2 posts tagged “norfolk”
On a clear autumn Sunday afternoon, we took pictures of our local village. This is the Post Office, just tucked into the end of an apartment building.
This is Londis, one of two grocery stores. There is also a butcher shop, a auto repair shop, and a second hand/antique store where you can buy, for example, a hand cranked sewing machine with curved wooden cover for about $55. There are three pubs (public house, inn, or hotel with bar) one of which, the Chequers, is pictured here.
Painting over the natural brick and stone construction, as seen on Londis and Chequers, is quite popular, as is naming your house with a little plaque like the Forget Me Not Cottage.
The largest house in the area is on the outskirts of the village. It seems to have been converted into some kind of institution. The chimneys are each remarkably elaborate as seen at the right below.
The single most imposing structure
in town is St Mary's Church, built in
about 1300 AD. It is a very unusual
building that just happens to be in our little village. In 1602 the church was listed among the Ruined and Decayed Churches in the Deanery of Fincham and Cranwich. However, it was obviously still in use since the three bells are dated 1621 and 1711. It was repaired in 1834 and in 1862. Towers of the size of this one, and churches in general, were built at the rate of 6 feet per year to enable the mortar to dry.
The church contains nine
stained glass windows
forming the only set of such windows in the United Kingdom. The red coloured glass was only found in two of the most notable cathedrals in Europe. No other church in Britain has the same red
colored glass.
The main entrance from the street is this small but very heavy door. There is some evidence that there may have been a Church here before 1300 since some of the oldest parts of the building, near this door, seem Roman.
The pews are interesting in that they are intricately carved with tiny figures of people and animals on the hand rests at each end.
During the Commonwealth, 1647, when England was "converted" from Catholicism, most churches received considerable damage as people destroyed what they thought were forbidden, graven images. Luckily, they missed a few in St Mary's as can be seen at the right. These pews are 400 years old and still as miserable to sit in now as they were then. The red poppies are a reminder that the UK is observing "Remembrance" of Armistice Day.
There are numerous, finely detailed, carved wooden lattices in St Mary's, typical of most European churches of the period.
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We drove to Thetford, Suffolk to do a little shopping and to our amazement found a greater-than-life-sized bronze statue of Thomas Paine, the famous author whose writings did much to solidify the colonists resolve to become an independent nation. His likeness is right in front of the city hall and it created quite a stir in town when it was proposed. Thomas wrote interesting things like: "My country is the world and my religion is to do good." His theme was always natural rights and liberty. The book in his left hand is titled "Human Rights". He was the first to coin the phrase "The United States of America". Jack considered him his mentor and hero as he wrote his articles on the Constitution in 1976. So why does this arch-rebel have a nice statue in King George's motherland? Turns out he was born in Thetford! He only spent 15 years in the american colonies - the critical period from about 1772 to 1787 (when we got our Constitution). Needless to say, his political posture nearly cost him his life on more than one occasion.
What was our added surprise when a news bit recently told of a historically rebellious town (named Lewes [say lewis]) south of London where local merchants have associated themselves and printed script money which is only accepted by merchants in the group. The paper script money features a large picture of the bust of Thomas Paine! He is famous and respected in England even though he was once esteemed as the worst of rebels.
