As the nights draw in and Halloween approaches, Nicola Sandall and her colleagues are putting on a thick jumper, a decent pair of walking boots and perhaps a pair of gloves. They’re gearing up to celebrate the third season offering walking tours through Stamford, albeit walking tours with a difference… after dusk!

“Stamford really is a fantastic town in which to live,” says Nicola. “I was born in the town and after leaving for drama school 20 years ago, I soon found myself missing the place and wishing I was back, so I returned and began working in theatre in the town!”

“One of the best things about living in Stamford is that just when you think you know it, inside out, it can still offer up a surprise, or a story, or an interesting historical footnote.”

Of course, if you really want the inside story on Stamford, the person to talk to is Jill Collinge. For over 30 years, Jill has served as the Blue Badge guide to Stamford, offering knowledgeable tours that uncover all of its history, and offer even seasoned Stamfordians the chance to learn something new about the place.

“Jill is incredibly knowledgeable indeed!” says Nicola. “Everyone who meets her is in awe of the amount she knows about the town. About eight months prior to lockdown, Jill wanted to ensure that knowledge didn’t simply reside with one person. She also recognised that with just a single person conducting tours, the number of people that could learn about Stamford was limited.”

“She approached five of us and we were sort of apprenticed to her as guides around the town. With more of us able to offer tours, we were also able to devise new tours, like this month’s Spooky Tales Tours.”

“We had only just started working with Jill when Covid came along, and we were all locked down.”

“In a way it did us a favour as we – the new guides – used to meet over Zoom and finesse the content of the tours, and take the time to fact check our history.”

The group’s twilight tours will begin on Friday, 21st and will last for two weeks beginning at 7pm and 9pm, but with a child-friendly tour from 5.30pm too.

“When we created the Spooky Tales tour we were adamant that we didn’t want it to be a ghost walk but rather a tour that would reflect British history, local history too, and particularly things that actually happened in the town to real residents.”

“That meant not just telling stories which sound good, but making sure they were factually based, too. For that reason, we’ve checked records like newspaper reports from the time, police reports and town council records to make sure that our anecdotes are a true reflection of the history of the town, as far as records allow us to do.”

“This will be the third year we’ve run our Spooky Tales. The first year we hosted them was between the two lockdowns, when gatherings were limited to six people. The following year we attracted more people but we tended to limit them to about 12 people. We can arrange private tours for up to 20 people but we like to be able to interact with everyone.”

The Spooky Tales tours start at Stamford Town Hall and straight away audiences are introduced to some of the more in savoury locals and their fate, languishing in one of the town three gaols. The first was located in the bowels of the town hall, and by all accounts, it was one of the worst gaols in the country.

The place was extremely cramped and so a larger gaol was created on All Saints’ Place in the Victorian era. Finally, the town’s gaol was moved to the building now occupied by horologists Loomes of Stamford.

From the town hall, the group make their way over the town bridge to the Meadows, where Nicola and her fellow guides impart a few anecdotes about the Stamford Bull Run, a grizzly event by today’s standards, one which thankfully ceased in 1839.

Equally grizzly, though, was the fate of Benjamin Overton in 1801 who, in the course of baiting the bull, was thrown off the town bridge into the River Welland, only for the bull to follow him and land on him, killing the poor fellow… oof!

A similarly shocking fate befell another local man, George Waterfield, in 1811. Guiding his horse through the town, Waterfield stopped to have a snooze, with the horse’s reins tied securely to his ankle to prevent it wandering off. When the poor horse became spooked, Waterfield was dragged through the streets of the town and was decapitated.

“We’re always sensitive to the age of the children on our tours, but in fact, they usually begin hiding behind an adult at the start of the tour and then, halfway through, they’re at the front and centre, relishing the grizzly bits. Often they’re more enthralled by the scary bits than the adults!”

The Spooky Tales tour then takes in St Peters’ Churchyard, Barn Hill and the Corn Exchange, then Broad Street and St Michael’s Church. It’s at the final location from which Nicola took her inspiration for the character she occasionally dresses up as: Cassandra King was the last woman in Stamford to be hanged. Her crime was the theft of a loaf of bread… soon after it was thought she was innocent. By that time, though it was too late.

What isn’t too late, though, is the chance to book on a Spooky Tour of Stamford, and enjoy more anecdotes, grizzly facts and the of course, the look and feel of Stamford at night!