- Behind the scenes experience
- School holiday activities
- Adult craft
- Reminiscence: reviewing our brewing past
- Thou savage woman
- History talks
- Reading from the archives: no place like home
- Research workshops
Behind the scenes experience
In person
Tuesday 7 October, 10-11.30am
£7 per person*
Join us for our popular visit behind the scenes at the Norfolk Record Office. Find out what how the conservators repair both parchment and paper documents, have a sneak peak at our Strongrooms, and see a display of original documents.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters get two free tickets for our Behind the Scenes experience as part of their individual membership. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
School holiday activities
Safari Scenes
In person
Thursday 28 August, 2-3.30pm
Pay what you can (£2 per child suggested).
Aimed at primary school-age children (under 8s must be accompanied by an adult).
Let your creativity run wild as you paint, draw and craft your own Safari Scene masterpiece inspired by Norwich’s GoGo Safari trail and documents from the archive.
Bookings open on Monday 7 July.
Celebrating victory
In person
Tuesday 5 August, 2-3.30pm
Pay what you can (£2 per child suggested).
Aimed at primary school-age children (under 8s must be accompanied by an adult).
Celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE day and VJ day by joining us make victory flags. See some original Second World War artefacts and a letter from a Norfolk evacuee. Learn what life was like for children in the 1940s by making your very own toy- either a peg plane or paper doll.
Bookings open on Monday 7 July.
Adult craft
Block printing
In person
Wednesday 8 October, 1-3pm
£12 per person
Learn how to create your own block and adapt it for multi-layered relief printing. See some examples of relief prints from our collection. Discover how local printers Jarrold’s created some of their prints, from initial sketch, through to the block itself and the final image.
All materials will be provided. Please wear suitable clothes.
Refreshments included
Reminiscence
REVIEWING OUR BREWING PAST
In person
Monday 13 October, 10-11.30am
Free of charge
Refreshments included
At one point Norwich was said to have a pub for every day of the year, and many of Norfolk’s villages had a least one, if not two or three pubs. Whether you want to reminisce about visiting your local pub, or worked in the successful brewing industry in one of the county’s breweries, join us for our latest reminiscence session. The event will start with an introduction to the brewing industry in Norwich. There will be a chance to see some original documents and sound recordings about people’s memories of running or visiting local pubs. Join us at our café style setting to enable you to grab a drink and have a chat about your memories.
Thou Savage Woman: A delve into the archive to discover murderous early modern women
In person
By Blessin Adams
Wednesday 23 July, 2-3.30pm
£6 – tickets via the Norwich History Festival website- see link below
Dr Blessin Adams traded police work investigating today’s crime in the Norfolk Constabulary for academia, tracing the lives and deaths of people in early modern England. As a social historian she is fascinated by historical stories of murder and justice, which she writes about in her books Thou Savage Woman and Great and Horrible News.
Join Blessin as she delves into the Norfolk archive to reveal a fascinating seventeenth century manuscript that tells the true and sad story of a Norwich woman accused of murdering her own child. Through this case, and others like it, we’ll discover the early modern’s fascination with, and hatred of, women whose ‘immoral’ characters made them vulnerable to accusations of murder and mayhem.
There will be a chance to see some original documents and refreshments will be available
History talks
Eating with the Tudors – dietary changes in Tudor England
In person and online
By Brigitte Webster
Wednesday 22 October, 1-2pm
Free of charge
This culinary history talk will deliver a taste of what influenced the choices in food that the Tudors ate, how, when and why.
We will take a closer look at the significant dietary changes from the beginning to the close of the Tudor dynasty, involving governmental legislation, religion, health, economy and fashion as it determined food availability, preparation and popularity.
Last but not least the speaker will share some Norfolk related Tudor food ‘fun facts’ for everyone to take home.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Reading from the archives
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Online
Tuesday 23 September, 10-10.30am
Pay what you can (£2.50 per person suggested).
Listen to the experiences of American Servicemen based in Norfolk during the Second World War writing home to their friends and families, hear from people travelling home during the holidays and discover the fascinating correspondence of Hans Dittrich of Dresden and Mrs Statham of Norwich while Hans was a prisoner of war in Norwich.
Research workshops
Our 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. For each session, a full workbook will also be provided.
Introduction to family history
Online
Tuesday 19 August, 10-11am
Free of charge
Join us online to find out how to get started on tracing your family history. Topics and documents include tips on collecting materials and memories within your immediate family, how to use census records, civil registration, and parish registers to trace your ancestors.
Want to take your family history further? See our advance workshops below. Participants will receive a code for £2 off our advanced family history workshops which will run in the new year.
Introduction to house history
Online
Friday 5 September, 10-11am
Free of charge
Join us online to find out how to get started on tracing your house history. We will look at 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.
Participants will receive a voucher code for £2 off our advanced house history sessions, which will run in the new year.
Uncover the Past
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
In person event
Thursdays 2 October, 9 October, 16 October, 10.30- 12noon
£25 per person*
This course looks at the history of crime, looking at types of crime, which courts they would be tried in and punishments for those found guilty, from prison to hanging. Each session will include an introduction to the topic, a practical exercise and a chance to look at a range of related original documents. The sessions are:
- The court system
- Prisons, prisoners and police
- Punishment and life inside the prison
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters can enjoy our research workshops for free. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Behind the Scenes Experience
THE ARCHITECTURE OF ARCHIVES
In person
Wednesday 17 September, 10-11.30am
Free of charge
Join us to discover the history of the building of The Archive Centre, a purpose built archive for Norfolk’s documents. Take a tour to understand the thought process of the architects who designed it and see the journey of a document entering the building. Find out about the search for the latest technology which was incorporated into the design. Finally have a look at documents from across Norfolk, including architectural drawings, plans, maps and elevations. See how different Norwich could have looked with three alternative plans for City Hall and a sketch for a flyover by Carrow Road.
This tour is put on especially for the Heritage Open Days theme Architecture: Buildings, bridges and beehives and includes many different areas to our usual behind the scenes experience.
Booking opens on Wednesday 27 August at 10am.
Working in a heritage environment
WORK EXPERIENCE DAY
In person
Wednesday 30 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.
Norfolk Record Office 