The heatwave of 25 July 1921 has been uncovered during the refurbishment of Chelmsford Museum, Essex, in a chance find!
A builder stumbled upon the historic discovery when working on the multi-million-pound refurbishment which has been funded by Chelmsford City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. By chance he uncovered a 97-year-old copy of the Daily Mail, which had been left under the floorboards in the historic Oaklands House. To his amazement, the stories hitting the headlines at the time were reports of a heatwave sweeping the nation, with forest fires breaking out in the countryside!
Councillor Susan Sullivan, Cabinet Member responsible for the museum, says: “You never know what you’re going to discover when you’re refurbishing a Grade II listed building, but it’s amazing the builder came upon this ‘new historic artefact’ 97 years after it was published. What’s also surprising is that the news could be from today, with our current heatwave and reports of heath and forest fires!”
She continued: “What’s also fascinating about this find is that we’ve been trying to date earlier refurbishments and now we can feel fairly sure that part of the house was modernised in 1921. It also seems quite fitting that this newspaper was left by one builder 97 years ago, to be found by another in 2018.”
The Chelmsford Museum’s renovation project will see the redevelopment of Oaklands House, which will be transformed into an exciting and interactive state-of-the-art museum. The refurbished wing is due to open in 2019.
To discover more about Chelmsford Museum, visit www.chelmsford.gov.uk/museums.
