Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Norfolk

Dereham – George Hotel Milestone

I’ve never noticed this milestone near to Dereham marketplace, located outside of the George Hotel, which was once a coaching inn. It’s a simple enough bit of stone, marking that it’s 100 miles to London (that reminds just how far the LDWA 100 challenge is) and 10 miles to Watton. It also reminds people that they’re currently in Dereham, which is probably quite handy for the weary traveller. But, there’s a long heritage to this stone, it has been here since around 1770, which makes it one of the earliest of the 360 or so milestones in Norfolk.

July 22, 2020
Honing – Name Origin

On a little meander around North Norfolk churches we visited Honing, a village with a population of around 300 people. So, on my theme of establishing where these names come from, The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of English Placenames says:

Honing, Norfolk. Hanninge in 1044, Haninga in Domesday Book, Haninges in 1150. Old English Haningas, the people at the han or rock. Very likely han here means hill and refers to the small hill at the place.

As an aside, the ‘han’ here is the derivative of what became the word honing, as in improving and sharpening skills. The word ‘han’ could mean hill or rock, in this usage of the word it became used as meaning a whetstone where razors were sharpened. So, although they’re pronounced differently, Honing (the place, Hon rhymes with Bon as in the French word) and honing (the skill, honing rhymes with boning) have the same origins.

July 21, 2020
King’s Lynn – St Nicholas’s Chapel (No Bells)

This is sad to see, the Grade I listed chapel has successfully raised money to restore its bell and to encourage a new wave of volunteers to bring back this historic tradition. Some local (I assume) denizen has scrawled “no bells” on the door in white paint, which must be a slightly soul-destroying sight for those involved with the chapel’s restoration. But it seems that the Churches Conservation Trust are undeterred and will continue with their work.

July 21, 2020
King’s Lynn – St Nicholas’s Chapel (Churchyard)

One of the most notable elements of the churchyard is the Exorcist’s House, located on its edge.

But, sadly, the graves here are nearly all in a poor state of repair and many have been lifted up and propped up against the walls. It’s disappointing that the majority of gravestones are unreadable, there are many stories here that now can’t easily be told. I can’t find an old photo of the churchyard to establish when the stones were moved, but I imagine it was in recent decades.

There’s an interesting mix of gravestones, with several from the seventeenth century, but I struggled to make out sufficient details to be able to identify the person listed on them.

July 21, 2020
King’s Lynn – 2 St Ann’s Street

This property is one of many reasons that King’s Lynn is so interesting historically, so many buildings with a long heritage that have survived the centuries. Much of this is because King’s Lynn was a relatively large town that never really grew rapidly, so there wasn’t the constant upgrading and rebuilding of structures.

The building is now used as a shop and residential property, but was originally constructed in the late fourteenth century. The surround on the left-hand side of the building, going towards the rear courtyard, is from the nineteenth century, from a similar period to the shop frontage, which is from the mid-nineteenth century. The listed building record notes that “the interior was not accessible at time of the review but likely to be of considerable interest” and that sounds entirely sound given the long history of the structure.

In many towns, a fourteenth-century building such as this might be seen as the pride of the area, but here, it’s just another historic building. All very lovely.

July 21, 2020
King’s Lynn – The Exorcist’s House

Whilst having a little look around the churchyard of the Chapel of St. Nicholas (which is frankly nearer to the size of a Cathedral than the usual chapel you might expect) I noticed this quaint little building. It’s evidently charming, although I’d never dare live in it given how close it is to the graves. And, also its name, it’s the Exorcist’s House.

The house, also more delicately known as 8 Chapel Lane, was built in 1635 and other than the twentieth-century door, isn’t much changed. So, why the Exorcist’s House name? No-one is quite sure, but an exorcist used to have a more prosaic meaning to it than the modern horror linked word. It was simply a church official who would try to cast out a demon, which is not an unusual Christian theological tradition. It’s likely that the name is from a property that is older than the current one, so it probably relates to a different structure and the moniker just carried over.

One former owner noted in the book Ghost and Legends that “the house is haunted, but not very enthusiastically” which sounds a nuisance, an uninspired ghost lumbering about the property.

The house was placed on the market recently for £215,000, not a bad price for those who like their history. And ghosts.

July 20, 2020
Oxborough – Oxburgh Hall (Queen Mary and Sir Henry Bedingfield)

I like an old document… And this is one where Queen Mary is referring to the appointment of Sir Henry Bedingfield to the role of the Lieutenantship of the Tower of London in October 1555. This would have been a tricky time to hold such a role, there was much political intrigue and willingness to overthrow the Monarch and it’s hard to see how the role wouldn’t have involved creating enemies and being in charge of methods of torture.

