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Hidden East Anglia: Landscape Legends of Norfolk & Suffolk
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King John's Hole
A dank pool known as King John's Hole is said to exist somewhere on the southern side of the King's Lynn to Long Sutton Road. This is alleged to be the hiding place of King John's treasure, lost somewhere between Walpole St. Andrew and Long Sutton in Cambridgeshire, when the king, his army and his baggage train were surprised by the tide as he set out across the Wash in 1216, heading for Newark in Nottinghamshire.
Source: W. A. Dutt: 'The Norfolk & Suffolk Coast' (T. Fisher Unwin, 1909), p.400.
Giant Hickathrift's effigy
On an outside wall of the church (TF502168), in a corner between the north aisle and the chancel, is a stone figure about 20 inches high, very weathered. The architectural historian Pevsner says that it’s a 'caryatid', a female supporting figure, but local tradition says rather that it's an effigy of Tom Hickathrift, the famous Norfolk giant.
Tom is said to have thrown a stone from the Marshland Smeeth through the church wall here, and a small hole used to be shown as proof. Meanwhile, in the churchyard Tom is believed to have defeated the Devil in either a wrestling match or a game of football, and some say the hole in the wall was caused by the Devil lobbing a ball at Tom.
In a connected bit of folklore from many miles away in Suffolk, locals would often refer to 'Old Icklethrift' who 'kicked a stone ball from Beccles to Bungay.'
For more details, and the full story of Norfolk's giant, see 'The Quest for Tom Hickathrift'.
Warham Camp
The well-preserved Warham Camp hillfort (TF944409 area) was made in the Iron Age by the Iceni, but tradition says that it was actually built by the Danes, as a nearby field is called Sweyne's Meadow after an alleged Scandinavian chieftain. According to legend, the Saxons from Crabb's Castle (TF909395 area, a former earthwork at nearby Wighton) once drove the Danes out of Warham Camp by poisoning the river that follows past the ramparts.
Source: R. H. Mottram: 'East Anglia' (Chapman & Hall, 1933), p.58.
Fossditch
The miles-long Fossditch or Fendyke (TL771953 area) is said to have been created by the Devil dragging his foot along the ground, and later, in scraping off his boot, the clod of soil fell to form Thetford Castle earthworks.
Source: Mark Knights: 'Peeps at the Past' (Jarrold & Sons, 1892), p.42.
Near the church are the moated remains of the castle built in 1180 by Ralph de Plais. About a mile away is a fenced-off round barrow known as Pepper Hill (TL787882), from the tradition that here Cromwell stood his cannon to 'pepper' the castle.
Source: W. G. Clarke: 'In Breckland Wilds' (Robert Scott, 1925), p.128.
In one of several ancient burial mounds in Weeting parish, an unnamed man is said to have been buried standing upright.
Source: W. G. Clarke: 'In Breckland Wilds' (Robert Scott, 1925), p.128.
Secret tunnel
Blenheim House dates from 1740 and is said to have been used by smugglers, who had access to the quay via a secret tunnel.
Source: www.historic-uk.com/StayUK/East/BandB/
The Maiden's Tomb
Only the shell of Holy Trinity with St. Edmund's church (TG508117) now remains, but until its removal in 1896, there used to be on top of the tower a peculiar pyramid-like structure known as The Tomb, or the Maiden's Tomb, which would once have been visible from the sea. It was actually no more than the apex of the tiled roof projecting above the top of the tower, but the locals invented a tale for it.
Source: W. A. Dutt: 'The Norfolk Broads' (Methuen, 1903), p.334.
The Blood Hills
The Blood Hills here (TG473185 area, now covered with wind turbines) are traditionally named from a legend that on these slopes was fought a battle between Saxons and Vikings, a conflict so terrible that the hillsides ran red with blood. The name Gibbet Hill nearby also suggests other possibilities.
Source: James Wentworth Day: 'Marshland Adventure' (Harrap & Co, 1950), p.33.
The stolen tower
Walton has a 13th century church of St. Mary (TF471133), and the tower, about 60 or 70 feet from the nave, stands on open arches at the entrance to the churchyard. Tradition says that the Devil tried to steal the entire tower, then attached to the church, but found it too heavy and dropped it where it stands.
Source: W. Andrews (ed.): 'Antiquities & Curiosities of the Church' (Hull Press, 1896.)
Wicked Hampton & Hell Fire Gate
In the chancel of St. Andrew's church (TG027454) is a medieval altar-tomb, upon which are the full-size effigies of Sir William Gerbrygge and his wife, who are said to have founded the church in 1272. Until badly defaced, each held in their hands a small stone heart. Despite the fact that one is obviously a woman, tales tell that these are the effigies of two brothers named Hampton, who quarreled over the boundaries of the parishes Wickhampton and Halvergate that each owned.
The quarrel became a battle, the site of which is said to be marked by a piece of flint masonry set into the side of a ditch somewhere along the boundary. For hours they fought with fist and sword until finally they tore out each other's heart. God in his fury turned them to stone and put their bodies in the church with their hearts in their hands as a dire warning to others. From that day the two parishes became known as Wicked Hampton and Hell Fire Gate.
Source: 'Choice Notes from Notes & Queries: Folk-Lore' (Bell & Daldy, 1859), p.165. John Glyde: 'The Norfolk Garland' (Jarrold & Sons, 1872), p.68.
Secret tunnel
About two miles south of the 15th century church of St. Mary Magdalen is a farmhouse called Crabb's Abbey (TF601078). The name is all that's left of a 12th century convent for Augustinian nuns, Crabhouse Abbey. Old folk in the village say they can remember a tunnel once connecting the two. But if it went in a straight line, it must have passed beneath the Great Ouse river at least twice.
Source: 'The East Anglian Magazine' (July 1975), p.430.
The Bible Oak
"A decayed veteran held together by iron bands, with its enormous arms propped up" is how the famed Winfarthing Oak (TM106871 area) was described in the early 20th century. Its remains can be found near Lodge Farm on the Earl of Albemarle's estate in Winfarthing, north of Diss. At the time of the Norman Conquest, it's said that this "magnificent tree which in 1744 measured 68 feet in circumference at the extremity of its roots" was reputed to have been called the Old Oak.
In later times it was renamed the Bible Oak, from the fact that a box had been fitted to the tree to perform as a money collector for the British and Foreign Bible Society. This hollow shell, which finally crumbled in 1953, was so massive within that it could easily hold thirty men at one time, and indeed there could once be seen inside it a number of tables and chairs used to convene the Winfarthing parish meetings.
Sources: W. A. Dutt: 'Norfolk' (Methuen, 1902), p.236. Lily Palmer, in the 'East Anglian Magazine' (Oct. 1960), p.712.
Cromwell's guns
"Were I was a Keeper we had a verry large Warren beside the road running from Wormagay. One day the warriners were digging at the bottom of a large hill were Oliver Cromwell was supposed to have planted his guns wen he destroyed Pentney Abby..."
Source: The 'King of the Norfolk Poachers' in Lilias Rider Haggard (ed.): 'I Walked by Night' (Oxford University Press, 1982)
Secret tunnel
Wymondham Abbey (TG106015), originally founded as a priory in 1107, is said to have a secret subterranean passage running from it to the nearby Green Dragon Inn, used once upon a time by 'misbehaving monks'.
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