Norfolk
Records Committee
Annual Report 1998-1999
Annual Report
Includes the latest news on accommodation, accessions, work on records and
public services.
Norfolk Archives, Norfolk Buildings
Norfolk's built heritage is the subject of this year's major Record Office
exhibition.
Cathedral Archives Survive Centuries of Perils
Fish for St Benet's Abbey
Archives Attract Record Numbers
Plans for a New Record Office
Introduction | Accommodation | Accessions | Cataloguing and work on
records | Public Services | Research |
Conservation and Preservation | Exhibitions
| Publicity | General
Top of page
Introduction
The Norfolk Record Office collects and preserves records of historical significance relating to the County of Norfolk and makes them available to a wide range of people for consultation and study.
The First Stage application for new Norfolk Record Office and East Anglian Film Archive premises at County Hall, Norwich, was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund in October.
Additional outstore accommodation was acquired and converted to provide storage for records removed from Shirehall Chambers and for new accessions.
235 deposits, gifts or purchases of documents were made during the year. They included three Flitcham deeds, 1319 and 1469, three St Benet’s Abbey account rolls of the late 15th century, 1524-5 and 1529-30, a letter to Nathaniel Bacon concerning enquiries into a suspected murder, 1600, two Admiralty letters to Robert Paston, Viscount Yarmouth, 1678, a map of an estate at Quebec, East Dereham, 1770, two letters from the Norwich artist David Hodgkin, including detailed pencil sketches of Bishop’s Palace Gate, Bishop Bridge, Kett’s Castle, Cow Tower and the Devil’s Tower in Norwich, 1829, a Hanworth cordwainer’s account book, 1848-1857, a letter written from gaol by James Blomfield Rush, 1849, and papers of Father Edward Ram of St John Timberhill in Norwich, 1879-1917. Exceptionally large accessions were received from Pomeroy and Son of Wymondham, comprising nearly 700 boxes of deeds, manorial records, estate maps and papers and the firm’s own business records from the 18th to the early-20th centuries, and from St Andrew’s Hospital, Thorpe, before its closure.
Cataloguing and work on records
Two major catalogues of estate archives were completed. The Wodehouse of Kimberley collection, comprising some 20,000 items, includes an exceptional series of medieval title deeds from the 12th century, manorial records from the 13th century, papers relating to the building of Kimberley Hall in the late 18th century, family journals, letters and poetry, and some political papers. The White of Salle archive, 1290-1948, comprising around 150 boxes, includes deeds and manorial records from the reign of Edward II. Some 200 groups of manorial records have been listed, numbered, and indexed and as part of the same project information on a supplementary card index of unnumbered manorial records has been integrated into the main topographical card catalogue. Stocktaking and storage improvements have been carried out on Yarmouth Borough Engineer’s plans, volumes among the parish records and the Diocesan series of tithe maps.
CALM 2000 Plus for Archives, an integrated cataloguing and archival management software package, was purchased and installed in the Record Office following a period of evaluation.
14,057 visits were made to the searchroom compared with 12,398 in 1997-98, an increase of over 13%, and there were 317 visits to the Borough Archives at King’s Lynn. 35,060 original documents were produced compared with 30,778 in 1997-98, an increase of 14%. Two week-long surveys of microform use indicated that at least 70,000 microfilms and fiches were also consulted during the course of the year. 9,371 postal, telephone and E-mail enquiries were answered.
In June 1998 the Record Office took part in a national survey of visitors to British Archives organised by the Public Services Quality Group. Norfolk had 289 responses, 31% of which were from first-time visitors to the Record Office. 93% found the service overall to be either excellent or good, a similar percentage found staff to be friendly, helpful and knowledgeable and 66% rated the advice as excellent. 81% found document production to be excellent, whilst 71% considered the lists, indexes, leaflets and finding aids either excellent or good.
