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Hidden East Anglia: Landscape Legends of Norfolk & Suffolk
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Hardley:
The haunted cross-stone A little distance from Loddon, at the edge of a field at the crossing of three roads and a dirt track, about ½ a mile south-west of Hardley church, stands a small, shaped block of stone, about 30 inches high, and packed around the base with small stones and rubble (TG376003). On maps of the area it's marked as a 'cross-stone', but is probably a boundary marker of some kind. Once, more of it was visible, as a record of 1934 describes it as "a square stone with beveled edges, approx. 4 feet appearing out of the ground". A tradition, probably first recorded by the local 19th century folklorist William Blythe Gerish, says that on certain nights of the year, the apparition of "an old woman in red" appears at midnight, sitting on the stone.
Source: W. B. Gerish: 'Norfolk Folklore Notes' (unpublished, 1890-93), p.88.
Herolf's Stone In a short alley just off the west side of the high street here is a ponderous granite block, 4 feet 6 inches x 4 feet x 3 feet high, painted black (TM243832). Commonly known as 'Herolf's Stone', it is claimed to be where a Danish Chieftain named Herolf once stood and granted several cottages (the 'Stone Tenements' in Middle Row, now gone) to the local guilds. This is said to have given the town its early name of 'Herolvestone'. Some call it the 'Harold Stone', and tell that King Harold (at one time, Earl of East Anglia) once mounted his horse here, when he stopped for the night on his way from the battle of Stamford Bridge to Hastings.1 Some say the depression in the top is the imprint of his booted foot, while others believe he stood on the stone to issue orders for the billeting of his army. Other folks say the Romans placed it here2, while
yet others allege that a herald once stood on the stone to proclaim the imminent arrival of the enemy
(possibly the Danes), and around it the townsfolk gathered to defend their homes.3
Sources: 1. Letter in
the 'East Anglian Magazine', Vol.8, No.8 (April 1949), p.427. 3. Harleston Town Guide, 1977, p.9.
Selbourne House stands just across the marketplace from the J. D. Young Hotel, formerly the Magpie. Allegedly Churchill stayed at the Magpie one night during the Second World War, where he met with General Eisenhower, who was lodging at Selbourne. A legendary tunnel running from the House to a nearby building (once the Nationwide Building Society) was said to be a particular reason that the general stayed there.
Source: http://new.edp24.co.uk/cs/forums/649952/ShowPost.aspx
Heacham: The golden gates The 'Golden Gates' are said to be buried in a field just north of the little bridge over the Heacham River, a mile outside the village.
The Hethel Thorn In a meadow a little north-west of All Saints church, and reached by a path and stile, is the Hethel Thorn (TG171006). Enclosed within a low wooden fence, a plaque erected beside it reads: "This is the oldest living specimen of crataegus monogyna in East Anglia...In the 18th century it was preserved by the Beevor family and later by the Gurneys. It was presented to the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust by Mr. F. W. Myhill in 1960".
Source: James Grigor: 'The Eastern Arboretum' (Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1841), pp.282-4.
Kett's Oak Kett's Oak (TG139037), propped, shored, and in-filled with concrete, can be found by the roadside between Norwich and Wymondham, and is well-known as the alleged spot where, in 1649, the rebel Robert Kett and his peasant army stopped on their march against Norwich to swear an oath 'to reform the Church and the State'. Tradition says that Kett himself hanged six of his fellow rebels on the tree. Another Kett's Oak (TF628005) stands in a wood near Ryston Hall, not far from Downham Market, marking another gathering place of rebels from that revolt.
While besieging Norwich, Kett established his headquarters on Mousehold Heath beneath a tented or partially-roofed tree, known since then as the Oak of Reformation. Under the tree the rebels held a daily court, and here they dubbed Kett the 'King' of Norfolk and Suffolk. After defying the true King's forces for about eight weeks, Kett led his mob down into a vale on the heath called Dussindale, and was there routed.
Dussindale is usually said to be now the Long Valley between Gilman and Gurney Roads, although recent research suggests the battles may have taken place somewhere between Angel Road and Magdalen Road, while the site of the Oak (TG246089) is occupied by a water tower in Thorpe Hamlet, not far from Kett's Hill. Robert was hung alive in chains from the walls of Norwich Castle (where his ghost has been seen, rotting in its swinging cage), his brother William was hanged on the steeple of Wymondham church, while nine other ringleaders were hanged on the Oak of Reformation.
Source: James Grigor: 'The Eastern Arboretum' (Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1841), p.348
Secret tunnel At the 12th century Augustinian priory (TG418249), now no more than fragments of archway patched into the Priory Farm buildings a little outside the village, the ghost of a hooded monk is said to prowl the ruins, then vanish into a secret tunnel leading from the site of the priory's high altar to a 'marsh drain' or dyke ½ a mile to the north-east (probably where the Hickling Wall embankment divides Brograve Level from Long Gore Marsh).
