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  • Norwich City Centre to Earlham Cemetery (and back)

    Norwich City Centre to Earlham Cemetery (and back)

    I decided last week to make an effort to walk to some of the places in Norwich which I haven’t managed to go to, or haven’t realised existed until recently. I called them micro-adventures, although they’re not overnight ones. I’ll be glad when Nathan and I can get going on the next GeoGuessr challenge (where we select a random location using GeoGuessr and just go there on public transport and see what happens), I liked those  🙂

    Anyway, I was more on the lookout for things that I’ve never noticed before, so this walk was a little random. But there we go….

    I’ve walked by this sign in the Cathedral Close many times before and never noticed this plaque noting where the Cathedral Bell Tower used to be. Unfortunately, the tower was taken down in the late sixteenth century, otherwise it could have made for quite the sight for those entering the Close.

    At the moment, due to the latest reconstruction of Tombland (which seems to partly involve changing the last reconstruction from a couple of years ago), the Erpingham Gate in the above photo is temporarily taking all the traffic into the Close whilst the Ethelbert Gate is closed.

    This cut-through between Tombland and Princes Street shows the slightly wonky nature of the buildings here. I’ve walked this many times, I just like it….

    A plaque for the Maddermarket Theatre that I’ve never noticed before. As the sign notes, the theatre’s building started off as a Roman Catholic Chapel at the end of the eighteenth century, before becoming a theatre in the early twentieth century.

    And a sign noting where William Kemp morris danced his way to Norwich, apparently jumping over the wall of St. John the Baptist church to finish his adventure in 1600.

    The cut through underneath the church tower of St. John the Baptist Church.

    Another one of the city’s interesting markers showing where pubs once stood, in this case, the Farriers Arms between 1830 and 1895.

    In this case, the pub is actually still there, now trading as the Belgian Monk.

    A mural on the back of a wall on what I think might be the rear of Guildhall Tesco Metro, depicting the Castle, Cathedral and City Tower, part of the ‘City of Stories’ tagline.

    And another new one on me, this plaque is located on Dove Street and notes that it’s where Anthony de Solempne set up his printing business when he moved to Norwich from the Netherlands. It was de Solempne who printed the first book in Norwich, Belijdenisse Ende, a book in Dutch meaning ‘a Confession of Faith’.

    The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Norwich was designed by George Gilbert Scott, also called St. John the Baptist, with this one being the second largest Catholic Cathedral in the country. Last time I went here it was on a guided tour on the Heritage Day Open Weekend and the guide fell down the stairs. Which wasn’t ideal.

    I think I had known this but forgotten, but the Cathedral was built on the site of the City of Norwich Gaol, open between 1827 and 1881.

    The prison isn’t on many maps I usually use, but it is visible on this mid-nineteenth century tithe map.

    I’ll write more about Earlham Cemetery in separate posts, but this is the war graves area. There was a friendly lady who was clearing weeds and tending the graves who noticed I was intrigued by the Polish graves and she pointed out where the German ones were. I only noticed later that there was a Commonwealth War Graves Commission van nearby, she seemed a very good representative of this enormously worthwhile organisation.

    A lot of the cemetery feels quite remote, but it’s well tended and cared for.

    One of the more impressive tombs. I went to look at the Jewish section of the graveyard and managed to get a little lost in the crematorium gardens, which were rather peaceful with the water fountain and quiet feel. I didn’t want to trample over their grass, so went back the way I came and managed to only just avoid a funeral procession.

    This is the site of the historic Earl of Leicester pub which the city council gave approval to demolish in 2005. What a marvellous idea that was, here it is in 2020 (the big green bit with nothing on it, not the houses behind it). I’m slightly surprised that the city council hasn’t tried to build a car park on the site.

    Unfortunately, Brasov Restaurant has now been closed and the building is being refurbished into something new.

    And this is the former JD Wetherspoon’s City Gate, which closed about ten years ago.

    The new student accommodation building that has been built on what was the car park to Toys ‘R Us. It’s in my opinion a depressing looking building, devoid of interest and entirely ignoring the city wall in front of it. Alumno Group, who designed the building, must have been delighted when this got approved by Norwich City Council. Anyway, I’m sure that it’s lovely inside.

    I’ve never gone to investigate St. Benedict’s Church Tower and it’s hard to imagine that this is the same church as appeared in George Plunkett’s photo from 1934.

    Hales Court, which isn’t a path that I’ve seen before. Today it connects Cleveland Road with Chapel Field North, but the former road is relatively new, this was previously just all housing.

    Excuse my lack of graphical skills, but the green line is the old route of Hales Court and I took the photo from where that small red blob is. As may be evident, I’ve marked this map up myself and didn’t get professional help.

    And this is where Hales Court meets Chapel Field North.

    Cow Yard, which has now been rebuilt behind that gate following the demolition of some older residential properties. George Plunkett has a photo of this from 1936.

    Something else that I’ve never noticed before, a plaque to the artist Henry Ninham who lived here.

    And here’s the house that Ninham lived in.

    An old stone sign embedded into the wall at Ninhams Court.

    Now renamed after the artist, this was formerly known as Master’s Court.

