From the Bell Tower:
Well, the First World War may be over but it doesn’t seem to have stopped Ryburgh connected soldiers coming to light. In fact two have joined the list since Armistice Day. You can read all about them on the church website and they were Alfred Benjamin Clements from Colkirk who married the daughter of a Ryburgh couple John and Caroline Daws, worked at the Maltings with Edgar Huckins and is to be found on the F & G Smith Roll of Honour. He died two months before Edgar in October 1915. The other soldier was Anthony Edgar Hammond, the elder son of Edith Smith of that Ryburgh ilk. He was an actor who joined Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in 1914 and after being wounded in 1915 got a commission in the 12th Lancers and died in November 1917 leaving his estate to Douglas Gerard an Irish ex-pat silent film actor and director living in Los Angeles.
I wrote in October about not getting too sidetracked by Thomas Buttes….. but I have, and due to the Christmas break, started to look at my favourite period, that of the Tudors. Because St Andrew’s like so many others has had much of its past removed and improved for a new generation it is easy to lose sight of all the clues and remnants of its former selves…. but they are there. The old glass led me to Thomas Buttes and just that name in an internet search took me to a booksellers blog in America. He just happened to have had for sale, a book of Sermons by Revd. John Jewell printed in 1583. It had once been in the library of Thomas Buttes who had signed his name in it and written verses, prayers and acrostics on its blank pages in, fortunately a very neat hand. What is more the blog had photographs of some of these and even better, though the book had since been purchased by Princeton University, the photos were the property of the bookseller and he willingly gave me permission to make use of them and so without further ado I present to you an acrostic paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer and some advice for choosing a wife, penned about 450 years ago by the Lord of the Manor, Thomas Buttes Esquire. The same verses are also found in the British Library and for greater clarity are illustrated here from that version. The transcriptions and the original images are from the different versions and show just how non-standard the spellings are!
Images of the original page BL Add Mss 39233 fo 19v. supplied by the British Library and incorporated into this article with their kind permission.
Thou lovinge lorde and father deare, which art in heaven above,
Halowed be thy blessed name thou God of peace and love,
O kinge of kinges thy kingdome come rule thou and reigne for aye
Make us thy people willinglie, thy precepts to obeye,
And as thy will in heaven is wrought, the same be done in earth,
Supply our wantes of dayely breade, and us preserve from dearth
Be mercifull to us, and all our synnes remitt as we,
Unfaynedly forgeve onely as, to us offensyde be,
Thy children doo not leade into temptation wee thee praye,
To us geve strength of fayth in Christe, for our defence alwaye,
Extende thy mightie arme o lorde, and us from evill defende
Sith kingdome, power, and glory thyne now is and shall not ende.
Amen
A doozen poyntes to chuse a wyfe by:
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Of trew religion
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Of reasonable wisdom
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Of unspotted honesty
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Of much humilitie
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Of greate obedience
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Of rare temperennce
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Of chaste manners
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Of comely personage
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Of endifferent beauty
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Of stayed yeres
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Of honest parenttes
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Of convenyent wealthe
Oh, how advice columns have changed over the centuries …..although this one still advocates Tuesdays and Thursday’s 7.30p.m. for a spot of bell ringing.
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From the Bell Tower: March 2019
I was so enthused by my Thomas Buttes finds, I’m afraid I have just had to dig deeper. However it is an excavation that, thanks to modern digital imaging, can be dug in the comfort of ones own front room instead a series of dedicated treks to the British Library. And so I began where I left off last month with the matrimonial advice given by Buttes and found a further source of this wisdom with a complimentary extra in the beautifully neat calligraphy that is to be found in papers ( in fact vellum) containing principally Buttes’ rentals of Great Ryburgh and Woodhall in Little Ryburgh 1572,1578, 1580. On a blank page he writes the 12 poyntes and follows it with this:
Image of the original page BL Add Mss 39233 fo 19v. supplied by the British Library and incorporated into this article with their kind permission.
The gentle woman that hath these properties in her lyfe, may well deserve to have this Epitaph at her death:
A bodie chaste, a vertuous mynde.
A temperate tongue, an humble harte,
Secrete and wyse, faythfull and kynde,
True without guyse, mylde without arte,
A freinde to peace, a foe to stryfe,
A spotles mayde a matchles wyfe.
In the course of this preliminary investigation among certain rental records I suddenly come across the following being part of an account of what was owed to Thomas Waterman, Clerk Parson ( i.e. The Rector) by Thomas Buttes Lord of the Manor in 1579 found in B.L. Add Mss 39227 fo. 73 reproduced by kind permission:
For the rente of the Almes houses lieing on the South side of the Chircheyard due for the half yere ended at Mihelmes Ao 1579 iiijd.