One of Henry’s relatives, of the same name (1586-1657), found himself in a different role in the Tower of London in 1647, when he was arrested and imprisoned there. All turned out well for him in the end, he was released and ultimately his loyalty to the Crown saw him rewarded financially. Always good to back the right horse…..

July 20, 2020
Oxborough – Oxburgh Hall (Portrait of Queen Elizabeth)

The National Trust seem to have placed this seventeenth-century painting, of artist unknown, on display here to make the point that “the pressure to make yourself look beautiful without understanding the consequences is not just a twenty-first century issue”. They’re making reference to the makeup that Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) used to look pale, which was made of what transpired to be poisonous white lead which caused hair loss.

I’m not entirely sure that the first thing I thought about when looking at this painting was the Monarch’s make-up, and perhaps the National Trust have fallen into the same trap of managing to say nothing about her achievements, but it is undeniable that Elizabeth’s appearance changed over the decades.

When she was young it was said about her that:

“Her figure and face are very handsome; she has such an air of dignified majesty that no-one could ever doubt that she is a queen”.

However, by the time she was in her sixties, another correspondent noted:

“Her face is oblong, fair but wrinkled; her eyes small, yet black and pleasant; her nose a little hooked; her teeth black (a fault the English seem to suffer from because of their great use of sugar); she wore false hair, and that red”.

Ignoring the Monarch’s appearance, Queen Elizabeth I certainly knew how to control her court, and was able to maintain her position on the throne from 1558 until her death in 1603. She was able to maintain the Protestant faith, albeit making slight concessions to Catholicism, and her foreign policy was to a large part successful.

But, back to the National Trust’s focus on appearance, it’s true that Elizabeth was concerned about this. It is reported that it could take four hours a day to dress and undress the Queen, which seems to be an unreasonably proportion of time. In addition to the white lead and vinegar skin-care, she also spent time coloring her lips with beeswax and plant dye.

Elizabeth I also suffered from depression and significant health problems throughout her life, with one of her better-known quotes being:

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too.”

July 20, 2020
Swanton Abbott – St. Michael’s Church (Interior)

Last time I visited St. Michael’s Church in Swanton Abbott it was closed, but fortunately on a sunny July Sunday afternoon, it had been partly opened.

Only the chancel area was open to visitors and the nave was closed off, meaning that the church’s Priest Door was brought into use. I didn’t get the impression that the church had been inundated with visitors, but it was useful that it had been opened up and clear signage installed.

The chancel end of the church, with this grand wooden arch-braced roof dating to 1953.

The interior is bright and well proportioned, with the fifteenth-century font being visible at the back of this photo.

The rood screen was mauled about between 1906 and 1913, with the position of the paintings changed and no-one is now quite sure what they were like before the rector had his DIY moment. There’s some beautiful visual imagery here though, it must have inspired at least some of the congregation when it was originally installed.

As mentioned, we entered through the Priest’s Door in the chancel, although with good intentions. In 1851, Robert Fisk, James Dyball and George Green entered the church through that very same door, but not with the same good intentions. Numerous books on one pew were destroyed and the matter went to court, with initially a decision that the men weren’t guilty. Then something changed and Allen Hook (the son of the parish clerk) found himself charged with perjury and an appeal was accepted with the three men facing trial again. This time the magistrates in Aylsham sentenced the three men to six weeks in prison, with hard labour to add to the mix.

July 20, 2020
Walcott – All Saints Church

Located near to the Norfolk coast, Walcott Church stands rather adrift in the landscape, although it’s visible for some distance. The construction dates for the building are known with some precision, the nave was constructed in 1427, the tower in 1453 and the porch in 1467. It’s a sizeable building for the size of the settlement, an optimistic construction for what transpired to be the last wave of new churches before the Reformation.

This is another church that was updated and modernised by Richard Phipson in the nineteenth century, although internally it did need some re-ordering.

The listed building record doesn’t give a date to this door in the tower, but it appears (to my very untrained eye) older than the fifteenth century. Given that the font inside is thirteenth-century, perhaps this came from an earlier church on the same site.

The ironwork on the porch door dates to the mid-nineteenth century and was made and installed by Fitt and Parke of Stalham. Unfortunately, the church was closed to the public during my visit.

July 20, 2020