Category Archives: NRO Research Bloggers

Not all stories you find in the archives are hundreds of years old. This story is from only 30 years ago so we have changed the names in order to keep those involved anonymous. In an article for a local … Continue reading →

26th September, 1921. How much can we imagine what the opening performance of As You Like It might have looked like, at the brand new Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich? Could it be possible for a theatre built centuries after Shakespeare’s … Continue reading →

My first independent foray into archival research at the Norfolk Record Office gave me a real headache in trying to understand the text but it was a fascinating and rewarding journey which lead to researching topics in many ways. Norfolk … Continue reading →

After spending her formative years in and out of the workhouse, the asylum and five periods of imprisonment in what sounds like a plot of a Dickensian novel, what were the chances that Harriet Kettle, could not only survive to … Continue reading →

The Brown Lady was not to remain hidden for long. The next witness to be terrorised was Captain Frederick Marryat, a friend of the family. Staying at the house in 1836, he is supposed to have asked to sleep in the most … Continue reading →

If you have arrived here as a fan of history, folklore and Norfolk, I will surmise that you have heard of, and perhaps even been fortunate enough to visit Raynham Hall. Situated in West Norfolk, the Hall began construction in … Continue reading →

The tenth of September 2024 will mark the 150th anniversary of The Great Thorpe Railway Disaster.  This Victorian railway collision was described by Captain Tyler, Inspecting Officer for Railways, when presiding over the Board of Trade Inquiry, as: “….. the … Continue reading →

Great Yarmouth gaol was housed in the twelfth century Tolhouse for several hundred years until its closure in 1875. In 1819 the Borough Council purchased adjacent buildings and converted them into a House of Correction (aka the Bridewell) which was … Continue reading →