Hidden East Anglia:

Landscape Legends of Eastern England

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Caistor St. Edmund:

Secret tunnel

A tunnel is said to run from Caistor Camp (TG230035 area) to Arminghall church (TG252043). 'Golden gates' are also said to be buried deep down near the Roman camp, but whether or not these are connected to the tunnel, I don't know.1

Another source says that the tunnel begins at the water-gate at the northwest corner, and that the gates are actually made of brass.2

Sources:

1. W. B. Gerish: 'Norfolk Folklore Collections' (unpublished, 1916-18), Vol.4, pp.57-8.

2. www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid='mnf9786'

 

 

Carbrooke:

 

The Battlefield

 

In 1193 a preceptory or 'commandry' of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem was established at Carbrooke, in fields just south-east of the church. Earthworks still mark the site, in which Saxon burials and jewelry were discovered in the 19th century. Although no legend of an actual battle seems to have survived, this is certainly suggested by the name of one of the mounds that was opened here: The Battlefield, also known as Knight's Hill. Another field a little further to the west near Caudlesprings has been called Battle Meadow.

 

Sources:

http://www.ancientmonuments.info/ennf387-site-of-commandry-of-st-john-of-jerusalem

http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MNF8814

 

 

Caston:

 

Secret tunnel

 

An underground passage is believed to run from Holy Cross church (TL960976) to either the 15th century cross-base on the green, or to Church Farm TL958975), but no traces have ever been found. Both the cross and the farm (once a refectory, with signs of arcading still visible in the walls) were temporary stations for pilgrims on the route to Walsingham. There is also apparently a local tale that 'Catholic treasure' is secreted in a room hidden beneath the cross.

 

Sources:

John S. Barnes: 'A History of Caston, Norfolk' (private, 1974.)

John S. Barnes: 'The Mystery of Caston's Cross' (unpublished, 1978.)

 

Cockley Cley:

 

The turning milestone

 

"I well remembered how frightened we children were of a certain milestone on the Gooderstone road which turned round....when Swaffham church bells chimed."

 

Source: Letter in the 'East Anglian Magazine', Vol.8, No.8 (April 1949), p.427.

 

 

Coltishall:

 

Golden Gates Pond

 

The hamlet of Great Hautbois is now part of Coltishall parish, and here in the marshes beside the river Bure can be found the sparse earthwork remains of Hautbois Castle, built in 1312 (TG261203), possibly on the site of a Roman villa. Originally just a manor house, it was later found necessary to fortify it. Local tradition states that the castle once had 'gates of gold', which the castle's owner had removed during a time of trouble, and dropped into a nearby pond until the danger had passed. Unfortunately, another tale says that the pond was bottomless, and so the gates still lie in the depths of what became known as Golden Gates Pond. 

 

Source: http://www.themarlpit.com/themagazine/articles/augsept2002/article4.asp

 

 

Corpusty:

 

The Devil's Dish

 

Part of Mossymere Wood lies within Corpusty parish, and within it on the southern side towards Saxthorpe is an 18 metre depression known as the Devil's Dish (TG130309). In 1717, human remains and 'relics' were said to have been found here, but instead of being removed to the churchyard, they were reburied on the spot. This was believed to have incurred God's wrath, which is why, on July 23rd that year, several oak trees were seen to sink into the earth there, with water bubbling up around there. The oaks having disappeared, the water drained away, and thus the Devil's Dish was born.

 

Sources:

H. B. Woodward: 'The Geology of the Country around Fakenham, Wells & Holt' (Geological Survey, 1884), p.48-9.

http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MNF25311

 

 

Costessey:

 

St. Walstan's Well

 

On its journey from Taverham to Bawburgh, an ox-cart bearing the body of the 10th century saint Walstan passed over the river Wensum by Taverham bridge, and into Costessey Wood. Soon it came to a little stream (the river Tud), where the cart rode on the surface of the water, then came to the crest of a hill in the wood. Here the oxen rested, and a stream of pure water welled up. St. Walstan's Well (TG153114) had dried up by the end of the 18th century, but the site is in Costessey Park in the Long Dale, beside a path at the edge of a wood. The 1832 OS map marks it as 'Walsam's Wells.' According to E. Rose of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit, a visit in 1978 showed that the "well survives as a deep circular pit filled with fallen trees, about 4m in diameter; a few lumps of flint walling at bottom".1

 

Sources:

Mark Knights: 'Peeps at the Past' (Jarrold & Son, 1892), p.68.

W. A. Dutt: 'Highways & Byways in East Anglia' (Macmillan & Co, 1923), pp.159, 161.

1. www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MNF7886

 

 

Cranworth:

The ghost in the tree

A tall white figure was said to come out of a vanished old ash tree here, walk up and down the road towards Letton Hall, then vanish at midnight.

Source: W. B. Gerish: 'Norfolk Folklore Notes' (unpublished, 1890-93), p.26.

 

 

Cromer:

 

Secret tunnels

 

I was told of a smuggler's tunnel from the church of St. Peter and St. Paul (TG220422) at Cromer, running ½ a mile south-west to Cromer Hall (TG215417), built in 1827 and once the seat of the famous Norfolk family, the Windhams.1

Ivan Bunn was informed of a tunnel "which went underneath the Cromer church and came out in the yard (Butchers now I think) opposite where the cinema is now" (not far from the church, in Hans Place).2

 

Another tunnel passing under the church, this time starting at the promenade, was said to have been used by smugglers. Within living memory an entrance was still visible, and partially accessible for a few yards, but my informant's father was later employed in blocking it up completely.3

 

Sources:

1. Information from Phillip Visser.

2. Letter from Mr. J. H. Harrison of Spalding to Ivan Bunn, 4/5/1976.

3. Information supplied to this website by B. Emery of Sheringham.

 

 

Crostwick:

 

Thunderbolts and a queen

 

An oak of "remarkable age and size" once stood on the common not far from St. Peter's church (TG258159), which was "struck no less than 3 times by a thunderbolt", and attached to it was a vague tradition that "a Queen of England" once held her royal court beneath its branches.

 

Source: James Grigor: 'The Eastern Arboretum' (Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1841), p.336.

 

 

Croxton:

 

Fowlmere

 

Fowlmere (TL879895 area) straddles the boundary between Croxton and East Wretham, and was possibly one of the waterholes used by travellers on the old Drove Road that runs by it. W. G. Clarke quotes a tale collected by J. D. Salmon in 1834 from a man who had lived nearby 40 years before, and who "walked around the mere every Sunday. His grandfather remarked that when the mere is very high, wheat is dear, and on the contrary when the water is low". (See also Wicken Pond and  Barton Mere).

 

Source: W. G. Clarke: 'In Breckland Wilds' (Robert Scott, 1925), p.82.