Category Archives: All Posts

Holocaust Memorial Day

January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day to reflect upon the terrible injustices of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, and to remember the millions of people whose lives were taken from them. In 1986, Norwich born James Gosling was … Continue reading

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Depositions: Uncovering the lives of ordinary Norfolk people through church court records

Archivists at the NRO have, among other projects, spent some time over the lockdown months of summer, indexing the contents of a representative sample of witness deposition books from Norwich Diocese, dating from the 16th-18th centuries (our reference, DN/DEP). Very … Continue reading

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St Andrew’s County Asylum portrayed in the Cartoons of George Yates

Users familiar with the records of St Andrew’s, the County asylum, may be interested to know about a new collection of records that show a side to the hospital not typically seen in the official records. George Yates, attendant and … Continue reading

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A Variety of Ways to Celebrate Christmas: Exploring the many Christmases of Hilda Zigomala

Those of you who have read our blog posts in the past, will probably remember we have mentioned the journals of Hilda Zigomala many times before. A collection of 15 volumes which chronicles her life from getting married to Jack … Continue reading

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Stepping Back In Time

In the beginning When I first started doing my family history many years ago, I wasn’t surprised to find that most of my ancestors had gravitated to the heavily-industrialised area of Salford and then to the Bolton area of Lancashire … Continue reading

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Golden Balls of Aylsham: A Shining Example of a Funny Name

We enjoy a comedy name at the Norfolk Record Office. Twins called Lemon and Orange Pitcher who were born in Great Melton, Cinnamon Man from Thompson and Snow Frost of Little Walsingham, to name but a few. But one of … Continue reading

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The ‘eccentric female explorer’

 “Only ignorant fools think that because one likes sugar, one cannot like salt” Marianne North, Recollections of a Happy Life. For much of the population in 2020, travel restrictions have been a common source of discontent, despite the understandable unavoidability … Continue reading

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A Generous Gift Compromised by Events? The will of Alice Spratt, widow, of Eccles against the Sea

The will of Alice Spratt [1] dated January 11th 1558/1559 [2] clearly shows counter-Reformation tendencies despite the fact that Catholic Queen Mary had died in the previous November and her younger sister Elizabeth now sat on the throne. Alice bequeaths … Continue reading

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