A weekly newspaper celebrated its 160th birthday with a special four-page supplement and the launch of a new community awards scheme.

The Herts Advertiser printed its first edition on Saturday 7 July 1855, under the name The St Alban’s Times and Herts Advertiser.

It cost one-and-a-half pence in old money, and contained eight pages of syndicated news – including an account of the Crimean War – which was brought from London by stagecoach for setting.

Just 300 copies of this first edition were produced, using a hand-held press at the rate of 50 an hour.

Members of the Herts Advertiser team including editor Matt Adams, pictured holding a copy of its first edition from 1855

The Advertiser has begun its anniversary celebrations in today’s newspaper, with the supplement featuring testimonials from the St Albans MP, council leader and other community figures.

The new awards are set to follow later in the year, as well as a 160th birthday party.

Matt Adams, the Advertiser’s 13th and current editor, said: “As the foremost media in the St Albans district, and the only newspaper based in the city, we are very much at the heart of the local community.

“Whether it’s through our support of the Chamber of Commerce and the City Centre Partnership, our links to the local hospice and St Albans City FC, our campaigns backing a new cinema for St Albans or opposing a rail freight depot, or our involvement with the Herts Business Awards, the Mayor’s Pride Awards and the Herts Advertiser School Awards, you can be sure to find us doing whatever we can to promote this great district in which we live – and long may that continue.”