Museum Musings - A Fragile Survivor

I am currently writing a series of articles about museum objects that inspire me. I thought I would share one of these with you, HERE. As you will see, it is about an exquisite and fragile glass wine flask (pictured above) that is over 400 years old, and can be found on display within Norwich Castle Museum's Decorative Arts gallery. Having read this, maybe you will be inspired to go and see it for yourself!

Colin Howey
Chair
Norwich Community History Club

An Amazing Insight into the History of the Royal Norfolk Regiment

One of the many benefits of being a Norwich Community History Club member comes from our excellent relationship with the Norfolk Museum Service. This was in evidence once again during a recent visit to Norwich Castle Museum when we were given expert insight into the history of the Royal Norfolk Regiment by curator, Kate Thaxton and WW1 Centenary Trainee, Rachel Willis. 

Curator, Kate Thaxton, talking to some of the club members 

Dividing the group in half, Kate led a fascinating tour of the newly displayed galleries located in the Castle Museum rotunda gallery. Members felt a real sense of privilege to listen to her talking about the regiment's history with such eloquence and authority. Kate also explained the thinking behind the re-display, explaining that it was focused on the stories of people associated with the regiment. 

Rachel Willis sharing regimental archival material with club
members

In the meantime, Rachel took people to the Shirehall Study room - an adventure in itself, for those who had never been behind the scenes and walked through the modern tunnel linking museum to Shirehall. Once settled into the room, members were fascinated to look at archival material connected with the Royal Norfolk Regiment. One of the many things that caught my eye and imagination was the list of ailments from the Norfolk Regiment's Casualty Book (excerpt pictured below).

The Dohbi Itch is just one of an amazing list of potential conditions a soldier might experience.

On behalf of all of the History Club members I would like to thank Kate and Rachel for their warm welcome and fascinating insight into the life of the regiment. This is especially appreciated as they responded at very late notice to a request from us to do this visit. Thanks!

Expert Insight into The Roman Empire Exhibition

Artefacts on display as part of the amazing Romans exhibition
(All images taken with permission of Norfolk Museum Service)

Jon Maxwell

Dr. John Davies

On Tuesday 4th March, Norwich Community History Club members were privileged to have a visit to the fabulous Roman Empire Exhibition, led by Dr. John Davies (Chief Curator of Norwich Castle Museum) and Jon Maxwell, Head of the Norfolk Museums Service display team. 

It was a real privilege to have such expert insight into an exhibition such as this - the largest ever UK exhibition of Roman artefacts on loan from the British Museum. Dr. Davies began by talking to the whole group and setting the exhibition in its historical and archaeological context. Among other things, he explained how the Roman Empire was, "successful in uniting people from a variety of cultures in a unique way." 

This excellent introduction was then followed by him leading groups around the exhibition itself. Meanwhile, Jon Maxwell explained the complex coordination, teamwork and negotiation involved in putting an exhibition like this together. Talking to club members afterwards, we were all amazed at how much work, thought and skill goes into what is, after all, a temporary exhibition (finishing on April 27th). 

As one of our members said in their feedback following the visit...
"The exhibition really exceeded my expectations. I would like to go back there by myself."

I would agree that it really is worth visiting and if you haven't done so already, go and see it for yourself (details can be viewed via the live link in the first paragraph of this article). 

Our thanks go to the Norwich Castle Museum Education Team for enabling our visit in the first instance, and, of course, to the two Jo(h)ns for making it such a special experience. Thanks!

~ Colin Howey ~ 

Easy to Reach Heritage

My name is Colin Howey and I am the Chair of the Norwich Community History Club. I am also a writer for the national Heritage Open Day blog. Here, I am going to share with you some of the articles I have written for this publication. The piece I am going to share with you here is entitled, "Easy to Reach Heritage." It is about accessibility and the benefits this may bring to heritage providers. 

Please click on the following link:
Easy to Reach Heritage

Iron Age Archaeology in Norfolk

Tomorrow, members of the Norwich Community History Club will be listening to Norwich Castle Museum's chief curator, Dr John Davis, talking about the county's fascinating Iron Age archaeology. These are exciting times in this particular field of study, so I'm sure our members will find it very interesting indeed. Unfortunately, I won't be there myself, so I hope everyone has an excellent time. 

Cheers,

Colin

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

Norwich Castle Museum Visit - Tuesday 15th January.

Please click on image in order to enlarge

Next Tuesday, the Norwich Community History Club will be visiting Norwich Castle Museum. If you wish to attend you have two options. Either:

1. Meet, as usual, in Marzanos cafe in the Norwich Forum at 10:30 (we have tables booked, to the right of the cafe counter). We will then walk up to the castle, departing c10:50-10:55am
2. Meet near the Castle Museum entrance at c11:10 and wait for the other club members to arrive

Once inside, we will split into two groups. Historian and professional storyteller, Dave Tong, has very kindly agreed to assist me by leading a group around the castle keep. I will lead the other exploration of the keep, looking at the 'hidden' history of this fascinating building (including medieval graffiti and a selection of medieval prisoners' cases). 

If you are interested in joining us, please do come along. 

Best Wishes,

Colin