One Thomas Savage set fire to a barn, causing quite an inferno by all reports, and made criminal history by being the last man to be hanged for arson.

This fascinating historical anecdote is just one tale that Somersham villagers are highlighting in the first heritage weekend being held in St John's Church on Saturday and Sunday (April 26-27).

Villagers who have spent long hours researching – through local interviews, hunting through public records and libraries – are inviting people from across the district to see what Somersham has been up to over the centuries and, indeed, how life is treating residents of today.

Among hundreds of photos will be one from a national newspaper revealing how, in 1942, a number of cottages in the high street literally disappeared when a wartime plane crashed.
The main street also becomes the focus for residents as a map is displayed – courtesy of Huntingdonshire District Council – to test memories.

Heritage weekend organiser Alan Draper said: "We're inviting people to write down where they remember shops were in the past."

He added: "The many displays will include photographs that show Somersham about 100 years ago alongside the same views today. There will be old maps, population data that tracks the expansion of the village over nearly 1,000 years, the history of the railway and its station in Somersham, parish registers, accounts of events and life in the past as well as many other exhibits of interest.

"The event will be taking place almost 100 years after Somersham mounted a unique pageant of its history in the summer of 1908. Nothing quite so grand this time, but nonetheless a significant event in the village."

You can also discover how the village's population blossomed during the 1970s when the number of villagers almost doubled as new housing developments attracted people to the community.
But Mr Draper, who has lived in the village for less than two years, says that despite the growth, Somersham has retained its pleasant village atmosphere.

>> Somersham heritage weekend at St John's Church on Saturday (April 26) 9am-4pm and Sunday (April 27) 12.30pm-5pm.