable transferred to fellow group company, East Midlands Newspapers. In 2017, the ''Mercury'' along with 12 other publishing titles and associated websites in East Anglia and the East Midlands transferred to Johnston Publishing East Anglia pending disposal of that company to Iliffe Media for a gross cash consideration of £17 million. An edition of the ''Mercury'' from 22 May 1718 is the earliest newspaper in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

's newspaper reading room, The Newsroom.

Archives

The ''Mercury'' possesses the largest archive of any provincial newspaper. It contains over 15,000 newspapers and is complete from the middle of the 18th century. It also holds substantial numbers of annual volumes and individual copies prior to that, dating back to 1714. Since 2005, the archive has been in the care of the ''Stamford Mercury'' Archive Trust (www.smarchive.org.uk). The Trust received a grant of £305,000 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

to undertake a five-year conservation programme. The Trust set out to

microfilm A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

every known copy of the ''Stamford Mercury'' in existence. Access to the archive is free for personal research. A copy of the complete microfilm run of the paper is available at Stamford Library.

References

External links

*
''Mercury'' archive

Iliffe Media
{{Authority control Newspapers published in Lincolnshire Newspapers established in the 1710s 1712 establishments in England Companies based in Stamford, Lincolnshire Publications established in 1712

History and ownership

Archives

See also

References

External links