Visiting Norwich Castle Museum

Club members listening to storyteller, Dave Tong, in Norwich

Castle Museum keep ground floor basement

I must admit, due to the weather conditions, I was a bit worried about the turnout for today's session. However, my worries were soon allayed as, once again, we had a fantastic response, with over twenty people coming along. 

Our visit to Norwich Castle Museum was really enjoyable. We split into two groups: one 'led' by me, the other, by my former museum colleague, and friend, Dave Tong. Knowing all too well that the two of us have voices like foghorns, we started on different levels in the keep and gave very different tours. I can't speak about the content in Dave's sessions, but, obviously, I'm pretty well placed to share a bit of my one. 

One of the things I covered were accounts of prisoners alleged crimes in the early 1300s. Using, as my main source, Barbara Hanawalt's 'Crime in Medieval East Anglia' (Norfolk Record Society, 1976), I shared some of the material from the Norfolk Gaol Delivery Rolls from this period. For instance, Gervaise de Swanton and his wife, Joan, were asleep in bed when a gang of burglars broke into their room. One of them - William of Mileham - was wielding a 'hatchet' (an axe). He went to strike Gervaise as he lay in bed. However, Gervaise must have somehow deflected the blow, for the record described how the hatchet got stuck in the (presumably, wooden) head of the bed. In the meantime, Joan, leapt out of bed and, knife in hand, stabbed William of Mileham in the head. He died instantly. She was subsequently arrested and taken to Norwich Castle Gaol to await trial. I asked the group what they thought the outcome of the trial was, and then shared the outcome with them. That's just one of several cases we examined.

At the end, Dave - being a professional story teller - kindly agreed to share a story with us about an old and wily man who gave some powerful officials in a (fictional) castle good reason to consider carefully what they wish for. He received well deserved applause for his tale. Afterwards, Club members I spoke with said how much they had enjoyed the experience. 

We would like to thank the Norfolk Museums & Archaeological Service (particularly, Colly Mudie from the Education department) for facilitating our visit and for making us feel so welcome. Thank you NMAS for enabling access to our group!

Here is some of the feedback members gave in our comments book as we enjoyed a cuppa afterwards:

"Really enjoyed it! Very interesting and nice for me to keep learning more knowledge"
"Always learning new things and meeting new people"
"Fascinating! Very enjoyable and a I learnt a lot."
"Informative, exciting, different day. Good storytelling from Dave 'Ding Dong' Tong."

Ding Dong Tong! I haven't heard that one before, but his name seems to ring a bell. If anyone else who attended wants to leave any further feedback please feel free to do so - either, via the comments section below (all comments are moderated) or via my email: colin.howey@norfolk.gov.uk)

Thanks!
Colin