Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Norfolk

  • Norwich – Rosary Cemetery (Alfred Wilmot Spooner)

    Norwich – Rosary Cemetery (Alfred Wilmot Spooner)

    Since I’ve been grounded again by the Government, I thought I’d meander around the Rosary Cemetery located near to me in Norwich, in an attempt to see what stories lie there. It might not be the most fascinating blog content, but it’ll keep me quiet for a few weeks….

    This is the grave of Alfred Wilmot Spooner, located in one of the oldest parts of the cemetery. He was baptised on 6 January 1813 at St. Andrew’s Church in Norwich and was the son of Edward Spooner and Sophia Spooner (nee Gunton) and they had married at St. Peter Mancroft church in April 1807.

    Edward is listed on Alfred’s baptism record as being a straw manufacturer, although I’m not entirely sure what that entailed, with Sophia being a bonnet maker. I can’t be certain, as there are multiple names, but I suspect Edward had been baptised in the same church on 29 August 1784, himself the son of Edward Spooner and Eliza Springale. Edward (Alfred’s father) died at the age of just 49 and was buried at St. Peter Mancroft church on 3 June 1834.

    Alfred died on 21 August 1840, at the age of 27 years old. Unfortunately, for the purposes of my writing this post, this means that he didn’t appear on the first national census which took place in 1841. At this point, his mother was still alive though (now aged 60), living on Day’s Yard in St. Peter Mancroft, which was also called Day’s Court. This yard has long since gone, it’s now pretty much under the treasury counters in Norwich City Hall. She lived with Hannah Bensley, aged 65, and Matilda Stratford, aged 14.

    And, that’s as much as this story as I can find. I don’t know what happened to Alfred during his life. Sophia, Alfred’s mother, died in 1860, having moved to Lakenham to live with the Chittock family, with Hannah Chittock being Edward and Sophia’s daughter. Hannah (so Alfred’s sister) and Timothy married in St. Peter Mancroft church on 8 March 1837.

    So, using my imagination a bit here. The burial of Alfred took place at Rosary Cemetery, at that time still relatively empty, and was likely attended by his mother Sophia, his sister Hannah and his brother-in-law Timothy, amongst others. It might have been a communal effort to pay for the gravestone, as it’s a nice one which has lasted well. The family had gone through the sadness of Alfred’s father dying in 1834, the excitement of Alfred’s sister’s wedding in 1837 and then this sadness in 1840. Quite why Alfred died at such a young age, I sadly don’t know….

  • Norwich – A Little Protest Up a Crane

    Norwich – A Little Protest Up a Crane

    There’s a little protest going on up a crane in Duke Street in Norwich.

    Apparently, it’s a teenager called Alex Sidney from Dereham who has rather bravely (and I must confess, I wouldn’t be that brave) shinned up this crane. Three others have been arrested and they were apparently pleased that there was no security, although I’m sure construction project managers were hopeful that they didn’t have to employ teams of security 24 hours a day to guard things.

    And this is the result, a substantial police, fire and ambulance presence at the scene.

    The EDP have reported that Alex said:

    “If I get arrested now or if I get arrested in nine hours the consequences will be the same so I might as well stay out for a bit longer.”

    And, to be fair, he’s probably right.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So, back to London Liverpool Street today, and this is my train having safely arrived into the capital.

    This wasn’t ideal when I arrived at Norwich railway station at 11:05, my train had been cancelled. I say not ideal, I wasn’t that displeased, as that means a delay repay gets triggered.

    I was travelling First today, which wasn’t some decision to switch to a more decadent lifestyle, but just because the price was pretty much the same as standard. I don’t think I’ve been in First on the new trains, they look all smart and tidy.

    The individual seats and I like these raised ones, there’s a ledge for my bag and also easily accessible power points. Despite the service having to cater for the 11:30 passengers as well as the 12:00 passengers from Norwich, it wasn’t overly busy.

    First class passengers get free snacks and drinks, so I merrily meandered to the cafe bar to collect my refreshments for the journey. There was a very friendly staff member at the cafe bar, although he told me something which I’ve suspected, which is that the InterCity 125s now removed from the route were more stable than the current new trains. He mentioned this as he was being flung about, as was I, and I can’t imagine how difficult it is to try and work like that. I had wondered if the trains were going faster and that was the problem, but he thought not. So, all that money and Greater Anglia have bought more rickety trains than the ones they already had.

