Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Heritage Trail

  • Fakenham – Fakenham Junior School (Heritage Trail 19)

    Fakenham – Fakenham Junior School (Heritage Trail 19)

    Part of the Fakenham Heritage Trail that I’m working my way slowly around, this is number 19. The school was built in 1913 as a school for boys, girls and infants, with a big dividing wall between the boys and girls. This was removed in 1935 and now serves as Fakenham’s junior school.

    This is part of the marvellous railings project that was designed by the children to mark their centenary and there’s a full text of the wording at the heritage trail’s page at https://www.flht.co.uk/19-junior-school.html. As a little side, I’m a little disappointed that the school’s web-site manages to make no reference to their history and a search term of the word ‘history’ produces no results on their pages at all.

    Another event to mark the centenary was the appearance of Michael Palin, whose grandfather Dr Edward Palin was present at the opening of the school on 21 May 1913. Palin’s father was also born in Fakenham, so there something fitting about his presence at the event.

  • Fakenham – Peckover Family (Heritage Trail 9)

    Fakenham – Peckover Family (Heritage Trail 9)

    Working around Fakenham’s heritage trail, this is number 9 and it represents the Peckover family. The property that the plaque is located on is 14, Market Place and was originally known as 14, The Square. Used today by the Nationwide bank, it’s an eighteenth-century building which was owned by the Peckover family.

    The Peckover family were Quakers who became important business people in Fakenham and Wisbech and owned much property in both locations. Peckover’s Bank was created in what is today’s the town’s Boots, which later became merged with Gurney’s Bank and then in turn this became part of Barclays Bank. Some of the family moved to Wisbech to set up banking operations there, with Peckover House being a large country estate which is now managed by the National Trust.

  • Fakenham – Heritage Trail (Vandalism Update)

    I posted about the Fakenham Heritage Trail a few weeks ago, which is something new to the town to encourage locals and visitors to find out more about the town’s history. It is in my opinion an undeniably good idea, but unfortunately the trail has already been damaged.

    One trail number plaque was stolen last week Gogg’s Mill, with a local councillor offering a reward for its return.

    The above photos were posted on Facebook by Norfolk Orbital Railway, showing vandalism to their signage and also to the new plaque which was part of the trail.

    What’s particularly sad is that the trail hasn’t even been formally launched yet. I hope that the council commit to replacing them and the police are able to do something about it.

  • Fakenham – Aldiss (Heritage Trail 6)

    Part of the Fakenham Heritage Trail, this is number 6, the former Aldiss store which unfortunately burnt down in 2014. The fire was caused by an electrical issue and it destroyed the department store which had been built in the early twentieth century. Aldiss had already moved out of the store to another location in Fakenham and the building was being used by The Original Factory Store, who have since moved back into the newly built replacement premises.

    I hadn’t previously paid much attention to this arch, which goes through from the market place to Fakenham Church. But, as the signage notes, it was built over at some stage by Stewardson for his printing business.

    And the same passageway coming from the direction of the church. Fortunately, the church wasn’t damaged during the fire, although there were some initial fears that the fire might spread.

  • Fakenham – Heritage Trail

    I was bemused yesterday, although that’s certainly not for the first time…. I noticed that there were numerous heritage numbers and maps in Fakenham which I was sure I hadn’t seen before. It transpired that I hadn’t, they were installed in early 2019 and are encouraging people to discover the history of the town.

    The project was funded by the European Union, which is marvellous, and it’s a nicely put together trail. Unfortunately I only noticed it before I was leaving Fakenham, but I will go around the rest of it next time I’m in the town.

    In an article in the Fakenham Times, it was reported that:

    “Fakenham Town Council has received an EU grant of £33,500, as well £8,000 from North Norfolk District Council’s Big Society Fund, to produce the Fakenham Heritage Trail, along with town council funding.

    The trail will lead people on a tour of 29 of the town’s most iconic sites and will also include two town maps, one by Fakenham Library and one by the town sign, with plans to landscape the area by the library in order to improve the entrance to the town centre.”

    I’ve seen a lot of projects such as this across Europe, and it’s excellent to see that Fakenham also took a similar initiative.