Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Acle – Name Origin

    Acle – Name Origin

    After my expedition to Acle today (OK, it’s not exactly the remote hinterlands of Europe, but everything is relative at the moment), this is what The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames have to say about the name origin of the town.

    Acle, Norfolk. Acle in Domesday Book, Achelai in 1159, Acleda in 1186, Aclee in 1197. From Old English Acleah meaning oak wood.

    This sounds an easy one for the dictionary, which is clear that Acle, and other settlements which are spelled Oakley, come from the old English word for an ‘oak wood’. Others define it as oak-lea, ie, a cleared settlement or meadow by the oak trees. Either way, Acle’s history is based around oak….

    Incidentally, the Woodland Trust have a tree register at http://woodlandtrust.org.uk/, with two ancient oaks listed nearby to Acle. There are some oak trees in the UK which are older than 1,000 years old, it would have been quite appealing to have had one of that age near Acle still standing. But there isn’t, but there we go, can’t have everything…..

  • Acle – War Memorial

    Acle – War Memorial

    The town’s war memorial is located in the churchyard of St. Edmund’s Church in Acle.

    The war memorial was unveiled on 18 December 1921 by the sons of Edward Cushion and Owen Waters, two of the men who died during the First World War.

    There are 28 names from the First World War on the memorial, which is made from granite and overlooks the Norwich Road.

    An additional five names were added following the end of the Second World War. In 1995, there was a renewal of the area to mark 50 years since the end of the conflict, with steps being added to the war memorial.


    As it looked in the 1950s before the building of the steps.

  • Attleborough – Community Centre

    Attleborough – Community Centre

    This puzzled me for a while (as many things do), as I took a photo of what looked like a restored building with some interesting period doors. However, it wasn’t on the listed building register, and this is likely because it’s a fake twentieth century Tudor facade. Although, interestingly, the building behind this frontage is from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. The structure has been heavily changed and modified, but it’s a shame that more of the original structure can’t be seen. Given this internal heritage, it’s also slightly surprising that the building isn’t listed, as the bar for this is relatively low. Its lack of excitement must have been evident to George Plunkett, the photographic recorder of so much of Norfolk, as he didn’t take a photograph of it, instead focusing on other nearby buildings on this road.

  • Attleborough – Name Origin

    Attleborough – Name Origin

    After my expedition to Attleborough last week, this is what The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames have to say about the name origin of the town.

    Attleborough, Norfolk. Atleburc in Domesday Book and Atleburc in 1194. Aetla’s burg.

    The ‘burg’ here means a fortified settlement and it was under the control of Aetla. It was quite a substantial town when the Domesday Book was compiled, with 71 settlements being recorded. There’s something that can be gleaned here from how Atleburc would have been pronounced, as if every syllable in this is spoken, then it does sound similar to today’s spelling (or it does to me anyway, others may differ….).

  • Eat Out to Help Out Scheme in August

    Eat Out to Help Out Scheme in August

    I’m avoiding politics on this blog, but I’m amused by the Government’s introduction of this scheme. The reporting process is really secure, restaurants just have to tell the Government how many people they’ve given discounts to and they get a large payout. Certainly a brave use of Government funds.

    But, my favourite bit is that the Government explains that discounts can only be provided for eat-in meals. This means that takeaways cannot sign up for the scheme. However, this text is in the rules:

    “If a customer purchases a meal with the intention of eating it but then takes it away and leaves the premises, you can still apply the discount.”

    So, you can take the food away. Bizarre….

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 117

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 117

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Fam Lay

    Apparently (it says on Google), in 2020, Fam Lay is a famous rapper, but over 200 years ago, the dictionary defined this as “going into a goldsmith’s shop, under pretence of buying a wedding ring, and palming one or two, by daubing the hand with some viscous matter”. The term was used by the criminal fraternity and it seems quite a precise definition, probably never in common usage. The word ‘fam’ could mean the hand, and ‘lay’ in this instance is just a shortened version of layer, so it’s effectively a sleight of hand.

  • Attleborough – St. Mary’s Church (Theodosia Colman)

    Attleborough – St. Mary’s Church (Theodosia Colman)

    The grave of Theodosia Colman is located on a path, which isn’t really ideal, at St. Mary’s Church in Attleborough.

    Theodosia was born in 1752 as Theodosia Howes and she married William Colman on 6 February in 1778 in Besthorpe, a village near to Attleborough. Theodosia died at the age of 76 on 12 October 1828 and was buried on 18 October 1828 at a service overseen by the curate, John Fairfax Francklin.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 116

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 116

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Fakement

    This word is defined by the dictionary as “a counterfeit signature. A forgery. Tell the macers to mind their fakements; desire the swindlers to be careful not to forget another person’s signature”. It’s a word that sounds like it should exist in English (adding ‘ment’ usually means to action the first part of the word), but it also sounds as though it has been recently been made up. It actually though dates back to at least the sixteenth century, although was more commonly used in the nineteenth century.