    These new trains don’t really seem to be perfect in numerous ways, it was a train fault that caused the cancellation of my 11:30 journey. The automatic announcements also went wrong as it kept repeating that we were stopping at stations that we clearly weren’t (stations such as Goodmayes and Romford are not stops which this service ever calls at to my knowledge), which led to the driver (or guard, whoever does the announcements) having to clarify the situation. The train was though clean and all was comfortable.

    The fare for this journey was £18, more than the usual £10 that I pay. The train delay means that I get 50% back, so the journey cost me £9, which is entirely agreeable to me. So, all rather lovely.

  • Norwich – Georgian Townhouse

    Norwich – Georgian Townhouse

    This is a City Club venue, a chain that is relatively new to me, but I rather like. I’ve been to some of their venues without realising such as the Bath Brew House, but recently have gone to the Old Ticket Office and the Cambridge Brew House, both in Cambridge. I had looked at going to some of their London pubs, although the ones I have been looking at haven’t re-opened yet.

    Anyway, this City Club venue was still doing their version of Eat Out to Help Out until the end of October, with food half price before 18:30, which is very generous. There weren’t many tables left, although we only booked the day before, so we were fortunate to get a table with the offer still going.

    The welcome was friendly, although the staff member tried to take our order very quickly and then didn’t re-appear for eleven minutes (yes, I did time it, although only because we wanted to be sure we got our order in before 18:30, although I don’t think it mattered). The beer selection was limited to two, neither overly exciting, but the Norfolk Topper was Barsham Brewery is local and was well-kept. I noticed then writing this that I also had this at the Old Ticket Office and was pleased to note I gave it the same score on Untappd which shows some consistency. I understand that these are difficult times for pubs, but I’m hoping that there might be a little more innovation in their beer selections in 2021.

    I was dining with my friend Richard, who bought a wine that was more expensive than my main. He’s very decadent though. The environment was all clean and comfortable, with the venue also being quite a large hotel, so there was a formal element to proceedings, but nothing that was too frightening for me…… Being a creature of habit, I went for my usual dishes, not least because Richard was very adventurous and had venison carpaccio with crispy parsnip beignets. Apparently it was lovely, but I’m not into eating raw deer, so he had the more exotic dishes.

    My starter of salt and pepper squid, which was served on a dollop of chilli mayonnaise. The salt and pepper element was a little lacking, but the squid was well cooked and wasn’t chewy, which is rather a good sign. All very acceptable as a starter.

    This batter on the haddock and chips looks burnt, although it didn’t taste like that and I like some crispiness to the batter anyway. It was a large portion, well presented and had been drained well so that the chips weren’t all moist and annoying. Tartare sauce is one of my favourite things and I think this was home-made, and if it wasn’t, I liked it anyway. The fish was tender and everything was cooked well, so all entirely acceptable again.

    The starter, after discount, was £3.50 and the main was £6.50, so I thought that was sufficiently good value for money. I would come here again, and likely will, as it’s a comfortable environment and I’ve got some confidence that they’ll ensure everyone is satisfied. Richard and me faffed about with their app, but it does pretty much work and let us split the bill and pay separately, without needing to hassle the staff. Applying the discounts involved staff intervention, but this was done efficiently.

    I thought I’d have a little look at TripAdvisor to amuse myself, and the restaurant isn’t quite as well reviewed as I would have thought. Primarily, it’s got the first review that I’ve seen marked by TripAdvisor as “a serious safety incident” and I’m moderately surprised that the hotel hasn’t replied to this. The more recent review of 1/5 for refusing entry to customers coming in at 21:55 seems harsh, if they’re closing at 22:00 it’s not entirely sensible to serve a round at that point. Anyway, having read the reviews I’m less tempted to come back, but I think we still left happy with the price we’d paid. And Richard forgot to apply his £5 welcome discount, so he has to go back to get a free drink. Well, I would, no point in not getting that.

  • Aylsham – Gate of India

    Aylsham – Gate of India

    I’ve certainly had my fair share of discounts from the Government’s ‘eat out to help out’ and this was the last meal of the month, on Monday 31 August 2020. Richard and I had been meandering around some churches in North Norfolk and this was one of the few food options available to us, since we hadn’t bothered to book anything (or more precisely, most places we wanted to book at the last minute were full).

    The menu at the Gate of India in Aylsham.

    I have to temper my expectations here a little, I wasn’t back in India (which I miss very much) and I wasn’t at the on-trend Indian restaurants in London that I’ve been fortunate enough to try recently. As poppadoms and chutneys go, these were OK but weren’t particularly inventive or exciting. The drinks were also expensive, a pint of Coke was £3.75 and I’m not exactly sure what brand they were using.

