Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Martham – War Memorial (Elijah Long)

    Martham – War Memorial (Elijah Long)

    Elijah Long is listed on the war memorial in Martham and it’s initially puzzling as to why he’s here as he served in the Hampshire Regiment, he is buried in Sculthorpe, in another part of the county, and his parents didn’t live in the village during the First World War. He did though have a connection, and a strong one, insomuch as he lived on White Street when he worked in the village as a grocer’s assistant after his parents, George and Ruth Long, had left Martham and moved to Sculthorpe. He had been born in Attleborough on 24 October 1889 where he lived for a couple of years until his parents moved to Martham.

    Around 60% of British army records were destroyed during air raids in the Second World War, a sad loss to the war records of four million men. Around two million records do remain, although many are damaged, but separately to this, the records of those invalided out of the army in the First World War are still intact. And this is the case with Elijah Long, so there is a multitude of information about him and his war efforts.

    The first page of the file shows that Private Elijah Long was invalided out of the British Army on 19 July 1917, when his discharge papers were processed. Elijah’s discharge was handled in Exeter and the files note that he was 27 years and 9 months old, he was 5’7″ with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. It was noted that he had a scar on his right shoulder and he was planning to live with his parents whilst he recovered, at Grove Cottage in Sculthorpe. The notes mentioned that he had good character and was trustworthy, but was wounded whilst fighting in the Somme. The discharge papers noted that he had been in the army for one year and 214 days, being located in East France between 16 August 1916 and 30 April 1917.

    The file then shows Elijah’s sign-up papers, he was examined in Great Yarmouth on 8 December 1915. His height was listed then as 5’5″ and he weighed nine stone, with his two vaccinations at birth having been noted. He was sent to fight for the 3rd battalion of the Essex Regiment, initially with the service number 28095. He later transferred to the Hampshire Regiment and his service number changed to 26532.

    The medical records show that he was wounded on 5 November 1916 in France when he was hit by shrapnel, although the hospital report wasn’t until 1 May 1917 as he had spent time at a casualty clearing station. There the doctors noted that his reflexes were shot and he was incontinent, and although the shrapnel had been removed he remained weak and had very extensive bed sores. There was no way that Elijah could continue fighting, so the doctor’s recommendation was to discharge him from the military. The medical board issued its decision on 28 June 1917, which was that he should be invalided out of the army over the next few weeks as although Elijah’s health had improved, he had lost feeling in his legs and was permanently unfit to serve. The stamp of “total disablement” on the documents told the story.

    Elijah got home and his parents started to take care of him, but his injuries meant that he died at their house on 16 March 1918 at the age of 28. He was duly buried at the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints in Sculthorpe, a tragic waste of a life for a soldier who spent just ten weeks on the front line before being so badly injured.

  • Martham – War Memorial (Beryl Applegate)

    Martham – War Memorial (Beryl Applegate)

    Beryl Applegate was one of ten names added to the village’s war memorial following the end of the Second World War, a twelve-year old girl who was killed during an air-raid. Beryl was injured during an air-raid which took place on 4 September 1940 and she died two days later at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. The local press reported the funeral, although noted that Beryl was aged 10, writing that during the service the hymn ‘There’s a friend for little children’ was sung. The funeral was well-attended, including by Beryl’s friends from school and her teacher was also present. Beryl lived at 14 Council Houses (a development of properties on Somerton Road in the village which were built in 1925), and the paper noted that at least one resident from every house on this street was present at the funeral.

    Beryl was the daughter of Charles Applegate (born on 25 September 1898) and Phoebe Applegate (born on 24 October 1900). Charles worked as a farm labourer and Phoebe was a housewife, with the 1939 register noting that they lived with their three children, Frederick (born on 14 June 1924) who was already working as a farm labourer, Beryl (born on 13 March 1928) and Roy (born on  22 February 1930). There are also two other people listed as living with the family, likely two younger children, but these names are redacted from the register as they’re either still alive or were living relatively recently (one of them hasn’t been very well redacted, so I can see it was a male born on 22 June 1932).

  • Martham – War Memorial

    Martham – War Memorial

    Martham’s war memorial is located in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Church and was erected here in 1920, designed by F Perfitt of Stalham. It commemorated the 41 people from the area who were killed during the First World War, noting:

    “To the glory of God, the giver of victory and in memory of those of this parish who gave their lives for us in the Great War 1914 to 1919”.