  • Attleborough – War Memorial

    Attleborough – War Memorial

    The war memorial in Attleborough, located at the end of Queen’s Road, was designed by local sculptor AJ Harrison at a cost of £350, which was funded by public subscription. The memorial was unveiled on 27 June 1920 by Earl Albemarle at a ceremony attended by the Bishop of Norwich, which followed a service at St. Mary’s Church. Former servicemen and relatives of the dead walked to the memorial from the church whilst the Norfolk Regiment band played Beethoven’s Funeral March. At the end of the service, the Regiment band played Chopins’s Funeral March and finally, a bugler played the Last Post

    There are 101 names on the 20-foot high memorial from the First World War, with 24 names added following the Second World War and an additional name from the Korean War. The full list of names of those who died during the First World War is at the base of this post, below the photos of the memorial below.

    Barnard, Bertie
    Beckett, Leonard
    Bishop, Robert Sidney
    Blaxall, Ernest William
    Briggs, Elijah Samuel
    Briggs, Percy William
    Britnell, William Edward
    Butcher, William Clarence
    Chandler, Herbert
    Chaplin, Charles Edward
    Chapman, Bertie R W
    Chapman, George Henry
    Clarke, Alfred Bruce
    Codling, Sidney F W
    Coe, Cornelius Robert
    Crummett, Frederick E
    Cubitt, Terence A K
    Dagless, Alexander
    Dagless, Philip
    Daynes, Albert
    Daynes, Frederick John
    Dunnett, Percy A
    Dye, John William
    Eagling, Arthur Walter
    Edwards, Harry Ambrose
    Edwards, John
    Elvin, Ernest Robert
    Elvin, Syndey James
    Elvin, Wilfred Harold
    Etteridge, Robert W
    Fincham, Walter William
    Forster, Philip James
    Forster, Sidney Percy
    Gapp, Sidney Jack
    Gooda, Ernest George
    Gould, Edward
    Griffin, Arthur William
    Griffin, William Albert
    Halls, Frederick William
    Hawes, Albert William
    Hillier, Frederick William
    Hilton, William Charles
    Holman, William James
    Howlett, Harry
    Hunt, Arthur
    Hunt, Ted
    Hunt, William
    Johnson, Robert Frederick
    Lain, Frederick
    Lain, John
    Large, John Gerald
    Laurence, Alfred
    Lenney, George J W
    Lincoln, Charles
    Lincoln, Edward
    Orford, Lancelot E
    Ottaway, Walter James
    Parker, Sydney Samuel
    Patrick, Arthur
    Patrick, Edward
    Piercy, William John
    Pinnock, William
    Plumpton, Alfred
    Ponder, Bertram Thomas
    Pratt, Victor John
    Rayner, George Alfred
    Rayner, Walter Filby
    Redit, Joseph
    Redit, Sidney Charles
    Redit, Walter John
    Reeves, Arthur J
    Rudd, Henry Reginald Wallace Kingston
    Sharpe, Cecil G
    Shaw, Albert
    Shaw, Robert
    Smith, Arthur George
    Smith, George William
    Smith, Henry John
    Smith, Herbert
    Speck, Frank W
    Starke, Charles Arthur
    Stebbings, Bertram E
    Stephenson, Harold
    Stubbings, Leonard Victor
    Stubbs, Robert Henry
    Sturman, William John
    Taylor, John William
    Tillott, Leonard William
    Tufts, George Henry
    Tuttle, Harry
    Viney, Harry James
    Warner, Forbes Mackay
    Watson, Valiant A
    Webster, William
    Weir, Ronald
    Weir, William Oswald
    Welton, Norman
    Woods, David E H
    Yari, Ernest H
    Youngman, Geoffrey W
    Youngs, Percy

  • Attleborough – Thieves Lane Wesleyan Methodist Graveyard

    Attleborough – Thieves Lane Wesleyan Methodist Graveyard

    On this map of Attleborough from the early twentieth century, there’s B Gd. marked, or Burial Garden.

     

    I didn’t add much to the debate on how Thieves Lane got its name, but one legacy that remains along it is the burial garden that remains along the road. The Wesleyan Methodist church opened here in 1809 and in the following year, this graveyard was laid out. The church built new premises nearby in 1872, on Station Road, leaving just the graveyard behind in a similar manner to that in Swaffham.

    Today, the graveyard is a public park following its formal closure in 1991 for burials.

    Most of the graves have been placed by the wall of the neighbouring building.