    The Peshwari naan bread was again OK, but lacking in any depth of flavour and they were reliant on some sort of paste that didn’t have any texture. That’s the chicken biryani, again lacking any particular depth of flavour, although the chicken was well cooked and tender. There was some texture to the rice, with everything properly cooked and at the appropriate temperature, but it needed something more exotic in terms of the taste.

    This came with the biryani, again lacking any depth of flavour, which is not entirely usual for an Indian restaurant or any variation thereof.

    Service was efficient if not engaging, but it was timely and we were never left waiting. I was, shall we say, surprised that the restaurant forgot to apply the ‘eat out to help out’ 50% discount. The bill was though immediately corrected and I can’t much complain here because mine came to £10 after the discount was applied and I paid using Amex and shop small kicked in, meaning that I paid £5 for the entire evening’s food and drink. For that price, I was entirely happy, so this proved to be a marvellous choice for Richard and me.

    I’m not sure that there was anything exceptional enough for me to want to return though. The restaurant is reasonably well-reviewed (although not quite as good on TripAdvisor), somewhere in the middle of restaurants in the area, and so I don’t think there’s anything particularly bad, but perhaps standards in Indian cuisine have just moved so much in the last couple of years that there are better options out there.

  • Cromer – Sunset Photos

    Cromer – Sunset Photos

    Just photos…. From Bank Holiday Monday evening in Cromer.

  • Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (Chest)

    Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (Chest)

    Most churches would have had a chest, or hutch, such as this in order to store their parish documents and any valuables. Not many survive in situ, so this is quite marvellous, with this one dating back at least 600 years. Fortunately, the documents, which date back to 1538, have now been moved to the wonderful Norfolk Record Office, so they’re safe and sound.

    Unfortunately, the current health issue means that it has red and white tape attached to it to try and keep visitors in limited areas, but this is all now part of the long history of this chest. That this chest has survived for 600 years, with no-one pinching it or damaging it, is remarkable, as is that it has never been caught up in a fire or other disaster. A rather lovely item to see.

  • Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (It’s All the Wrong Way Round)

    Paston – St. Margaret’s Church (It’s All the Wrong Way Round)

    It’s fair to say that Richard and I are not church experts, although we’re getting ever more competent at this church history thing now on our meanders. But, it was evident to me that we were approaching the church from the wrong side and it was evident to Richard that the lychgate was in the wrong place.

    This lychgate should be where the road is, not in a random corner.

    The church itself addresses this issue on their web-site:

    “You approach the church from the north, the “wrong” side, because the first Sir William Paston in the early 15th century diverted the road away from Paston Hall to reduce disturbance to himself and his family This angered the villagers who demolished the wall he had built across the old road, which he then re-built and the family had insults hurled at them (all of which is described in the letters).”

    Which all leads me to want to look at maps, although of course, the changes in the fifteenth century mean there won’t be much evident here.

    So, this is the starting point (clicking on the image makes it bigger), which is the church in 1900 on the left and the church now on the right.

    This is the tithe map, which gives a faint clue. We know that the road went to the south of the church and that the wooded area is the boundary of the church, so the road must have cut straight across the area in front of Paston Hall (just to the top of the blue circle and there’s a route of a former footpath evident through there) which is what inconvenienced Sir William.

    I can see why the locals were annoyed…..

  • Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (War Memorial)

    Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (War Memorial)

    This war memorial is located in front of the village’s church and was installed here in 1919. There was a grant of £273 provided for by the War Memorials Trust in 2010, which was used to clean up the lead lettering which had become hard to read.

    There are seven names on the war memorial from the First World War:

    Tom Colin Barcham

    Percy William Swann

    George Turner

    Douglas Lambert

    Albert John Mace

    George Wild

    Robert Christmas Yaxley

    Another three names were added to the side of the memorial following the end of the Second World War:

    Frederick Watts

    Thomas BB Wood

    Sydney E Woollsey

  • Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (James Riesbrow)

    Knapton – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church (James Riesbrow)

    It took me a little while to work out this name, but it’s the grave of James Riesbrow, located in Knapton’s church. It’s such a rare name that this is the only person I can find in the country over the last few centuries with that name, which makes tracking him down that bit easier.

    James was married to Mary Means at the church on 14 October 1759 and the ceremony was witnessed by Charles Coleby and James Downing. It’s clear the clerk was confused by the name as well, trying to originally spell it as Riesborough. James died at the age of 48 on 7 June 1778 and I note that someone with the same surname was buried at the church in 2018, so the name has continued on.

    There aren’t that many graves from the late 1700s that remain in Norfolk’s churchyards, particularly not in this good a condition.