Family history was, as usual, the major interest, with local history the next largest category. Other research topics included Bishop Alexander Tottington de Courtenay, 1407-15; the Mowbray Dukes of Norfolk c.1440-76; Dutch-English connections, 14th-17th centuries; the 15th-century history of Parliament; gender relations in 16th-century Norwich; parish constableship, 1500-1640; responses of towns to foreign threats in the 1620s; the political and military history of King’s Lynn in the 1650s; Lynn’s urban élite in the 18th century; penal transportation in the 18th century; the pre-1834 poor law unions of Norwich and King’s Lynn; Earlham Hall and the Gurney family; St Andrew’s Hospital; Amelia Opie; The Walks at King’s Lynn; the Bure Navigation; agricultural change in Norfolk in the last century; coastal erosion at West Runton; railway bridges of the Waveney Valley; the education of the blind; a moated site at Spooner Row; printing works in St Giles Street, Norwich; church organs; children’s residential homes; women’s health in 1940s King’s Lynn; war memorials for the 8th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment; the gas industry; and investigations in relation to the hedgerow legislation of 1997.
Volumes which have been treated in-house included water-damaged parish records, a Diocesan ordination register, 1563-1619, Norwich Quarter Sessions books, an 1813 inclosure award, and St Andrew’s Hospital records. Of 87 volumes dealt with, 54 have either been completely dismantled, treated, and rebound or rebound only; others required the release of pages stuck together as a result of water damage in 1994, the removal of localised water-stains, or minor repairs to their covers. Repairs to the leaves from dismantled volumes and to other paper documents bring the total number of papers treated to 3,912 papers.
The 47 maps which have been treated include a coloured plan of the Quaker burial ground in Norwich, 1780. The purchase of a large low-pressure vacuum table has made it possible for the conservators successfully to relax and flatten badly stained and distorted parchment documents. The 69 parchments treated include seven coloured 18th-century estate maps, and two tithe maps.
62 water-damaged volumes from the Bradfer-Lawrence collection and a series of 18th-century business records have been treated and rebound by a local contractor.
The Conservation section has designed and made new book supports in the form of a shaped cushion which gives an optimum reading angle and better protection to open volumes than any currently available commercially.
Shipping registers for the ports of Lynn, 1836-1922, Wells, 1832-1904, and Yarmouth, 1834-1886, were microfilmed as a preservation measure and for easier public access to them. A further phase in a microfilming programme for Bishop’s Transcripts covered Norfolk Archdeaconry, 1742-1803. These were among nearly 8,000 documents which passed through Conservation for treatment before microfilming.
Two major exhibitions were prepared. Unlocking the Past: Norfolk Life in Archives, appeared at the Royal Norfolk Show and was later shown at County Hall, at Thetford and Attleborough Libraries, and the Central Lending Library in Norwich. An exhibition on King’s Lynn’s relationship with the Hanse from the 13th to the 18th centuries, With Ships and Goods and Merchandise: King’s Lynn and the Hanse, was shown in King’s Lynn Town Hall during a two-day Hanse Symposium held there in June and then in the adjoining Old Gaol House for a further week. A catalogue was produced to accompany the exhibition.
Small exhibitions on sources for the history of properties using The Crown at Great Ellingham as an example, James Blomfield Rush and the Stanfield Hall murders, A History of Norwich, marking the publication of the new book with that title by Frank Meeres, and Norwich City Coroners’ inquests, 1669-1835, were displayed in the Record Office reception area and some also in the foyer of County Hall. Records and showcases were loaned for seven parish church exhibitions.
The launch at the Cathedral of the Guide to the Records of Norwich Cathedral, by Frank Meeres, was covered in local television news reports and newspaper articles. The Record Office’s lottery bid was featured in the Evening News. The 150th anniversary of J. B. Rush and the Stanfield Hall murders also attracted very full press coverage. Local radio interviews with the County Archivist and other staff have featured the increased numbers of researchers, St George’s Day celebrations in Norwich, a 14th-century Norwich muster roll, probate inventories, documents relating to church organs, the Yarmouth Suspension Bridge disaster, archive conservation, burials in woollen, James Blomfield Rush, a 19th-century Norwich Quaker, chance findings in archival collections and documents used in the Record Office’s two major exhibitions for 1998.
