One of the most important collections in the Norfolk Record Office is the huge archive of estate and household accounts left by Alice, wife of Sir Hamon Le Strange, which are exceptional, both in scale and quantity. Alice and Sir Hamon married in 1602 when both were still in their…
Minutes of the King’s Lynn Socialist and Labour Societies, 1897-1916 Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Great Yarmouth Women’s Suffrage Society, 1909-1915 This year’s volume might well be titled ‘The Struggle for Democracy in Edwardian Norfolk’. It illustrates in fascinating detail the battle for social, political, and gender equality…
In the seventeenth century, Norwich was the second city in England, after London, with a thriving textile industry. Following an influx of Flemish and Dutch weavers, the weavers of Norwich turned to the manufacture of the ‘New Draperies ’ –light fabrics of mixed wool and silk in bright colours which…
The British Association for Local History recently published a review of THE PAPERS OF NATHANIEL BACON OF STIFFKEY Vol. 7 1614-1622 edited by Barry Taylor and G. Alan Metters in The Local Historian (Journal of the British Association For Local History), Volume 54, No. 1 (February 2024). Dr Heather Falvey…
The Great Hospital has provided care for the local community continuously for almost 800 years. Few other charitable organisations in Europe can match this remarkable record and even fewer can boast such a rare combination of architectural and documentary riches. Although at the time of its foundation in 1249 the…
Twenty-two-year-old John Patteson left Norwich in March 1778, with his dog Doctor, for a great tour through Europe. He was no stranger to travel. At the age of 12 he had been sent to Leipzig, where he stayed for three years in preparation for taking his place in an international…
Philip and Ruth Hewetson were the children of the Rev William Hewetson, rector of Salhouse, Norfolk, and his wife Kathleen. Both were involved in the First World War: their letters home provide a very full account of the experiences of a young man and woman in wartime. Those from Philip…
Nathaniel Bacon (?1546-1622) was the second son of the Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon and his first wife Jane, the daughter of Thomas Ferneley, a Suffolk merchant. Nathaniel had two brothers, Nicholas and Edward, both of whom became county figures in Suffolk, and two half-brothers, Anthony and Francis, the sons…
The British Association for Local History recently published a review of HUMPHRY REPTON AND HIS FAMILY Correspondence 1805-1816 edited by Heather Falvey in The Local Historian (Journal of the British Association For Local History), Volume 52, No. 1 (January 2022) and has given us permission to reprint that review on our website. This volume from…
Humphry Repton grave close by the south wall of Aylsham Parish Church The life and work of Humphry Repton are of interest to scholars and readers from a wide variety of historical sub-disciplines because his activities made an impact not only on architecture, gardens and the landscape but also on…