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…
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…
The British Association for Local History recently published a review of THE NORWICH CHAMBERLAINS’ ACCOUNTS 1539–40 TO 1544–45 edited by Carole Rawcliffe in The Local Historian (Journal of the British Association For Local History), Volume 50, No. 3 (July 2020) and has given us permission to reprint that review on our website. The Norfolk Record…
The Great Blow: Examinations and Informations relating to the Great Blow in Norwich, 1648 On 24 April 1648 a rioting crowd unwittingly unleashed the largest explosion in seventeenth-century England, detonating ninety-eight barrels of powder in the house rented to Norfolk’s County Committee, very close to Norwich market place. The blast…
John Buxton, Norfolk Gentleman and Architect, Letters to his son 1719-1729 Reading other people’s letters is not obviously legitimate, but past collections can fairly be explored to illuminate the lives of individuals and their families. Between 1719 and 1729, John Buxton (1685-1731), a south-Norfolk landowner remembered as a gentleman-architect, exchanged…