This discovery of buildings long since gone from, one has to assume, a portion of glebe land adjoining Mill Road had a particular significance this week. It just happened to coincide with a visit from a representative of Historic England who was in the process of preparing a report on their application to make the site of the Saxon Cemetery and some surrounding land (which includes the glebe and some neighbouring gardens) a Scheduled Monument. Much as I would love to find Buttes’ Almeshouses I have to say that we are so fortunate to have obtained our planning consents for the gas house project before any of this extra layer of heritage protection comes into force! And on the subject of gas houses, walls are now well in evidence as we transform Colin Palmer’s (and other’s) heap of stones into a very solid structure. The weather though not good hasn’t been altogether unkind especially this week when the south wall, which is currently under construction, has been bathed in glorious sunshine after the morning frost has gone. Ruth Blackman, our Architect, paid us a visit this week and was pleased with our progress to date and made the observation that we might find the we could be actually building a Scheduled Monument….. Well there’s nothing quite like cutting out twelve hundred years of middleman!
I have found other things about Mr Buttes and his very close association with the church in Ryburgh but that will have to wait for another time because I have just remembered the title of this column and need to remind anyone at all who might read this that you are most welcome to come and learn to ring bells at St Andrew’s on a Tuesday or a Thursday night at 7.30p.m.
P.S. 2025: Historic England eventually decided not to schedule the area at all ......probably on the grounds that if there are any further hidden treasures in the area they are safer in an unidentified,unspecified area.
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From the Bell Tower: April 2019
I am thinking of rebranding these jottings as “From the Buttes Tower”, if only because their family coat of arms is carved onto a stone which is placed in the tower wall over the door. It is difficult to imagine today just how much Thomas Buttes must have influenced the lives of Ryburgh parishioners back in the reign of Elizabeth 1st. Although there is no biography of this man, there is much to glean from the documents and accounts that survive, many with his distinctive signature on them. Although it is difficult to know where to start telling the story until they have been fully researched, I have chosen to begin with his last testament and will, or at least an incomplete, though accurate copy of it that I have so far examined.
It portrays a widower who died without issue who very much wanted to be remembered, judging by the large number of bequests leaving gold money (star royalls and duckets) to make rings with his initials engraved upon them.
As his Christian duty, the more so as Patron of St Andrew’s, he was clearly conscious of his responsibilities to the poor of the community at a time when the Poor Law of Elizabeth’s later reign had not yet been enacted. Although I have not yet found much description of his charitable works when he was living, there are bequests to the poor of over 50 local villages, towns and other communities at his decease.
The many books he bequeaths show him very much the protestant influenced by international figures such as Erasmus and John Calvin as well as the more homegrown, John Jewell and John Parkhurst Bishops of Salisbury and Norwich respectively
As the local man with the responsibility for providing men for the militia at the various “musters” of Elizabeth’s reign, he had acquired and provided quite an array of arms, (chiefly, swords, daggers, pikes, bils and halberds) together with protective body armour (Jacks and Curaces) and helmets (Morrians), to equip his men. These were a valuable commodity, many of which he passes on to his retainers and other men of the village in the will. The armoury in Ryburgh would probably have been kept at the Hall though it was very often kept in Parish Churches throughout the country.
His wife, Bridget Bures had died in 1570 and it is pretty clear that for the remaining 21 years of his life, Margaret Watson his “olde, trusty and paynfull servant” was an important part of his life He left her very well provided for with a substantial amount of money, many household items and silver together with secure tenure and benefit of his properties in Catton for her lifetime or unless she were to marry, after which it reverted to the Bacon heirs through his niece Anne Buttes, the daughter of his deceased younger brother Edmund.
I could go on, and doubtless will next time, but have to say that there is now and will be, much more about Thomas on our website pages under Church History including a fine portrait of him in his old age. Have a look and see why I’m wanting to know more about this intriguing man and his mostly currently hidden history
Meanwhile in the belfry in Thomas’ time, the inventory of Edward VI in 1552 lists Great Ryburgh as having “1 stepelle belle wayeng by estimacon 5 c(wts), 2 hand belles, a sacryn bell and a sancts belle. Thereof assigned to be occupied and used in the ministracon of devine service the said belle of 5 cwts.
Unfortunately to my knowledge none of these bells survive to be rung now, although many Norfolk churches have bells this old and older still in use. However the Victorians weren’t all that bad at producing bells, and ours are as good as they come, so give us a look on a Tuesday or a Thursday night at 7.30p.m.
