Author Archives: cbolsterNRO

Defending the Nation, Looking after the Poor and Preventing Coastal Erosion: the Varied Expenses found within Churchwardens Accounts

Posted on October 3, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

The churchwardens accounts give more than just details of how the parish ran its own affairs. They can be invaluable in understanding what was happening in surrounding parishes, other counties and nationwide. Looking into the accounts for Loddon has drawn … Continue reading →

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The Cinemas of King’s Lynn from the Building Control Plans

Posted on September 25, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

The King’s Lynn Borough Archives hold the building control plans for the old Borough Council of King’s Lynn from 1883 up to 1960. The plans from 1960 to 1974 were sadly lost during the flood of the 1978. The plan … Continue reading →

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Moved for Repairs or Used for a Rockery: The real story behind why the font of St. Mary’s Burnham Deepdale spent 40 years in a garden miles away

Posted on September 5, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

This is an attempt to tell the true story of the font and its stay in the garden of the Rectory at Fincham from 1807 to 1842. As recently as 2015 a search online brought up the following story: ‘The … Continue reading →

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Then and Now: counting and control in time of epidemic

Posted on August 24, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

In a crisis like the plague it is vital to get a handle on what is happening.  The counting of deaths was one thing the Mayor’s Court was very keen on.  Norwich was one of the very first places in … Continue reading →

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Fighting the Plague in Tudor Norwich

Posted on August 1, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

People are supposed to learn from history, so it is interesting to compare the present situation with a similar, or even more calamitous, happening in Norwich’s past.  This is the plague, which first came to Norwich in 1349 (that first … Continue reading →

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Remote Learning with the Coven of Atho

Posted on July 4, 2020 by cbolsterNRO

There are numerous references to witchcraft in the archives at the Norfolk Record Office. These references typically relate to cases of people being tried as witches. Of course, the defendants in these cases were victims of persecution but what about … Continue reading →

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The Generous Mercer of Hempstead

Posted on June 17, 2019 by cbolsterNRO

For Refugee Week 2019, David Stannard has looked at the impact of immigrants from Europe to the east coast of Norfolk and their links with the local textile industry. The East Norfolk Textile Industry The wider historical record makes it clear that the medieval … Continue reading →

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A Blood Red Sky, RAF plane crash over Holt, 1968

Posted on May 28, 2019 by cbolsterNRO

On a stormy August night in 1968 at the height of the Cold War, Ted Buxton a farmer in the Heydon area witnessed a terrible collision between two RAF aircraft. An RAF Victor from RAF Marham on a training flight … Continue reading →

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