    And that put me back into Norwich city centre, having managed to see numerous pieces of history that I’ve paid no attention to before. It reaffirms my theory that there are always new things out there to discover, even in familiar areas, even if they are a little niche. The walk was about 5.5 miles and I spent a little longer in the cemetery than I had anticipated, but more on that in later posts…

  • London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Cart & Horses

    London – Newham (Borough of) – Stratford – Cart & Horses

    I walked by this pub in Stratford a couple of weeks ago (just before the second lockdown), slightly concerned that it was boarded up. It has transpired it’s just being refurbished internally and will re-open in the spring of 2021. It’s perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Iron Maiden, where the band played numerous times in the mid-1970s. I have no knowledge about Iron Maiden (nor indeed much knowledge about anything music related to be honest), but the pub’s web-site does note the band’s pyrotechnics and theatre which soon meant that the building wasn’t big enough for the number of fans who wanted to get in.

    On a different matter, CAMRA report that the pub doesn’t offer real ale (let alone craft beer), which I have to confess is more relevant to me.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 228

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 228

    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….

    Numbers

    If nothing else, this definition from Grose shows that politics in the late eighteenth century isn’t perhaps much different to politics today in terms of Ministers not answering questions…. The definition of this word is “to consult the book of numbers: a term used in the House of Commons, when, instead of answering or confuting a pressing argument, the minister calls for a division, ie, puts the matter to the vote.”

  • An Even Sadder End to British Airways G-CIVD

    An Even Sadder End to British Airways G-CIVD

    Not that long ago, in August 2020, the final BA 747 departed London Heathrow, aircraft G-CIVD. Unfortunately, as reported on Flyertalk, the aircraft has now caught fire and it’s a rather sad sight. I suppose it doesn’t much matter as it was going to be scrapped anyway, but it’s an unfortunate end to this beautiful aircraft.

    Here’s a newspaper article about the fire, which took place where the aircraft was being stored in Spain.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Siege Bread)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – National Army Museum (Siege Bread)

    This item is on display at the National Army Museum and it was kept by a soldier as a souvenir of war, displayed in what was likely originally a wooden packing case. The bread is from the Siege of Ladysmith which took place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900, when supplies were short and so the bread was made from maize meal and starch. The museum also notes that the soldiers during this period would have also had the delight of eating horse-meat soup. It’s not known which soldier kept this little piece of bread, although the arms are that of the Army Ordnance Corps, but it makes for an interesting memento….

  • Redlingfield – Name Origin

    Redlingfield – Name Origin

    We meandered through Redlingfield on our 27-mile walk at the weekend and this is what The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames says…..

    Redlingfield, Suffolk. Radinghefelda in Domesday Book, Radlingefeld in 1166, Redlingefeld in 1203, Ridelingefeud in 1254 and Radelingfued in 1285. The feld of Raedel’s people or Raedla’s people. Raedel is found as the name of a moneyer.

    A moneyer is a person who mints coins, with feld meaning an area of open land, usually free of trees. As an entirely irrelevant comment, I admire that locals have kept such a long place name for so long, it would have been easy to just shorten it over time to something like Redling.

    The village is also where the Redlingfield Memorial is located.

  • Lamas – St. Andrew’s Church (1887 plan)

    Lamas – St. Andrew’s Church (1887 plan)

    This is the rather beautiful St. Andrew’s Church in Lamas, notable perhaps because of its off-centre chancel. And below is a plan of the church rebuild in 1887, with the kinked chancel particularly noticeable. The design of this plan was by Herbert J Green (1851-1918) and although the chancel was rebuilt, it was constructed on top of the previous structure.

  • Panxworth – All Saints Church (1846 plan)

    Panxworth – All Saints Church (1846 plan)

    I haven’t seen this plan before, it’s of the new nave for Panxworth Church which was designed by James Watson in 1846. It’s clear to see just how the Victorians got so many of these designs produced, it’s a generic plan which was rolled out. In the case of Panxworth, the building of the new section of the church was almost speculative as there wasn’t a congregation to support it and the nave has since been demolished.

  • Hainford – All Saints’ Church (the new one) – plan of building

    Hainford – All Saints’ Church (the new one) – plan of building

    This is the plan that John Brown (1805-1876) drew for the building of the new All Saints’ Church in Hainford, dated 1837 and so just before construction of the new church began. There were 74 seats on the pews, 201 free seats and 80 seats for children (these were located in the transept).

  • Hoxne – Name Origin

    Hoxne – Name Origin

    The village of Hoxne in Suffolk that Liam and I walked through on our 27-mile walk…… It’s a slightly strange name (Hoxne I mean, not Liam) and this is what The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames says…..

    Hoxne, Suffolk. Hoxne in 950, Hoxa in Domesday Book, Hoxe in 1121, Hoxna in 1232. The place is on a spur of land between the Waveney and one of its tributaries. The name is probably OE hohsinu, meaning heel-sinew which, to judge by the later hockshin, hough, was probably used also in the sense of ‘hough’. The place was named from the similarity of the spur of land to the hough of a horse.

    That’s one of the more complex reasonings I’ve seen and it’s also of note that the place-name today is the same as in 950 (that reference is from the Cartularium Saxonicum).

    And the village sign, which was only introduced here in 2019. It makes reference in its design to the Hoxne Hoard that was found nearby and also to King Edmund (the King of East Anglia from 855 until his death in 869), who might have been martyred nearby. It would have been a clearer photo if we’d have got round the walk a little quicker I must admit.