Week2: Maps, Chats, Muddles & Puddles

Dr. Carole Hill, talking to Club members about
Francis Blomefield's county history

Another great turnout for this, the second meeting of our new history club. I want to thank every one who made the effort to join us on what was a wet and windy day. 

From now on we will always meet for the first half an hour or so in Marzanos cafe, in the Norwich Forum. We sat around our respective tables and folk seemed to be chatting away nicely. Not wanting to over-direct things, I left people to just catch up and socialise (meeting and mixing is an important part of this Club). I also took the opportunity to invite people to leave feedback about last weeks presentation by historian and storyteller, Dave Tong. Here are a couple of excerpts from that exercise:

"Dave was rubbish..." Only kidding! Here's the real feedback:

"Dave was brilliant - more than living up to his storyteller reputation. Knowledgable and very interesting."

"Excellent, really enjoyed it. Interesting and funny."

I think we should get Mr. Tong back at some point - in fact, I'm meeting with him tomorrow and will attempt to bribe him to return with the irresistible offer of baked beans on toast at the All Saints Cafe (no expense spared at this Club!). 

Back to today: having supped and socialised, we went up to the library's meeting room, where the Community Librarian, Clare Agate, awaited. As she took small groups into the strong room to view a little of the amazing Norfolk Heritage Collection (see video in previous post), those remaining looked at a large copy of the first map of Norwich (Cuningham's 1558 map); the two Norwich volumes of Francis Blomefield's 'History of Norfolk..." (1805) and a late nineteenth century copy of the Eastern Daily Press (reporting floods in the city). 

Clare had expected me to talk authoritatively about the Cuningham map; however, I started by muddling Chapelfield with Cowholme, whereupon Sophie (from HEART), quite rightfully sensing my 'upside-down-ness' (ie my ineptitude!), stepped in and talked us through some of the salient features, answering questions from the group (I meekly shut up - it's a strength to be aware of one's limitations... that's what I tell myself, anyway).  

Dr. Carole Hill then very kindly talked about the uses and limitations of Blomefield's seminal 'History', from the perspective of the historian. Although it is important to be aware of Blomefield's biases, errors and omissions, he had access to a lot of records that no longer exist - and that makes his work a very useful resource indeed. Although the 'Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk' (draws breath... gasp!), is now available online (see HERE), you can't beat connecting with the real books, in all their musty authenticity. 

Finally, we looked at some contemporary coverage of the 'great flood' in Norwich, as recorded in the EDP of November 1878. This event happened before the more famous flood of 1912, after which the river Wensum was widened in order to help prevent further inundations. Hundreds of people were made homeless as a result of the rising waters. This is well out of living memory now, but reading the account in the paper made it feel vividly real. 

~ Colin Howey ~