Amos Gilbert and the BBC

Our Town Hall Histories project has been running for almost a year; a group of volunteers researching and telling the stories of the people associated with the Old Town Hall. Specifically the 122 donors to the building in 1821 and the court cases heard here over the almost 200 year period.

When Andy Briggs began looking into the story of William Hardwick, a farmer at Dyke who had subscribed to the building of the new Town Hall in Bourne, he came across the tale of Amos Gilbert. Amos was a farm worker who was sentenced to death for his part in a local haystack arson attack. With an appeal, this was commuted to transportation to Australia.

The story was taken up by our Heritage Consultant Theresa Workman who filled out the story with details of the Swing Riots taking place in rural England in 1830. She also followed Amos' story over to Australia to find out what direction his life took.

It's a fascinating and heartbreaking story, one which we thought would make for a great submission to the BBC's Secret Lincolnshire podcast.

We're pleased to say that Patrycja Boryka visited us here in Bourne and recorded Theresa telling Amos' story, with the podcast episode now available here: BBC Secret Lincolnshire