PLACES OF INTEREST

NORFOLK

LONDON

GENERAL - KENSINGTON

ELSEWHERE

PLYMOUTH DOCK

E-MAIL - chris@wording.freeserve.co.uk

NORFOLK - GENERAL

STIFFKEY

Between Blakeney and Wells is Stiffkey, a village charmingly arranged along the side of a steep hollow, having close to the church a picturesque red-brick house of the Tudor period still retaining six great cylindrical towers, which are part of the hall which Sir Nicholas Bacon built for himself. He was one of the great statesmen of the reign of Elizabeth, and father of the better known Sir Francis Bacon, the philosopher and essayist.

In a cosy vale is the village of Stiffkey. It is a curious little village noted for its cockle women. I went down to the long sea marsh. I crossed rotting timbers flung across creeks, and I went for miles through mud and marsh till I came at length to the distant ridge of sand which has wrecked more ships than the Needles, and the incredible expanse of shore. Dotted about this gold plain were bent black figures raking up the famous 'Stewkey blues', as the cockles are called.

One cockle gatherer came towards me bent beneath the weight of an enormous sack. It was impossible to tell whether this strange figure was that of a man or woman. She was wearing a black divided skirt. Thick worsted stockings, wet through with salt water, clung to her legs. She wore a black shawl over her shoulders and a sou'-wester that buttoned like a Kate Greenaway bonnet beneath her chin. When I stopped her she lifted her face, and I saw that she was an ancient dame of at least seventy. Her toothless little mouth was pressed primly in below a smooth apple face etched with a million fine lines, and her eyes were blue and childish.

Like many people in this part of England, she was frightened of questions. I asked her if she was strong enough to do such hard work, and she said she had been doing it since she was a young woman.

A few years ago some one wrote up Stiffkey and its cockle women in a cruel light. It was alleged that intermarriage had so affected the inhabitants that the men did no work while the women slaved to keep things going.

'That's a pack of nonsense,' said the ancient cockle gatherer. Our men work on the land, and we women have long before living memory gone down to the sea to get the cockles. I started when I was married, when I wanted extra money to bring up the children; and that's why most of us do it.'

She turned towards the sea and said:

'Those are the last cockle gatherers you'll see in Stiffkey. Girls to-day want to be ladies. They don't like to get themselves up in such ugly clothes and go down to the sea as their mothers and their grandmothers and - yes - and their great-grandmothers did; and they don't like hard work, either. . . . Yes, we're the last cockle women, we old ones. . . .'

A look of absolute horror came into the face of this old woman when I asked her if I might take a photograph of her. She put her hands to her eyes as I have seen Arabs do when faced by a cameras.

'No, no,' she said, and looked round for cover. I soothed her with great difficulty.

It was not modesty, I think, or the thought of being photographed in such queer garments. Here and there in remote parts of England there exists still a curious belief that to be photographed brings bad luck.

There are few stranger sights in England than the return of these cockle women before the galloping tide. Slowly, heavily, they come with dripping sacks of 'Stewkey blues' on their backs. Most of them are old women, who belong to a tougher generation. Some are middle-aged. Now and again a girl goes down 'for fun', to see how her mother earned extra money to bring her up. The salt spray drenches their short skirts, the wind lashes their bare legs, as they come plodding in over the salt marshes.

LITTLE WALSINGHAM

WALSINGHAM, GREAT & LITTLE, are two villages in the hundred of North Greenhoe, about 117 miles N. N. E. from London, 28 N.W. from Norwich, and about 5 N. from Fakenham. Little Walsingham (also called New Walsingham) is now the principal and most populous of the two, and contains a fine church, dedicated to Saint Mary, having beautiful architectural ornaments, interesting monuments, and an elegant font; there is also a church of great architectural symmetry in the parish of Great Walsingham: both livings are advowson donatives, in the gift of the lord of the manor. In 1639 the free school here was founded by Richard Bond, who endowed it with an estate in Great Snoring, but is rendered ineffective by the injudicious directions of the founder, and the pertinacity of the feoffees in abiding by them: these directions are, to teach Greek and Latin to thirty children of poor inhabitants of Little Walsingham: no child has been sent to this school for upwards of thirty years! For two very obvious reasons; first, the expense of purchasing the necessary instructive books in those branches of learning-and secondly, the probability of such a scheme of education resulting in little or no advantage to the class intended to be benefited. 'It is to be regretted,' observes an intelligent inhabitant, 'that this sinecure is not abolished, by converting the school into one for teaching writing, arithmetic and English.' Quarter sessions are held here, by adjournment from Norwich. In the pleasure garden of D. H. Lee Warner, Esq., are the venerable and beautiful ruins of Walsingham abbey, with the Roman pulpit, the wells, &c.: this gentleman's house occupies the site of the priory. The market, formerly held at Little Walsingham, was many years ago transferred to Fakenham; an annual fair, however, is still held, fourteen days after Whit-Monday, for stock and pedlery.

