In person events
Routes to your roots
In person
Tuesday 10 September, 1pm
Free of charge
The session will provide tips on collecting materials and memories within your immediate family and explain how to use census records, civil registration, and parish registers to trace your ancestors. Original records will be on display to illustrate some of the topics taught. Attendees will get a chance to ask questions, a workbook to take home, access to our Website Tutorials and a voucher for money off our advanced family history sessions.
All participants will receive a voucher code for £1 off our Advanced family history- part 1 and Advanced family history- part 2 sessions.
This session lasts for 90 minutes.
This event is part of Heritage Open Days.
Booking opens on Monday 19 August, please use the link below
Behind the scenes tour
In person
Wednesday 10 July, 2pm
£7 per person*
Join us for our popular behind the scenes tour. Visit the Conservation Studio to see where our documents are repaired, experience the atmospheric conditions of the Strongroom where we store our collection, and see a display of original documents.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters get two free tickets for our Behind the Scenes Tour as part of their individual membership. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Tours last approximately 90 minutes.
Booking required, please use the link below
Working in a heritage environment
WORK EXPERIENCE DAY
In person
Friday 26 July, 10am-3.15pm
Free of charge
Are you studying history or a related subject and in years 10-13 at school? Are you considering a career in heritage? Would you like to study a heritage subject at university? Then you may like to join us for our one day work experience session.
The day is based around a number of practical sessions in order to gain experience of working as a conservator, digitising documents and the role of an archivist. You will get a chance to catalogue documents, work with original material, make packaging materials and have a go at cleaning one of our documents.
Due to the hands-on nature of the event spaces are limited. Please book using the link below
School holiday activities
Make a Zoetrope
In person event
Wednesday 31 July, 2pm
Aimed at primary school-age children (under 8s must be accompanied by an adult).
Pay what you can. When you book this event you will have the option to give a donation. This is optional and entirely at your discretion.
Have a go at creating your very own Zoetrope and make your artwork come to life! Using documents as inspiration for your moving images, join us to discover the world of early animation.
This session lasts for 90 minutes
Bookings open on 1 July, please use the link below
Dragon masks
In person event
Wednesday 21 August, 2pm
Aimed at primary school-age children (under 8s must be accompanied by an adult).
Pay what you can. When you book this event you will have the option to give a donation. This is optional and entirely at your discretion.
Join us for a holiday activity making dragon masks. Discover dragons in the archives as inspiration before making paper scales, adding feathers and jewels to transform yourself into dragon. Will it be friendly or a little bit scary?
This session lasts for 90 minutes
Bookings open on 1 July, please use the link below
Adult craft
Making a notebook
In person event
Thursday 24 October, 10am
£10 per person
Refreshments included
Discover the basics of book binding, learn decoupage and how to sew a bead spine to create your own hand-made miniature notebook. No previous experience is necessary we will guide you through step by step.
All materials will be provided in this 2 hour session
Please book using the link below
Norwich’s sweet past
In person event
Wednesday 2 October, 10am
Free of charge
Refreshments included
Join us for a relaxed event learning and reminiscing about Norwich’s chocolate manufacturing past. Whether you worked in the factory, had relatives who worked there, or just remember the smell of chocolate as you walked past on the way to school- this session is for you. We will have a display of documents and sound recordings about some of the products produced and the experiences of workers. Plus a café style setting to enable you to grab a drink and have a chat about your memories.
The session will last approximately 90 minutes
Please book using the link below
In person and online
John Thelwall and Radical Norfolk:
SYMPOSIUM
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
In person and online
Friday 25 October, 10am – 5pm
£25 per person, free to Norfolk Archive Supporters* optional £10 extra if booking lunch
Between 1780 and 1800 Norfolk and the city of Norwich experienced an extraordinary cultural efflorescence. In these years, Norwich became a centre of vibrant literary and intellectual activity supporting a substantial, educated population nurtured by its newspapers, its Theatre Royal, public library (1784), and its numerous debating and discussion club and coffee shops.
Norwich’s citizens actively debated the leading political, social, and cultural issues of the day, including the American War of Independence, the slave trade, the French Revolution and civil and religious reform more widely. This culture of political activism extended to the nearby port of Great Yarmouth. In 1796, the notorious radical London poet and lecturer, John Thelwall, arrived in Great Yarmouth to deliver his historical lectures, an event that ended in serious rioting when opposing loyalist forces deployed a naval pressgang to disrupt the proceedings.
This symposium is being held to mark the generous donation of manuscripts, by the John Thelwall Society to the Norfolk Record Office which includes affidavits of witnesses to and victims of this politically motivated assault. It also celebrates the intellectual culture of Norwich and Norfolk in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries more widely.
Speakers include:
- Penelope Corfield, professor of history at Royal Holloway, London University
- Steve Poole, professor of History and Heritage at University of the West of England Bristol
- Nicholas Roe, professor of English Literature at University of St Andrews
- Hana Hill, Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of East Anglia
- Judith Thompson, Professor Emerita Dalhousie University/University of Kings College, Halifax Nova Scotia
- James Wood, Associate Professor Eighteenth Century English Literature at University of East Anglia
*Members of the Norfolk Archive Supporters Scheme run by Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation (NorAH) can attend for free. Become a Norfolk Archive Supporter today for only £25 and receive your promotional code for this event. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Refreshments included.
