Norfolk Church Crawling

Monday 23rd March 2026

Filby:
Decided it was time to get back to exploring/re-exploring some Norfolk Churches. Lapsed a bit since Gill is not as mobile nowadays.
As Gill has been house-bound with this cough for ages we decided to go for a drive and to revisit the church of All Saints in Filby. The area of Filby and Mautby is where my paternal great, great grandparents Miles and Elizabeth moved to in the mid 1860’s from Hoveton where others of the family remained. They had 12 children who survived at least infancy, some into their eighties or nineties, plus a possible thirteenth who died in infancy.
The churchyard, along with St Peter & St Paul at Mautby is where many of their descendants (and my ancestors!) are buried.
Filby’s church is large, 14^th C. with a tower added in the succeeding couple of centuries. Its outstanding feature is a 15^th C. roodscreen with eight figures. My modest photo selection is from earlier visits in 2010 and 2014.
I hope to post more photos of Norfolk churches in the coming months and if anyone is interested in a bit of ‘church crawling’ do let me know.
I will also post this on the club blogsite and in the meantime would recommend Simon Knotts superb website - Norfolk Churches  - for far better details of Filby than mine, and also around 924 other Norfolk churches!

Anna Gurney

Alison Dow did mention Anna Gurney in her talk on Tuesday, so I thought a related article would be of interest.  Anna worked with Amelia Opie in forming the Anti-slavery Society in Norwich.  However, Anna was more well known as a geologist, who was disabled after contracting polio at a young age and who lived with her lesbian lover, Sarah Buxton, in Northrepps Cottage in Cromer, they were known locally as the “Cottage ladies”.  To find out more, please select the following link:  

https://norwichcastle.wordpress.com/2023/03/08/anna-gurney-norfolks-disabled-lesbian-geologist/

Ketteringham Hall

Such a lovely place to visit, especially if you like a walk and some tea and cake at The Orangery, and it is only just through Keswick off the A11.  There is a lovely view if you sit outside.  But what is the history of the hall?  The best article I could find was by Britain but Car - so not the normal historical source!  Did you know it is reputed to be the home of Lady Jane Grey - the nine day queen?  What was it’s military purpose during WWII?  And what is it’s connection to Lotus cars?  To answer these questions and learn more, please select the following article:

https://www.britainbycar.co.uk/ketteringham/339-ketteringham-hall

Earl Grey

My wife loves Early Grey Tea.  Long gone are the days when only the rich drank it.  I thought a related article would be of interest.  Where did it come from?  As is often the case, there are a number of theories.  Who was Earl Grey?  How was Bergamot oil used to flavour the tea?  To answer these questions and learn more, please select the following article:

https://tea101.teabox.com/earl-grey-tea/