Last autumn I published Anglian Annals, the third in Norwich based writer, Peter Sargent's series
of books covering the rich history of East Anglia, following A Moment in Time (2017) and A Place in History (2018).
Each book looks at 50 different stories
covering the region's past from early days to the 19th and
20th centuries. Anglian Annals is slightly
different to the first two books, as it covers folklore and legend,
as well as history.
The Norwich area is well represented in
all three books, as befits such a historic city, which is brim full
of fascinating stories from the past. Anglian Annals includes
the legend of St William, Stigand, the last Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of
Canterbury, who was a Norwich native, the building of the city's
medieval walls and Kett's Rebellion. That's just for starters. Here
are details of more Norwich stories, which Peter selects to both
inform and entertain the reader.
In the Folklore and Legend section,
Peter discusses the origins of Snap the Dragon, a colourful character
who, accompanied by the Whifflers, is seen out and about every July
in the Lord Mayor's Procession.
Snap began life in the early 15th
century, when the Norwich Guild of Saint George acted a play on the
Saint's Feast Day. A member of the guild, acting the role of Saint
George, rescued Saint Margaret from a dragon.
Peter explains: “Old Snap entered
Norwich folklore, his first recorded archive entry being 1408. With
his snapping jaws he would caper among the crowds, a complex figure
of both fun and fear.”
“Writing as late as the 18th
century, local historian Benjamin Mackerell said: The Dragon, carried
by a Man in the body of it, gave great diversion to the common
People. They always seemed to fear it when it was near them, but
always looked upon it with pleasure when it was a distance from
them.”
“An inscription in Norwich Castle's
grounds records some possible dialogue spoken by Saint George as he
tackled Snap: Should twenty thousand dragons rise, I'd fight them all
before your eyes! And now I'll slay the dragon, my wonders to begin.
A fell and fiery dragon he, but I will clip his wing.”
'Medieval Marvels' features a story
with the title 'As old as the Adam'. The Adam in question is
Norwich's oldest pub, the Adam and Eve, which began life as an
extension to the brewing activities at The Great Hospital. The first
recorded customers were Cathedral workers who were paid with bread
and ale in 1249.
Peter delves into tales of ghosts,
smuggling and murder plots at the pub and produces the roll call of
modern celebrity visitors including the late actor Sir John Hurt,
political activist Peter Tatchell, dancer Wayne Sleep, Undertones
former front man, Feargal Sharkey and comedian Vic Reeves.
The Adam and Eve is the perfect place
to relax, enjoy a drink and immerse yourself in history and have a
good browse through one of Peter's books.
 |
| Anglian Annals launch, 21 September 2019 at Jarrold Norwich, left Peter Sargent and right Paul Dickson |
Then in the Tudor era, what about the
1507 Great Fire of Norwich. Peter quotes poet John Skelton who wrote
about the fire, “All life is brief, and frail all man's estate.
City, farewell, I mourn thy cruel fate.”
There were in fact two disastrous
Norwich fires in 1507. The first fire began in Tombland towards the
end of April and burned a trail of destruction as far as Pottergate,
destroying all the houses on Elm Hill except for the building we know
as the Briton's Arms. It even made it's way across the river into the
Colegate area. Then in June a second fire began in Colegate. Some 40%
of the city was destroyed with more than 700 houses being burned to
the ground.
Peter explores the reasons for the
destruction: “A modern health and safety expert would have closed
down 16th century Norwich , and most other towns, as an
accident waiting to happen. Buildings were largely timber-built, they
had wooden chimeys and roofs made of thatch. It was a recipe for
disaster...Once a fire took hold it was hard to stop. It was all
hands to the job, but a few leather buckets, ladders and hooks for
pulling down burning thatch were about as far as the technology
went.”
Norwich rose from the ashes as the
corporation brought in a fire prevention regulation, which required
people to use tiles on roofs, rather than thatch, when building new
houses. If you survived the fire you were allowed to keep your thatch
– the roofing material still proudly displayed by the Briton's
Arms.
Finally, an example of one of Peter
19th century stories: the 1848 murder of Isaac Jermy, the
Recorder of Norwich and his son Isaac Jermy Jermy by their tenant
farmer, James Blomfield Rush, and his subsequent execution.
The mortgage on Rush's farm was about
to be foreclosed and Rush decided that the only way to stay at the
farm was to murder his landlord. On the night of the murders he also
shot and wounded the Jermy's maid, Elizabeth Chestney, who recognised
him as his disguise slipped. She was to testify against Rush at his
trial.
The trial was a media sensation with
the popular newspapers filling many column inches about Rush. He was
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Executions were still public
and some 20,000 people witnessed Rush's death outside the Castle,
brought to Norwich by the new rail network.
Peter records the crowd's response, “A
reporter wrote: The greatest silence prevailed, the solemn stillness
being only broken by the solitary shriek of a woman who had fainted
in the crowd.”
Anglian Annals is
on sale at Allthingsnorfolk.com and Amazon. For more information about Peter Sargent's books see
www.pauldicksonbooks.co.uk
.
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