Given the time of year, here is an article that explains the origins of Christmas and how it has been celebrated through the years. You will probably know some of this but it will be a good refresher:
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-christmas/
I undertook a walk of the Castle Fee with Colin on Monday and I thought a related article would be of interest. The Castle Fee is an area outside the Keep that is controlled by the Crown and is normally defined by a stone wall for defensive purposes, very much based on the Motte and Bailey principle, the Motte being a mound with a Keep on it and the Bailey being the walled courtyard outlining the extent of the Fee. The city would have control of the area outside of the Fee. There were instances where you could reside inside the Crown jurisdiction, commit a crime outside the Fee and walk free! The Fee ended in 1345 when the military purpose of the castle diminished and the Crown started selling off their land to the city authorities.
Here is an article that shows you the extent of the Castle Fee and the early history of the castle. I didn’t realise that it was subject to at least two sieges:
https://norwichcastle.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/a-castle-fit-for-a-king/
Here is an interesting article on Norwich Cathedral. A great deal of this information you will know but a refresher is always useful. The section on graffiti and curses is particularly interesting. Colin gets a mention so the information is from a good source. Please select the following link:
https://burialsandbeyond.com/2019/06/18/hidden-curses-and-witch-graffiti-at-norwich-cathedral/
Colin brought my attention to this the other day on one of his Heritage Walks when we were walking around St John Timberhill. They can take many shapes and sizes but fundamentally they mean the same thing. Many think it is War Office-related, but it is in fact an OS benchmark (BM) and a means of marking a height above sea level. Surveyors in our history made these marks to record height above Ordnance Datum Newlyn (ODN – mean sea level determined at Newlyn in Cornwall). If the exact height of one BM was known, the exact height of the next could be found by measuring the difference in heights, through a process of spirit levelling. They can be found cut into houses, churches, bridges and many other structures. There are hundreds of thousands of them dotted across Great Britain, although we no longer use them today.
I came across this castle a couple of years ago when walking with the Ramblers. The remains are quite impressive including the keep and the circular moat. It is well worth a visit. The castle was built in 1176 by William d’Albini, a Norman Baron and supporter of William The Conqueror. D’Albini also built Castle Rising and he built a new town to service his new castle but what was it called and how did this town become wealthy? To find out more, please access the following link:
https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/norfolk/castles/new-buckenham-castle.htm
You may have seen this story on the national news recently. In early 2019, seven metal detectorists found a cache of 2,584 coins dating to the Norman Conquest in southern England. Now, the nearly 1,000-year-old silver pennies have sold for £4.3 million—making them the most expensive treasure ever found in the United Kingdom. To find out more, please select the following link:
Here is an article to supplement Andrew Tullet's talk of two weeks ago. It outlines his quest to log and photograph all the Norfolk village signs - there are supposed to be 520 in all. Please select the following link:
Here are some pictures from the above which I did for the first time this week. It’s a worthwhile tour and you get to see an original medieval street sitting under the Shoe Box on Castle Meadow. This street was built in a time when London Street and the Back of the Inns was the castle ditch. You can see from the pictures how narrow the street was. The tour can be booked out of the Shoe Box.