Planning for the long-term future has moved forward with the putting together and submission of a new bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Meanwhile, there has been a massive rise in the number of people consulting records, additional accommodation has been acquired to receive new accessions, and the acquisition of CALM 2000 represents a significant first step towards automating catalogues. The post-fire conservation programme has been further augmented by the use of a local contractor.
Introduction | Great Yarmouth
Piers | Hillington Rectory | Norfolk
and Norwich Hospital |
King's Lynn Trinity Guildhall and Gaol | Quebec House | Scole Inn
Top of page
Norfolk’s built heritage is the subject of this year’s major Record Office exhibition. Studies of six buildings from different parts of the county highlight the range of maps, plans, architectural drawings, and other official and private records which can be used to trace the history of buildings and their occupants.
|
Great Yarmouth’s piers reflect the increased importance of tourism, stimulated by the arrival of the railway in 1844. Wellington Pier was originally a wooden structure built by a public company in 1853. The Corporation purchased the Pier in 1900, rebuilding it in 1903. Britannia Pier dates from 1858 and has always been privately owned. Twice it was cut in half when a ship ran into it during gales in 1859 and 1868. A pavilion, built on the pier in 1901, has burnt down at least three times, once being set on fire by suffragettes! Between the piers is the Jetty, which was first built in 1560 for landing fish. It too became a popular place on which to promenade and watch the shipping in the ‘Roads’.
|
Wellington Pier (Y/D36/3)
Britannia Pier (Y/D36/2) |
|
|
The old rectory house at Hillington is an Italianate brick and tiled building completed in 1812 for the then Rector, Mr Atkinson, who had moved into the parish, after a long period of non-residence. The previous parsonage house, hitherto occupied by his curate, was a long, stone-built and reed-thatched building shown in an estate plan of 1592. Plans and deeds to many Norfolk parsonage houses can be found in diocesan records held by the NRO. They also figure in visitation articles, glebe terriers and other records relating to the incumbent’s parochial estate, or glebe. |
| The new rectory (DN/DPL1/2/32) |
|
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital took its first patients in July 1772. The original hospital, built by William Ivory, was an H-shaped structure, with the main wards in its two long limbs. Later additions to the main building failed to solve increased overcrowding and were blamed for poor circulation of air and thus for insanitary conditions in a report of 1875. The solution was a rebuilding of the Hospital between 1879 and 1884, retaining only part of the original structure. The new design was by architects Edward Boardman and Thomas Henry Wyatt. |
Detail from a Boardman |
King’s Lynn Trinity Guildhall and Gaol
|
|
The Trinity Guildhall was the centre of the town’s government from at least 1300. Although it belonged to the Gild Merchant of the Holy Trinity, Guildhall was used for most of the year by the Mayor and burgesses for the conduct of their affairs. After the dissolution of the religious gilds, the ownership passed to the Mayor and burgesses, who added a porch in 1624 and an Assembly Room in 1766-8. A New Hall was built in 1421-3 on the east side of the Guildhall following the destruction of an earlier building by fire in 1421. The new building was used as a College, or communal residence, for the Trinity Gild priests until around 1510. It was first used as a Gaol in 1527-8, but was rebuilt in 1784. |
| Postcard view of the Guildhall and Gaol House from the Saturday Market Place |
|
Quebec House, near East Dereham, is a large house in Gothic style. It is said to have derived its name from the siege of Quebec in 1759, the year in which it was built by Samuel Rash, and the grounds were laid out to represent the position of the armies at the siege. In the late 19th century the stables and conservatory were extended, and lists of the furnishings show that they included pieces by Chippendale and a Cotman watercolour. Among the best recorded occupants of the house is Brigadier General William E. G. L. Bulwer, whose wealth as a young man seems to have declined drastically leading to the sale of Quebec House and its contents in 1912. |
Quebec House, from a sale particular, 1912 |
|
|
Scole Inn, also known as the White Hart, is reputed to have been built in 1655 by a James Peck, who saw the need for a coaching inn on the Norwich to London road. The Inn was famous for its wooden sign, which extended over the highway, and for a large round bed, said to hold up to twenty couples. In reality the bed was probably used by coachmen and others associated with the trade. Well-known visitors to the inn include Charles II in 1671. Licencing registers show that the Inn was once owned by the Trunch Brewery Company, later by Steward and Patterson, and then by Watney Mann. The coming of the railway affected trade adversely; one publican is also listed in a 19th-century trade directory as the village plumber and painter. |
| Illustration courtesy of Norfolk Studies Library |
The earliest document in the Cathedral archive is older than Norwich Cathedral itself: it dates from the early 1090s when the bishopric was still based at Thetford.