There is one each of the following trades - Cooper, Glover, Hair Dresser, Machine Maker, Maltster, Tinman, Veterinary Surgeon.

Walsingham. This village-town in the shallow valley which runs inland from Wells is one of the most picturesque on the northern margin of the county; and the gateway of the priory, a most attractive feature, is actually in the main street, with mediaeval buildings adjoining it. What remains of the famous monastery is now private property, but the imposing eastern end of the chancel of the church rising above well-kept lawns can be seen under certain conditions.

The wealth brought to the priory through the phenomenal stream of pilgrims to the world-famed shrine of "Our Lady of Walsingham" made the monastery one of the richest in the world. Kings and Queens of England, including even Henry VIII., came to the shrine, and Erasmus, who was there in 1511, wrote derisively of the image of the Virgin and of the vast riches of the priory. Pilgrims were allowed to use the two wishing-wells, which are still to be seen, provided that they threw money into the water, for without this additional act their wishes were not granted. Even the great throng of pilgrims which trod the various roads to Canterbury every year was outnumbered by those who went to Walsingham, so great was the popularity of Walsingham's shrine. Not without a stroke of genius, the monastery taught that the Milky Way across the starlit heavens actually pointed to the shrine of Our Lady, and on this account the people of Norfolk came to call the cloudy galaxy of the universe the "Walsingham way." Close to the site of the priory, in a pretty corner shaded by masses of trees, is Little Walsingham Church, an interesting building of the Perpendicular period, chiefly remarkable for its magnificent font.

REEPHAM

There is one each of the following trades - Attorney, Basket Maker, Cabinet Maker, Coal Dealer, Currier, Druggist, Machine Maker, Miller, Patten Maker, Spirit Merchant, Tinman, Veterinary Surgeon, Watch Maker, Wheelwright.

WELLS-NEXT-THE-SEA

WELLS, a sea-port town and parish in the hundred of North Greenhoe, is 118 miles N.N.E. from London, and 32 N.W. from Norwich - seated on a creek running into the German ocean. It is composed of two principal streets, leading to the quay, and some smaller ones, narrow and badly paved; and the houses are but indifferently built. The harbour, formerly better than at present, has sustained great injury from the gradual accumulation of sand, which, continually shifting, renders the channel difficult of access; and, when a north or north-east wind blows violently, the safety of the ships at its mouth is endangered: lately, however, much improvement has been effected by the harbour commissioners. The exportation of grain and malt, and the importation of coal, tiles and deals, form the trade of the port: a considerable number of the inhabitants are employed in the fisheries, and the oysters taken from the beds here are of excellent quality. There is a custom-house on the quay. The parish of Wells extends over four manors, all the property of the Earl of Leicester, whose steward holds courts leet and baron annually; and two magistrates of the hundred sit here, in petty sessions, once a fortnight.

The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas or St. Peter (it is undecided which), is of flint, with an embattled tower; the benefice is a rectory. The independents, the society of friends, and methodists, have their respective places of worship; and there is an infant school, supported by the benevolence of Lady Leicester. Holkham Hall, whose noble proprietor has been so often already mentioned, is about two miles hence, and the park may be attained within about a mile. An annual fair is held on Shrove -Tuesday.

There is one each of the following trades - Auctioneer, Block and Pump Maker, Coach Maker, Cooper, Glover, Iron Founder, Millwright, Sail Maker, Stay Maker, Stone Mason.

Wells-next-the-Sea is a pleasant little town with a wharf extending along the shores of a tidal creek. It has one narrow street, having something of a seafaring atmosphere about it, and a large church which was burnt out after having been struck by lightning in a storm which occurred on August 3rd, 1879. The Perpendicular walls were restored and re-roofed, but the building lacks interest.