One of the characters that stuck in my mind from John Vigar’s talk is William John Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, the 5th Duke of Portland. He was a man who was a recluse who liked tunnelling, he even built a tunnel from his house, Welbeck Abbey, to the local railway station. By all accounts he oversaw the digging of over twelve miles of tunnels in and around his home. Here is an article if you would like to find out more about this strange man:
You may recall that St Michael at Thorn on Ber Street was badly damaged during the Baedeker Raids in 1942 and then taken down and replaced with a car park, well here are some pictures of what it would have looked like if it was still standing now:
https://www.invisibleworks.co.uk/blitz-ghosts-st-michael-at-thorn/
I have just discovered the Invisible Works website and here is an interesting article from it. Please take time to explore the website as there is a great deal of good stuff on it:
Here is an article of some famous people who have visited Norwich. Some visitors you will know of but others you may not. From John Cleese to Margaret Thatcher they have come to Norwich, to find out more please select the attached link:
https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/23788943.john-cleese-thatcher---famous-faces-visit-norwich/
I visited the above and also toured Sandringham House the other day. I have lived in Norfolk for over forty years, although still regarded a foreigner by my wife and thought it about time I toured Sandringham House and St Mary Magdalene Church. It was a lovely day and the tours were interesting, Sandringham House had lots of expensive crockery and tapestries that has been acquired by Alexandra, Edward VII's wife when they set up home there in the mid 19th century. You can even see a jig saw that Queen Camilla has started and presumably will finish at Christmas! Unfortunately you weren’t allowed to take any photos in the house but I am able to share some photos of the church with you. There are lots of commemorations to the monarchs since Queen Victoria in the church but the only royal buried there is Prince John the son of George V and Queen Mary who died of epilepsy at a young age. Anyway here are some of my pictures of the church and a link if you would like to read some more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary_Magdalene_Church,_Sandringham
I visited Cromer last week and found the information boards around the town very interesting. There was a board on Cromer during the Second World War and I didn’t realise that it was bombed five times. Bearing in mind that there were no military targets in or around Cromer that I am aware of, I assume that this was targeting the population of Cromer with the view of affecting morale. Anyway here are some photos of the results of the bombings:
I must admit I didn’t know what a Bone Mill was, so here is an interesting article about Narborough Bone Mill. Where did they obtain the bone from and what was it used for? They even imported human bone but where from? The smell must have been gruesome which is why the mill was located in a very isolated position. To find out more, please access the following link, also take time too explore this website that also has a huge amount of information on Norfolk windmills, watermills and steam pumps:
http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/narborough-bone-mill.html
We discussed the Great Blowe in our session on the English Civil War on Tuesday and it was the Bethel Hospital that was built on the derelict site after the explosion. So who provided the funds to build the hospital and when was it built? It was the first public psychiatric asylum outside London but who were its inmates? And which famous Norwich architect remodelled the hospital? To find out the answers to these questions and more related information please select the following link:
https://www.edp24.co.uk/things-to-do/mary-chapman-and-the-bethel-hospital-norwich-1454762
Another interesting article from the Norfolk Women in History website is on somebody who I know little about, Alice L’estrange. It was very hard to be a famous woman in the 17th century but this lady managed the household and estate accounts of Hunstanton Hall during the English Civil War whilst her husband and sons were away fighting. She even found time to have eight children as well. To find out more please select the following link:
https://norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/alice-lestrange/
I visited St Michael and All Angels with Colin on Monday. It was a lovely morning to spend in the Norfolk countryside and it was a very interesting church to explore. A couple of the highlights are in the photographs below. The first is medieval graffiti in the shape of daisy wheel circles inscribed on a pillar. These circles are meant to capture evil spirits. A tool similar to a compass was probably used to make the circles virtually perfect. Below the bottom circle there is a horse inscribed which isn’t easy to see - Andrew Eeles spotted the horse when he visited the church some years ago.
Here are pictures of the beautifully painted 15th century rood screen at St Michael and All Angels. There are twelve figures, six on each side, and they depict three saints and nine of the Orders of Angels.
The north range features (left to right in first photo): St Apollonia with her pincers and tooth, II: St Sitha with her household keys, and then four of the orders of angels: III: Powers, IV: Virtues, V: Dominations and VI: Seraphim. Partnering this last, the south range (second photo) begins with VII: Cherubim, and then continues VIII: Principalities, IX: Thrones, X: Archangels and XI: Angels, before finishing with XII: St Barbara holding her tower. The exquisite beauty of the angels' faces is accentuated by the fact that two of them, Dominations (V) and Seraphim (VI), have their faces unrestored, and remain as they were when fundamentalist members of the congregation here scratched them out in response to the Injunctions against Images of the 1540s. Memorable too are the monstrous creature at the feet of Powers (III), the urine flask held by Principalities (VIII) and the naked sinners cosying up to Angels (XI).