The Spout Common spring A spring on the western edge of Spout Common (TG075387
area) used to have an enclosing wall round it (and served as the town
pound), where a man was said to have tried to pen an owl overnight. An
owl features proudly on the town sign in remembrance of this act. Source: Enid Porter: 'Folklore of East Anglia' (Batsford, 1974), p.129-30.
The walking statues The statues of the Four Evangelists that stand on top of the church tower (TG355166) were said to come down one by one in successive years, then duly return.
Source: W. B. Gerish: 'Norfolk Folklore Collections' (unpublished, 1916-18, compiled by William de Castre), Vol.4, p.100.
Secret tunnel
Constructed on a natural mound, the Normans built a motte and bailey castle (TG205157) a little to the east of the village. From the surviving motte, an underground passage is said to run for ¾ of a mile to the remnants of a Benedictine priory at Horsham St. Faith. The priory, dedicated to that saint, was founded in about 1105, and the remains can be seen at Abbey Farm (TG215152), just north of the church.
Source: former weblink: broadland.gov.uk/broadland/tourism.nsf/pages/tvstfaith.html
The above-mentioned priory at Horsham was originally intended to be built on a site at Horsford called Kirkescrofte. Robert Fitzwalter and his wife Sybil de Cheney had vowed to erect there a monastery dedicated to St. Faith, after believing that they had been saved from robbers by that saint while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome.
According to the 17th century antiquary William Dugdale, "And soone after that they were come home they began there first foundation upon a certaine ground called at this day Kirkescrofte, and the worke that was made on the day fell down on the night, and then it was thought that God and Saint Faith were not pleased it should stand there, wherefore they thought, by there better advise to edifie the said monastery upon the ground and place where it is now at this day."1
Another more recent source suggests that 'devils' were responsible for the failure of the first priory. This might be a local legend, but I can't find any other source for it.2
Sources: 1. Sir William Dugdale: 'Monasticon Anglicanum' (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1817-30), Vol.3, p.636. 2. Pamela Brooks: 'Norfolk Ghosts & Legends' (Halsgrove, 2008), P.69.
The three-thumbed miller Christopher Marlowe, in his travels about Norfolk in the early 20th century, came across a rather odd prophecy concerning a tree in the parish of Horstead. Leaving the "commonplace village church" behind, he took the road that leads south to Crostwick and Norwich: "Turning south over Heggatt Heath - a notorious highwayman's resort - I soon reached the great tree in the centre of the common (TG277184 area), where tradition relates that a miller with three thumbs shall hold three kings' horses during the progress of a great battle - in the course of this fight nearly every man in the county will be killed, but no date is given".1 This oak was also once said to have seen the court of 'a Queen of England.'
This prophecy is remarkably similar to a riddle from Dunchurch in Warwickshire, which says that Rains Brook will run with blood after a great battle when three kings' horses will be held by a miller with three thumbs.
However,
Mother Shipton's actual prophecy simply says: "There shall be a childe
born in Pom-
In addition, a somewhat similar prediction appears in the writings of the Cheshire prophet Robert Nixon: "A boy shall be born with three thumbs, and shall hold three kings' horses, while England shall three times be won and lost in one day."4 Since it's thought Nixon could have been born in either the 15th or the early 17th century, it's impossible to know which prophecy came first. And how it came to be that either of the above versions has been attached to Norfolk, I don't know.
Sources: 1. Christopher Marlowe: 'People & Places in Marshland' (Cecil Palmer, 1927), p.237. 3. William H Harrison: 'Mother Shipton Investigated' (london, 1881), p.34. 4. 'Nixon's Cheshire Prophecies' (Abel Heywood & Son, 1878), p.7.
St. Edmund's wells By tradition, England's one-time patron saint Edmund was born in 841 AD in Old Saxony, and named as his successor by King Offa of East Anglia. 14 year old Edmund is said to have landed at Hunstanton in 855 to be king of the East Angles, at a spot then known as Maidenbury ('bower of the maid') - probably either St. Edmund's Point or Gore Point. On reaching the shore he fell to his knees in prayer, and twelve springs rose up, of such sweetness that the place became known as Honestantun i.e. the 'Honey-stone Town.' A short distance from the disused lighthouse are the remains of St. Edmund's Chapel (TF675419), where pilgrims offered their prayers before seeking to the holy wells which, by the Middle Ages, were said to have remarkable healing powers. Edmund himself is supposed to have built the chapel, and there spent the year in prayer before being crowned. (See also 'Edmund of East Anglia'.) Sources: W. A. Dutt, in the 'Eastern Daily Press', Sept.26th 1922. John S. Cobb: 'History of Hunstanton, Norfolk' (Jarrold & Sons, 1868), p.24. |
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