Category Archives: NRO Research Bloggers

Allan Glaisyer Minns: The First Black Mayor of a British Town

Posted on October 20, 2020 by

October is Black History month: how many people know that the first ever black mayor of any British town was in Norfolk? Allan Glaisyer Minns was one of ten children of John and Ophelia Minns (nee Bunch) of Inagua in … Continue reading →

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The Unusual Burial Request of Stephen Kendall, singleman of Hempstead cum Eccles, Norfolk

Posted on October 16, 2020 by

Introduction The wills of 16th and 17th century testators can provide researchers with some remarkable insights into the lives of ordinary people by telling us their actual thoughts and beliefs, albeit in a stylised form, as opposed to what written … Continue reading →

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

Posted on October 3, 2020 by

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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Religion in Norfolk at the Time of the Mayflower

Posted on September 16, 2020 by

This month marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower setting sail on a voyage that led to the foundation of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Of the 102 passengers on board we know that at least seven came from Norfolk. So what was … 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

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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King’s Lynn’s trading links with Europe: King’s Lynn and the Hansa

Posted on July 15, 2020 by

(Or, in a travesty of the old saying, Hansa is as Hansa does) Over time, King’s Lynn’s trading links with Europe have developed and evolved and continue to do so today. Records held in the King’s Lynn Borough Archives can … Continue reading →

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Distributing the wealth of the super rich in Elizabethan Norfolk

Posted on June 9, 2020 by

Introduction Oliver Haylotte [Haylett] left a very long and complex will and testament running into some eighteen pages dated 10 February 1580/81 and proved at Norwich on 4 March 1580/81 (The will is dated in the Old Style calendar where … Continue reading →

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A Luxury London Retreat: The Journal of Margaret Howes

Posted on May 21, 2020 by

Margaret Howes was approaching eleven years when she recounted her vibrant experience in London during the September of 1855 (NRO, MC 340/7, 710×9). After travelling from Norwich through Cambridgeshire, and sightseeing in the cities of Ely and Cambridge, Margaret, accompanied … Continue reading →

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