Poachers and the Heydon Affray

Tony Harper has suggested this topic.  This article paints an in-depth picture of a group of men who are caught poaching in the early 19th century and what happens to them.  It may be of particular interest to those members residing in Costessey.  The affray was one incident of what was known as the “Poaching Wars” during the early 19th century.  Both landowners and peasants were killed during this conflict.  A particularly vicious phase of the poacher’s war began in 1816 with the passing of the Night Poaching Act; this introduced the penalty of transportation for seven years if the convicted culprit had been armed with ‘net or stick’ and had the intent to steal rabbits or game.  This bleak picture of England by the early 19th century was, in no small measure, made worse by the collapse of wheat prices resulting in the high price of wheat that the poor struggled to pay, coupled by the increasing number of enclosures of land which greatly reduced the opportunity for supplementing the diets of the rural poor with rabbits, hares etc.  Anyway this is the background, so how many poachers were convicted after the passing of the Night Poaching Act?  What happened to the poachers?  And why were they incited into violence?  To answer these questions and to find out more information, please select the following link:  

https://norfolktalesmyths.com/2020/04/15/poachers-and-the-heydon-affray/