    The 41 names are:

    Allen, Frederick
    Bracey, William
    Brown, Arthur
    Brunson, Frederick
    Brunson, John
    Dyball, Leslie
    Dyball, Lewis
    Futter, Robert
    Garman, Blanche
    Garman, Harry
    Guymer, William
    Hayton, George
    Hodds, John
    Johnson, Leonard
    Johnson, Ralph
    Knights, Harry
    Larter, John
    London, Henry
    London, Leslie
    Long, Elijah
    Mays, James
    Moore, Ernest
    Nichols, Edmond
    Rivett, Robert
    Sale, George
    Sims, Herbert
    Smith, Harry
    Starkings, William
    Turner, Alfred
    Turner, James
    Turner, Redvers
    Utting, Edward
    Utting, George
    Watson, Charles
    Watson, Ernest
    Watson, George
    Watson, Robert
    Wedge, Maurice
    Widdick, Herbert
    Wilkinson, Henry
    Youngs, Charles

    The Yarmouth Independent reported on 24 July 1920:

    “With all fitting circumstance and solemnity, Martham’s War Memorial was dedicated on Sunday afternoon. Glorious summer weather shone upon the ceremony. Remarkably impressive proceedings were heralded by a muffled peal on the church bells. A large number of ex-servicemen paraded on the Green, and marched to church, under the command of QMS Sumser. A troop of Boy Scouts from Winterton, under the lead of Scoutmaster Dyble, attended and assisted the police in keeping the entrance to the church. The beautiful church was crowded, even standing room being unavailable, and many remained in the churchyard.

    The names of the forty brave men and one noble young woman who made the supreme sacrifice were read out by Archdeacon Lisle Carr, vicar of Yarmouth, who also gave a touching and hopeful address, expressing the deep debt of gratitude to those who had fallen in a great cause, and also to those who had returned, and heartfelt sympathy with the relatives and friends of the departed, urging the thought of ‘what they had gone to’ rather than ‘what they had gone from’, and the inspiration to duty and noble sacrifice which the cross in the churchyard should be to both the present and future generations”.

    A further ten names were added to the memorial following the end of the Second World War, the names being:

    Cubit Armes
    Stanley Bean
    Robert Chamberlain
    Robert Durrant
    Reginald Frazer
    Harry Miller
    George Moll
    John Wiseman
    Frederick Woodrow
    Beryl Applegate (a young air-raid victim)

  • Martham – St. Mary’s Church

    Martham – St. Mary’s Church

    There was probably a church on this site in late Saxon times and a recent archaeological dig discovered the foundations of a round tower from the twelfth century. What stands today though is primarily from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.

    I must admit to being a little unimpressed with the printed ‘NO ENTRY’ paper signs that the church has placed on the locked porch doors. For those who had hoped to see when the church might be once again open for prayer, they weren’t informative nor did they offer any guidance to parishioners. Given that their web-site is telling people that the rector is once again available daily in the church, it all felt a bit unwelcoming.

    Known as “the Cathedral of the Fleggs” as it’s the grandest church in the area, the tower stands over 100 feet in height. The church’s original chancel was completed between 1456 and 1469 by Robert Everard, who also designed the spire of Norwich Cathedral. I would have liked to have seen this, but as it was falling down by the nineteenth century, it was replaced with an entirely new chancel between 1855 and 1861 which was designed by Phillip Boyce. Pevsner was impressed by the quality of the workmanship completed by Boyce, so that’s good enough for me…..

    It’s a slight shame that this red-brick building is stuck here under the tower.

    The tower itself has four stages and the floor was lowered in 1999, which must have been an interesting project and a chance to see the hidden history of the building.

    There’s an interesting article from 1858 about the restoration of the church, which gives a perspective of why the modernisation of the building was seen as important.

    “Martham church was once, many generations ago, a fine, indeed an extraordinary structure even amongst the many noble village churches of Norfolk, but the hand of time, and the still heavier hand of man, did much to impair its beauty, and to render nugatory that which art and taste had constructed. Massive, ill-contrived boxes, gradually usurped the place of seats, simple and light in appearance, and many exquisite productions of art, treasures in tracery, and beautiful specimens of carving, were ruthlessly buried amidst rubbish or covered over with the ‘improvements’ of some modern Goth, and lost, too many of them, for ever.

    Old seats were swept away, and cumbersome and heavy galleries soon disappeared. It was found that the original seats had been built over and upon and fine old relics in carving and tracery were recovered, and no less than fifty ancient and beautiful poppy heads were taken from their hiding places and set in their proper positions.”

    Much as I like seeing box pews, which can add much character and some depth to a church, the argument to remove them is also strong. Some of the poppy heads which had been damaged were altered during their repair process and they’re all still visible in the church today.

    This is another church that I’ll have to come back to in order to see the interior….

  • Fleggburgh – St. Mary’s Church Ruins

    Fleggburgh – St. Mary’s Church Ruins

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    This is the path that goes to the ruined church of St. Mary’s near to the village of Fleggburgh, which is also known as Burgh St. Margaret. It’s common for churches to have public footpath networks around them, as that was a necessity for people to walk to church, but there has been no active church here for around 450 years.

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    The church, or what’s left of it, was first built in the twelfth century and was remodelled in the fourteenth century.

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    Inside the tower of what feels a slightly magical place, as although it’s near to a main road, it still feels that little bit desolate.

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    And the outside of the tower, with a worryingly large crack.

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    The arch between the tower and the nave.

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    This is the north of the nave, the only substantial part of the church still standing other than the tower.

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    The rest of the stonework is heavily covered in ivy.

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    And photos of the church from the field. The church served the village of Burgh St. Mary, but this settlement became smaller and has mostly now entirely disappeared. The church’s last recorded rector was in 1554 and it’s known that the church was in ruins by the beginning of the seventeenth century. That it’s lasted for 400 more years is quite impressive and although some stone has been robbed, it’s likely that this was some considerable time ago.

  • Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church (HR Champion)

    Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church (HR Champion)

    The grave of Flight Lieutenant HR Champion is in St. Margaret’s Church in Old Catton and he died on 6 July 1950, at the age of 25. He was killed when the Gloster Meteor T7 he was flying in crashed, with this particular aircraft brought into service on 25 July 1949. This type of aircraft was known as the first British jet fighter and the RAF lost 890 of them in service, killing 450 pilots.

    The air crash was reported in the press with the short article reading:

    “A Gloster Meteor jet fighter exploded before crashing into a cornfield at Sculthorpe. There were no survivors. Rescue squads from the American base at Sculthorpe broke through a hedge and raced across a cornfield to the wreckage. The plane belonged to Horsham St. Faith aerodrome”.

    This explains why these burials are in Old Catton, it was the nearest parish church to RAF Horsham St Faith and their staff accommodation.

  • Norwich – Chish and Fips

    Norwich – Chish and Fips

    To start our Catton walk off, we popped into Chish & Fips on Angel Road, a reminder that this blog used to have many more posts about food and drink before the current crisis….. Anyway, the social distancing was all clearly laid out and managed well. The staff members were friendly, the shop was clean, the service was efficient and the process was fast. Well, Nathan had to wait for his battered sausage since I ordered the last one, but I got over that.

    Not the easiest to eat when presented like this, but it was all entirely acceptable, albeit unexceptional. The sausage was generic (although they usually are, but then again I suppose that’s the definition of generic), the batter had no discernible taste to it and I’m not sure what the chips were cooked in, but it didn’t add any particular richness of flavour. But for £3, it’s admittedly still perfectly acceptable value for money as they were served hot and they didn’t taste bad or overcooked. The portion size was also sufficiently generous and there were no customer service issues here.

    However, I understand that their strongest element is their fish, which is rather useful for a fish and chip shop. But, they don’t accept cards and given the times in which we live, that’s enough for me to once again divert via Grosvenor instead. Although I say this and I haven’t been there for weeks, I must do some diverting this week to get there.

    So, overall, entirely acceptable and there was a friendly welcome.

  • Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church (GH Scott)

    Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church (GH Scott)

    This is mostly a useless blog post (as so many of mine are to be fair….) because I’ve managed to find out nothing about this individual. I’m slightly reassured that I can see two other people have tried, and have equally managed to uncover absolutely nothing that isn’t on the gravestone.

    So, all I have is that Senior Aircraftman GH Scott, service number 4062634, of the Royal Air Force died on 14 May 1953 at the age of 20. The date of his death means that many records haven’t gone to genealogical sites yet, with RAF records from the Second World War still being with the Ministry of Defence, let along those who died afterwards. This was probably a death of someone who died during their training, rather than through a plane crash or major incident.

    One day, I’ll find out who it was, or if anyone knows, I can correct the record….

  • Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church

    Old Catton – St. Margaret’s Church

    There’s something quite charming about Old Catton, a village with some character to it, but somewhat now part of Norwich’s urban sprawl. The village’s church of St. Margaret also clearly shows the signs of piecemeal additions over the centuries, no doubt required by changes in the size and needs of the congregation.

    The church’s quite modern lychgate doesn’t really seem big enough to shield a coffin in the rain, so I assume this is more decorative than functional.

    From the road, the original twelfth-century church is more visible, but from the rear (as in the above photo) the additions are more apparent.

    LIke the nave, the round tower is also from the twelfth century and, fortunately, the ivy which once covered it in the nineteenth century has been removed.

    The tower was modified in the fifteenth century and the octagonal top section added.

    Where the tower meets the nave, with numerous periods of building work evident. Churches are slowly re-opening at the moment, although this church is only open for prayer on a very limited basis, but I will hopefully be able to get back to look at what is apparently a mostly Victorian interior, albeit with a much older pulpit.

  • Skeyton – War Memorial (Lance Corporal Bernard Walter Hugh Doughty)

    Skeyton – War Memorial (Lance Corporal Bernard Walter Hugh Doughty)

    Bernard Walter Hugh Doughty is commemorated at Skeyton War Memorial, the son of James and Emily. Bernard was born in British Columbia, in Canada, in 1897.

    His family moved to the UK shortly after he was born, with the 1901 census noting James Doughty (born in 1852 in London), Emily Doughty (born in 1868 in Aylsham), Alan Doughty (born in 1893 in Canada), Bernard Doughty (born in 1897 in Canada) and Constance Doughty (born in Bradfield, Norfolk in 1900). The family lived in North Walsham and by the 1911 census, Alan was working as a coachbuilders apprentice, with Bernard still at school, with Doris Doughty also making an appearance, who had been born in 1904 in Skeyton.

    Bernard enlisted in the military in 1915, with service number 706030, going to fight on the Western Front. He died on 27 September 1918, fighting in G Company of the 47th battalion in the Canadian army as part of what became known later on as the 100 Days Offensive.

    Bernard is buried at Queant Communal Cemetery, in the British Extension, with Skeyton Church recently holding a service on 27 September 2018, 100 years on from his death, that commemorated him.