Here is a link if you would like to learn more about the church:
http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bartonturf/bartonturf.htm
Stay Healthy!
Regards
Mike
An interesting website worth exploring is: https://norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/norfolk-women-in-history/. There are lots of names which I know nothing about. One of those is Amelia Opie. We all know of Opie Street but who was Amelia Opie and what was she famous for? Did you know she was a quaker and why did she give up writing fictional novels? The answers and much more are in the following article:
If you are like me and you thought the Little Cockey and the Great Cockey were the same river, then prepare to be educated by the following article. There is also an interesting map of Norwich with the rivers flowing through it:
Here is an article on the above. A feminist and politician, Dorothy was one of two children of Alderman George Jewson JP, a coal and timber merchant. She was the first female MP for Norwich. She was influential in obtaining the voting rights for younger women and was a Norwich Counsellor from 1929 to 1936. To find our more please select the following link:
Here is an article to supplement our visit to Bungay on 25th June. The article reinforces our guide, Chris Reeve's messages regarding Earl Bigod, The Butter Cross, the castle, the great fire and of course Bungay is the only town in the UK with a town Reeve. To find out more please select the following link:
Colin did a recent Heritage Walk about the fires of Norwich recently and included the fire of 1507, which some including Professor Carole Rawcliffe contest that it was 1508. You may recall we showed a talk by Carole Rawcliffe on this subject matter last year. Anyway here is an interesting article on the fire which virtually destroyed Elm Hill and had quite significant repercussions on the city:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/norfolk.history.tales.myths/posts/6727530763929239/
Here is an article that provides the history of boating on the Broads up to 1900. When did boating for pleasure start on the Broads? What was a “lateener” yacht? What led to Wroxham becoming known as the “Capitol of the Broads”? When was a wherry first used for pleasure trips? There were far less trees because the wherry men had cut them down. Small steam launches and larger passenger steamers began to be built and became a common site on the Broads. What was John Loynes famous for? And when were ladies expected to rise so that they didn’t see any men bathing? To learn more please select the following link:
http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/pre1900history.html
I learnt from a friend the other day that the origins of the Nuffield Trust go back to William Morris, the car manufacturer tycoon. I am sure that a number of us have benefited from this trust over the years, so I thought an article on it’s history would be of interest:
https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/about-us/our-strategy-and-plans/our-history
It was interesting to learn about the history of Jarrolds on Tuesday. So if you are confused with your John Jarrolds over the generations or want to recap on the history then please select the following link:
https://www.jarrolds.co.uk/about-jarrold/history/1700s
I was on a Ramblers walk today and we stopped off at Earlham Hall so I thought an article would be of interest. This Jacobean house was where Elizabeth Fry grew up as it was the home of the Gurney family. It has also been a home for nurses, a hospital, the home of the UEA and a law school. To find out more please select the following link:
As the weather is starting to get warmer, an ice cream may appeal to lower your temperature. Do you eat your flake first or like me, push it into the cone for later? Anyway did you know it all started with the Ancient Greeks? How did they store ice cream during warmer weather? When was the first ice cream recipe in England? The answers and much more are in the following article:
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/we-all-scream-ice-cream
I recently attended Caister Hall and wondered what its history was. A rectory has been located on this site since 1612 built by the Pettus family. The current building dates to late 18th century and was built by Horatio Dashwood who became the parson in 1803. In 1948 it became a country club and hotel and is currently owned by Brasteds. To find out more please select the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d0Kykxg2rmAl1bq7SR5gOob43kgBFBc7/view
After the interesting talk by Dale Wiseman on Tuesday here is some supplementary reading. Lucy certainly had a fascinating life from being a showgirl to brushing shoulders with royalty, the development of the Spitfire and flying over Everest. Please select the following link:
Well we had Argos last week so I thought the history of Tesco might interest you. Who was it’s founder? What are the origins of the name TESCO? The whole business concept was to provide affordable food to the population - you may feel they have strayed from this principle recently! Anyway to find out more please select the following link:
Here is an article that I sent out a few years ago which outlines the history of Argos from Green Shield Stamps to online shopping. Who was the founder of Argos? And where did the name come from? The answers are in the following article:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/05/argos-story-green-shield-stamps-tesco-sainsburys
The John Innes Centre moved to Norwich in 1967 and has been an important part of the city ever since. The story of John Innes goes back to the start of the 20th century and involves a property developer, a Cambridge biologist and plant genetics. To find out more please select the following link:
https://www.jic.ac.uk/about-us/history-of-plant-microbial-science-at-john-innes-centre/
Here are some ideas for a picnic although they might be saturated in calories! In her now-famous Book of Household Management published in 1861, the writer Mrs Beeton outlines her "bill of fare for a picnic for 40 persons”. Meat, fish, and pies would be on the menu but what types of pie and what was in the sandwiches? What did they have for dessert and did they drink alcohol? All is revealed in the blow article:
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/victorian-picnic-guide/
You may have heard of Black Anna, the landlady of the Jolly Butchers on Ber Street. She became famous for her jazz renditions in the pub and people flocked to see and hear her perform. She was from Italian descent and her real name was Antoinette Hannent and it looks like that she learnt about jazz from the U.S. servicemen during WWII. Sadly she died in 1976 and the pub closed in the same year. Here is a film of her being interviewed and also performing, the performances are at the start and the end of the film, just select the Watch For Free button:
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-life-and-music-of-black-anna-1973-online
Here is an article that provides more information about Black Anna:
https://norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/antoinette-hannent-black-anna/
Adrian O'Dell mentioned this canal in his talk as part of the development of the industry within North Walsham during the 19th century. Opened in 1826, for a short period the canal was an important means of transportation from Antingham to the River Ant at Wayford and thereon to Great Yarmouth. Such cargoes as corn, flour, timber, cattle cake and animal feedstuffs were transported along this waterway until it was cheaper to move these cargos by train or road. Here is an article that explains it all:
https://www.northwalshamheritage.org.uk/north-walsham-and-dilham-canal/
I visited the Quaker Meeting House on Upper Goat Lane today with Colin. It was the first time I have been inside and I have included some photos below. It was no surprise to find it to be very plain and practical and it was interesting to discover the history of the building that was built in 1826 and also the history of the Quaker burial ground at Gildencroft. Here is an article that explains it all:
http://www.staugustinesnorwich.org.uk/History_-_The_Quakers.html
I went on a Heritage Walk with Colin today and in one of his books he had the following diagrams which show the shape of church window arches and the period they relate to. The early English arches are 13th century, the decorated ones are 14th century and the perpendicular arches (where the baluster goes all the way to the top) are 15th century. I have always wanted a simple and easy way to identify the age of a church in most cases and this is it. Of course there are exceptions but this is the general rule. Hopefully you will find this useful:
I’ve been reading about the rioting that occurred in Norwich during the Georgian period. It was a period of significant social unrest and Norwich had a reputation of being a hotspot. Here is an article that describes one incident which came about after the introduction of the Corn Laws of 1815. The latter was introduced to charge import duties on grain from overseas and also to keep the price of home grown grain high to promote political power and land ownership - it all sounds like a recipe for large unrest amongst the poorer masses:
Here is old article worth repeating. Did you know that Thomas Bignold was squeezed out of control of Norwich Union by the Board and his sons? What were the antics of Samuel’s rascal son? Was Charles Bignold a willing participant in Norwich Union? And how long did the Bignold’s control the organisation for? If you don’t know the answers, and even if you do - select the link below:
https://joemasonspage.wordpress.com/2016/07/10/norwich-union-the-bignolds/
Somebody suggested an article on the above at the last meeting but I cannot remember who it was - sorry whoever you are! Anyway I do like to honour requests. We probably all know how hard you had to work in Victorian times, so hard that a lot of people had to get married at Christmas as it was the only time they could get two days off! Here is an article that explains more:
https://thecowkeeperswish.com/2018/12/08/christmas-weddings-in-victorian-england/
