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Photo of Gwydir Street from Cambridge News, 1963

This Is Our Street! . Gywdir Street – about the project

A community-led, intergenerational, cultural heritage project to capture, share and celebrate the story of Gwydir Street and the Petersfield area formerly known as Sturton Town.

This Is Our Street! is a community-led, intergenerational, cultural heritage project built on the existing interest, research and knowledge about the local Petersfield area formerly known as Sturton Town – aiming to connect the local neighbourhood; encourage friendship and exchange; and capture, share and celebrate the story of our past and present – including stories around working classes, social issues, family life, migration, poverty, gender imbalances, cultural traditions, craft, war time, industrial revolution, consumption of goods, allotments and livestock.

By sharing about the project, the hope is that it inspires you in your own community history projects.

The project is produced by Gwydir Street Friends community group in collaboration with Professor Helen Weinstein, Director of local production company Historyworks, and has been made possible with the support of  National Lottery Heritage Fund and Cambridge City Council Community Grants programme.

Through a series of events, community members, primary school students, and local businesses are contributing to the project by researching, documenting and sharing the story of Gwydir Street and the surrounding area and connecting the people living in, working in, and visiting Petersfield today with past inhabitants – in particular the working-class residents from the Victorian era.

The project has made use of valuable local history resources such as Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society, the Cambridgeshire Collection at Cambridge Central Library, Mill Road History Society, Mill Road Cemetery and Capturing Cambridge.

The online archive of this programme is hosted here on Capturing Cambridge. Additional material can be found on the Edkins’ and Gwydir Street Friends websites.

Explore the project online archive

 

Get in touch if you have memories, photos or archive material that you’d like to contribute about Gwydir Street.

Explore the story of people and places on Gwydir Street.

Gwydir Street residents share memories and old photos in This Is Our Street! oral history recording

Gwydir Street Stories

Listen to oral history recordings from the community.

Petersfield students hold blue plaque artworks for Cambridge Independent feature, 2024.

Blue Plaque Project

Using census information from 1891 & 1901 and other archive material about Petersfield homes and businesses, Professor Helen Weinstein has worked with local students at St Matthew’s Primary school and members of the local community to produce commemorative blue plaque artworks and vinyl decals to tell the stories of the working class Victorian residents. You are invited to explore the blue plaques displayed on windows on participating streets: Gwydir, Ainsworth, Hooper, Kingston, York, Sturton and Sleaford.

See the Gwydir Street blue plaque artworks here.

Illustration of Gwydir Street by A Rowson.

Gwydir Street: past, present and future

See how life on the street has changed over the years – what people do for work, how many people live in a house, how long people are residents on the street.

See messages from current residents to people living here in the 2100’s.

Past events

This Is Our Street! pop-up event programme – 23 & 24 March 2024, 2-5pm, Mill Road Community Centre
Uncovering the story of ‘Sturton Town’ as part of Cambridge Festival’s Family weekend. Public street exhibitions about the Victorian occupants of ‘Sturton Town’, viewable throughout Cambridge Festival, expand on the display at the community centre.

Who Lived In Your House? – 29 October 2023, 2-5pm, Mill Road Community Centre
Community sharing and illustrated presentations from Professor Helen Weinstein, Cambridgeshire & Huntingdon Family History Society and Gwydir Street Friends about local community history research projects and discoveries, and how to use historical records such as the census to uncover your own local history!

Cambridgeshire Collection Research Visit – Saturday 11 November 2023, Cambridge Central Library

Jubilee Street Exhibition – May – June 2023, Petersfield
Gwydir Street, Ainsworth Street, and York Street displayed photographs, press clippings, and other material (including from the Cambridgeshire Collection) – offering an insight into Petersfield residents and how they have celebrated special occasions, such as coronations and jubilees, over the years. View the exhibition online here.

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

License

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

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