The survival of many early charters, especially from the early 12th century, is surprising in view of the many crises which have threatened the Cathedral over the centuries.
In 1272, after a dispute over Tombland Fair, the citizens of Norwich besieged the Cathedral priory. They climbed the tower of St George Tombland and sent flaming arrows across to the Cathedral, setting fire to its wooden roof. The monks claimed that many of their valuable documents were lost at this time, and it is true that only one account roll now survives from before 1272.
At the Reformation the Benedictine monastery was dissolved, and the monastic library broken up. The Cathedral was run from then on by a new Dean and Chapter, but the last prior became the first dean and almost every monk became a canon or minor canon. Continuity of personnel meant continuity of record-keeping, and no Cathedral archives were lost.
The Commonwealth brought new dangers to the Cathedral and its archives: a musket ball can still be seen embedded in the tomb of Bishop Goldwell. The Dean and Chapter was abolished in 1649 and the Cathedral became redundant. Suggestions as to what to do with it flooded in: Yarmouth wanted to pull it down and use the stone to make a new pier; Norwich wanted to turn it into a workhouse for the city’s poor. The archives were loaded into carts and sent to London, where they were stored with the records of all the other cathedrals.
With the restoration of the old order in 1660, the archives of Norwich Cathedral came back home. Unfortunately some of the records had become confused, and only when archivists began to work on them were Norwich documents identified in Hereford, Canterbury, Lincoln and Windsor and returned to the Cathedral. In the same way several ‘strays’ found among the Norwich records have been sent back to their original homes.
During the Second World War the Cathedral suffered bomb damage. The archives had been removed to a place of safety, but the room they were returned to had acquired a patina of dust and pigeon droppings through its broken windows. As a result the records, too, acquired an outer coating of dust and dirt.
In 1974 the records were moved to the Norfolk Record Office. When fire hit the Central Library building in 1994, they came close to disaster again. Fortunately the archives were retrieved unharmed, and the Record Office’s new Guide to the Records of Norwich Cathedral, by Frank Meeres, will allow them to be still more widely appreciated in the future.
|
The Abbey of St Benet of Holme, was first founded on its island site in the marshes at Horning in the early 9th century. It was refounded as a Benedictine monastery in the 11th century. Although it ceased to exist as an Abbey in 1539 it was never formally dissolved with the other monasteries. Instead it was united with the Bishopric, and the Bishop of Norwich still has the title of Abbot of St Benet’s. Most of the Abbey’s documents, from the late 12th century onwards, became part of the Diocesan archives, now in the Norfolk Record Office, but strays have turned up from time to time, and Record Office staff were delighted this year to receive three additional account rolls written by monastic officials in the late 15th century, 1524-5 and 1529-30. |
An early 19th-century engraving of St Benet's Abbey gatehouse. Illustration courtesy of Norfolk Studies Library. |
|
Once caught, the fish were transferred to fish
ponds or ‘stews’. The outlines of some of these rectangular
ponds can still be seen on the site at St Benet’s. |
|
| Like most medieval documents, the account is written in Latin, but a few words, prefixed by ‘le’, are in English. The start of each new entry can be identified by the Latin word Et (meaning ‘and’) written in bold letters. A translation of the main part of the text is printed below. |
An extract from a recently |
Expenses of the fisheries: with the costs and other small things.