Please book using the link below.
History talks
Each talk will last around 45 minutes with time for questions at the end.
A first for England: how a church became a museum
In person and online
By Dr Clare Haynes
Wednesday 17 July, 1pm
Free of charge
St Peter Hungate, Norwich was the first Anglican church in the country to be given a permanent secular function when it became a museum. In telling the story of this ground-breaking transformation, Clare Haynes will also explore its impact on attitudes towards disused church buildings in Norwich and beyond.
Booking required, please use the link below
Norfolk Windmills Trust and the restoration of the How Hill mills
In person and online
By Dr Andrew Tullett
Wednesday 25 September, 1pm
Free of charge
Norfolk Windmills Trust has worked since 1963 to preserve windmills and watermills of historic interest in the county. Dr Andrew Tullett examines the history of the Trust and describes its next major project, the restoration of the How Hill mills near Ludham (Turf Fen, Boardman’s and Clayrack Mill).
Booking required, please use the link below
Reading from the archives
Norfolk routes
In person and Online
Wednesday 11 September, 10am
Free of charge
Find out about an incident on a paddle steamer, enjoy some recollections of people holidaying on the broads and find out about journeys by train. All extracts will be displayed on screen so you can read along to the recordings or just relax and listen. Attendees joining us in person will also have the chance to grab a drink beforehand and see some of the original documents included in the extracts.
This session will last around 30 minutes for those joining us online and 1 hour for those in person.
This event can be viewed on our YouTube channel afterwards.
This event is part of Heritage Open Days.
Booking opens on Monday 19 August
Online Events
Kett’s Heights – 900 years of history
Online only
By Vanessa and John Trevelyan
Wednesday 16 October, 1pm
Free of charge
For such a small space with its panoramic views over Norwich, Kett’s Heights has had a long and often turbulent history. The Heights boasts an 11th century chapel, was the headquarters of a Tudor rebellion, a magnet for landscape artists and the site of Norwich’s first gasworks. Now a welcoming public space and nature reserve, Vanessa Trevelyan from the Friends of Kett’s Heights will take us through 900 years of history.
Booking required, please use the link below
Calming colouring
Online
Tuesday 16 July, 2pm
Free of charge
Join us online for a calming colouring session. Staff will show you some documents as inspiration, before having a chat and relaxing afternoon colouring in a range of line drawings from the archives.
All drawings will be sent to you before the session ready for you to print and join in. Feel free to drop in and out at any point during the session.
This session lasts for 1 hour.
Booking required, please use the link below
Research workshops
We have a number of research workshops to help you to get started or discover additional materials useful for your own research. All of the sessions are led by a knowledgeable and experienced tutor who will take you through each source focusing on their uses for research and how to access them. You are welcome to ask questions at the end of the session and a full workbook, along with a practical activity to try at home, will also be provided.
Each workshop lasts approximately 1 hour
Introduction to house history
Online event
Friday 20 September, 10am
£5 per person*#
Find out how to trace the history of the fabric of your building using historical and modern maps before using census returns and trade directories to find out about the previous owners and occupiers of your property.
Look out for Advanced house history in the afternoon.
#Participants on this session get £1 off the advanced session with their voucher code.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters can enjoy our research workshops for free. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Please book using the link below
Advanced house history
Online
Friday 20 September, 2pm
£5 per person*#
Find out more about tracing the history of the fabric of your building using manor court books, wills and inventories and building control plans. Plus, we will look at if your property was a former school, mill, pub or church.
Look out for Introduction to house history in the morning.
#Participants can use their £1 off voucher code from the introduction to house history session.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters can enjoy our research workshops for free. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Booking required, please use the links below
Advanced family history- Part 1
Online
Tuesday 24 September, 10am
£5 per person*#
If you have joined us for our Routes to your roots session for Heritage Open Days, started your research independently or joined us on our introduction to family history online previously and want to take your research a step further this session is for you. In part 1 we show you how to use electoral registers, marriage licence bonds and tithe documents.
Look out for Advanced family history- part 2 in the afternoon.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters can enjoy our research workshops for free. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
#Routes to Your Roots participants can use their voucher code for £1 off this session.
Booking required, please use the links below
Advanced family history- Part 2
Online
Tuesday 24 September, 2pm
£5 per person*#
If you have joined us for our Routes to your roots session for Heritage Open Days, started your research independently or joined us on our introduction to family history online previously and want to take your research a step further this session is for you. In part 2 we show you how to use probate material, school records, business records, and papers relating to the workhouse.
Look out for Advanced family history- part 1 in the morning.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters can enjoy our research workshops for free. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
#Routes to Your Roots participants can use their voucher code for £1 off this session.
Booking required, please use the links below
How to…
Look after your books and documents at home
Online
Thursday 10 October, 2pm
Free of charge
Join Senior Conservator, Nick Sellwood, to find out how to look after the books and documents in your own home. Nick will explain how heat, storage and moisture can affect the condition of documents and the best places to store them to avoid future damage. Nick will be available at the end of the session to answer questions about your own documents.
The session lasts for 45 minutes
Booking required, please use the links below
Norfolk Record Office 