Glaven Historian 3 (2000)

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Contents

Editorial

The Park at Holt Hall

M White

Synopsis: This article describes the planting and development of the garden and parkland of Holt Hall, now Holt Hall School. The grounds were part of the manor of Holt, recorded in the Domesday Book as a Royal Manor held under the king. By the mid-thirteenth century there were two subsidiary manors: Holt Pereers to the north-west and Holt Hales to the southeast.

Wiveton Churchyard: Monumental Inscriptions and Plan of Burials

M Ferroussat

Synopsis: People who visit a graveyard to feel the beauty and sadness of the place need know nothing of those who lie there. Even so, a chance find among the inscriptions, an accidental death, perhaps, or several children together, can add to the poignancy of the occasion. For others it is the search for ancestors or other relations which is the cotise of the visit. For this purpose an accessible plan of the graveyard and a listing of the stones it contains can be particularly useful. This article presents such a plan and listing for the churchyard at Wiveton.

An exciting discovery: Medieval Glass found in Wiveton Church

S Woodhouse

Synopsis: The following article appeared in the June 2000 issue of the Glaven Valley Newsletter. Because of its intrinsic interest it seemed well worth reprinting in the Glaven Historian, and the work which the Society is carrying out at Wiveton makes this all the more appropriate. The Editor is grateful to the author for giving the necessary permission.

Coals from Newcastle: Trade between Newcastle and north Norfolk 1508-1511

J Wright

Synopsis: In the medieval period Blakeney, Cley and Wiveton together formed one of the larger ports in the country\ Not only did the harbour offer some shelter on a difficult coast but there was a major fishing industry and a substantial corn export trade. The changing fortunes of these ‘Glaven ports’ ’ over the centuries and their relative importance, both nationally and locally, are questions which warrant detailed study. Were the ports really as influential as some have assumed? The settlements were never large and, unlike Lynn and Yarmouth, had no large hinterland served by navigable rivers.

In the national archives there are many references to the Blakeney Haven, with its locally- owned ships large enough to be pressed into the king’s service. But few of these references relate to trading activities other than the sale of fish. Apart from shipping lists, there is very little on which to base any statistical assessment of the country ‘s ports – until the recent publication of accounts for coal shipments out of Newcastle during three years in the early 1500s. This article presents in statistical form the entries which relate to the ports in north Norfolk. The content of the accounts is probably true ’ but there is no way of knowing if it represents a complete picture of the visits made by Norfolk ships to New castle.

Norfolk War Memorials Project Part III: 1939-1945

M Ferroussat

Synopsis: The two previous issues of this Journal have contained articles on the local memorials from the First World War. This note summarises what is known about the local men who served and died in the Second World War.

A Memorial to the Smith family: The Listed Stones of Wiveton Churchyard

P Peake and J Peake

Synopsis: The gravestone of Thomas Smith, one of the oldest and most easily identified stones in the churchyard of St Mary, Wiveton, lies just inside the gate and to the right of the gravel path Who can fail to notice it with the tools of a millwright’s profession so clearly depicted above the inscription and then not pause and wonder at the life and times of Thomas Smith? Living to the grand old age of 82, he was born in 1643, just one year after Abe! Tasman discovered New Zealand in the South Pacific. He was too late to see the fire across the marsh that destroyed so much of Cley Newgate and certainly too late for the heyday of Wiveton as a port, but it is just possible that he heard stories from his grandparents about these events. Then what about the other Smith gravestones that lie close by and are from a similar period of time? Are they all members of the same family?

The discovery that a Une of these gravestones is a ‘listed’ site in Wiveton coincided firstly with some work being done on the early Parish Registers, then with an opportunity to look at a collection of Smith family papers in the Wiveton Deed Box. It all conspired to make this an opportune moment to investigate further and find some answers to these questions.

The Blakeney Disaster of 1861

J Wright

Synopsis: The twin themes in this issue of the GLAVEN HISTORIAN are ships and gravestones, a chance result of the topics that authors have chosen. This note brings the two themes together. The existence of gravestones in Blakeney churchyard recalling a disastrous rescue attempt that took place in 1861 is well known, but little seems to have been written about it. On the assumption that such an event would have received newspaper coverage, a search was made and two items turned up (though there may be others). Does anyone have more information about this disaster? Who were the eight men who drowned?

Some gleanings from the Ship Registers

R Kelham

Synopsis: For all that we may complain about it, bureaucracy is the raw material of history. Yet those who study the history of ships in north Norfolk are especially poorly served. The Muster Rolls and the Port Books give some information, but often no more than the master’s name and the burthen, and the Blakeney Cley Port Books finish in 1780. Not until the 19th century do we get systematic detailed information about local ships from the Ship Registers: those for the Glaven ports survive from 1826 to 1855 when Blakeney & Cley cease to be a port of registration. This article presents a selection of entries from the Registers.