And in allowance made in the said account for moneys paid by him as in the price of 5,302 hanks of hempen string called le twyne bought at divers prices for making fishing nets from this year, as appears in the aforesaid quarter, 69s. 5d.
And in moneys paid for 1,500 [hanks] of le twyne called trameley twyne bought at divers prices in this year . . . 9s. 2d.
And paid for hempen ropes and cords and le corke bought in this year in connection with the said fishing nets . . . 9s. 1d.
And paid to divers men for knotting the aforesaid strings and for turning them into fishing nets . . . 57s. 10d.
And paid to divers men for going out with fishing nets called Turnyngnettes and le Seyme . . .17s. 8d.
And paid for cleaning [fish]ponds in Hornyng and Bromeswolde in this year, with carriage of clay, 9s. 8d.
And paid for repairing a boat with nails, grease for the bulwarks, pitch and tar . . .18s. 2d.
Total £9 11s.
Archives Attract Record Numbers
Both staff and users of the Record Office have noticed how much busier the searchroom has been this year: the number of visits rose by more than 13% to a total of 14,057. And despite the steadily expanding range of sources on instant access in the microform section of the searchroom, the number of original documents consulted has also shot up by more than 4,000.
Thanks to a detailed survey of visitors to the searchroom in June 1998 the Record Office has a better insight into how the public feels about the service and about the facilities at Gildengate House. 93% rated the service as either excellent or good, while of those who had used other record offices, 59% thought the Norfolk Record Office compared favourably, 37% that it was of similar standard, and 4% unfavourably. Some of the comments appear below. By and large, they are complimentary, but there are some adverse comments, most of which relate to problems and aspirations which cannot be properly addressed in the present building. They will, however, be helpful in planning for a new Record Office.
More details can be found in the Annual Report. In presenting his report to the Records Committee, the County Archivist, Dr John Alban, highlighted the continued progress which had been made in the accessioning and cataloguing of records, including the completion of two major estate archive catalogues, by staff who were also dealing with greater numbers of visitors and enquiries. He also commented on the Record Office’s expanded exhibitions programme using facsimiles so that the displays can be shown in a more venues, including branch libraries, and so reach a wider audience.
Records Committee members were impressed by the Record Office’s output and achievements, and wanted to place on record their thanks to the staff for their work during the year.
Some visitors’ comments:
I was directed to exactly where I could find the information I wanted.
The staff are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable; I have always found them responsive to my queries.
Advice from staff excellent – I wouldn’t hesitate to ask.
There is not enough space to use the large volumes of microfiche from the shelves
This is the best of the timetabled delivery services I have used.
The appointment-making service and pre-ordering of material are extremely reliable.
speedy and generous allowance of four documents compared to other archives.
Occasionally too crowded. . .more space needed to sit and browse. Also a refreshment room.
Since the fire at Norwich Central Library building in 1994, the Record Office has been housed in temporary premises, while planning to secure its long-term future continued.
A first bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a complex at the University of East Anglia was turned down in 1997. Within a year of this disappointment, however, Norfolk County Council put forward a new application for Heritage Lottery funding towards the costs of a new home for the Norfolk Record Office and for the East Anglian Film Archive, currently based at UEA.
The proposed site is next to County Hall in Norwich, where a wing of the existing building would be converted into an entrance, reception and exhibition area. These would lead into a new building, designed to provide the special conditions needed for the preservation and consultation of documents and films.
If the bid is successful, work on the project could begin in 2000 and the new facility open to the public in 2002.