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From the Bell Tower: May 2019
When I first wrote of Thomas Buttes I told how he had been interviewed in his last years by Richard Hakluyt for his account of a voyage as a young man to Newfoundland in 1536. It turns out to have been a singularly memorable episode for all concerned and must have left a lasting impression on the 20 year old gentleman adventurer Thomas Buttes. The reason being that there was an occurrence of cannibalism amongst the crew after reaching Penguin Island with insufficient stores to either remain or return home. They did manage to return to England but only by an act of piracy when they captured a French vessel. Hakluyt describes the outcome in the following manner:
Certaine moneths after, those Frenchmen came into England, and made complaint to king Henry the 8 : the king causing the matter to be examined, and finding the great distresse of his subiects, and the causes of the dealing so with the French, was so mooved with pitie, that he punished not his subiects, but of his owne purse made full and royall recompence unto the French.
Thomas Buttes doesn’t become patron of the living until after his father and mother’s deaths, although they had been granted the Ryburgh Manor and properties including the advowson of St Andrew’s on March 10th 1539 for the sum of 1,000 marks. His first appointment as Rector, or Clark Parson as they were termed, was William Startweyte in 1554 in the reign of Catholic Queen Mary and the second William Seton was in 1559 after Elizabeth I was on the throne. 3 more incumbents followed in 1568 1572 and finally one Thomas Waterman in 1576.
This particular cleric caused so much upset that Thomas Buttes was to pursue an action against Waterman in the Court of Chancery. There is a good deal of documentation concerning this case though it must have come to naught as Waterman survived in post until 1624, some 30 odd years after Buttes died.
I will quote some extracts here to give you a flavour of Buttes’ concerns regarding his appointment and also show that such documents can fill in missing bits of the church building’s history.
A true reporte & declaration, of the Qualeties, Conditions, and unministerlike behaviour, of Thomas Waterman Clark parson of Greate Ryburgh in Norfolk.
First your lordeshipp shall understande that I Thomas Buttes, at the requeast of Mr William Heydon, and uppon his earnest promisse, aswell by speeche, as by his hande wrightyng, of the goode conditions , & goode behaviour of the said Waterman, did francklie, & freelie (geving too much trust unto former promisse) give the benefice of Greate Ryburgh aboute fyve yeres past unto the said Thomas Waterman, who within iiii dayes next after his taking of possesion thereof, even the first Sunday that he served as parson there, openlie in the Churche quarreled with one Richard Peers warrener of Great Ryburgh for tythes, whoo at that tyme offerd unto hym suche tythes as hadd been oldelie, and usuallie payed unto his predecessors, which hee the said T. Waterman then untterlie refused,……
There have been no catechising at G. Ryburgh for the space of theise iiii yeres last past & more, nor teaching the Articles of the Fayth, the Comanndementes, & the lordes prayer, as is prescribed in the Catechisme.
No repayering the channcell, or parsonage, but letting to fearme his benefise there and that unto verie unmeete persons.
No hospytalitie kept , nor releving the poore there by hym, but yerelie selling of dykerowes.
No prayer for her maiestie the xvii daye of November last past although the inhabtants were redy at the Church doores for that godly purpose: for hee was then gadded to the spirituall courte to followe his suyte against Robt Harvy of G. Ryburgh for tythes onjustlie requyered. ……
Hee is a verie covetous parson, etc.
To add to all this, Buttes gives an account of what he has done for Waterman:
I am very sorie, yet urged, concidering this T. Watermans oncomlie & unthankfull dealing with mee, to declare what & how beneficiall I have beene unto hym: unto whome besides the free gift of my benefice, I also gave one whole yeres boorde wanting vii weekes, & longer would have done, but yet I fownde hym so contentious , given to trooble , & lawing.
I gave hym also towardes bying of bookes yerelie xxd oute of my purse untill suche tyme as I sawe hym reather given to trooble then to studdie.
I gave hym also one newe dublett redy made unto hes back, for he came verie simplie unto me. vidett, in a pooer canvis dublett cutt so
I gave hym also uppon rekonynge pasyng bytweene hym & mee to liberallie, sometyme vidett xiiid.iiijd. at one tyme
This is followed by a snapshot of the interior of the chancel around 1580:
I have also glased at myne owne proper cost and chardge all the windowes in the Chauncell, which ar in noomber. v. & those verie large & greate, which did cost mee with the scripture written within the said Chauncelles wales more then xx li. and thus to conclude I justlie as I have fownde hym may saye:
Perit quod feci ingrato: (“What I have done for an ingrate has come to naught” )
We can’t promise to set you up with a new wardrobe if you come to ring bells, but we can promise you a real welcome and I have certainly never had to resort to Latin to describe any of our ringers.
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From the Bell Tower: June 2019
The Bell Tower‘s Tardis-like ability to move through time means that this month we have landed in Ryburgh in 1944 and the start of a project that almost equals the gestational period of the Gas House, the germ of which
was sown in 2008! The following information comes from the Souvenir Programme produced for the project’s conclusion in 1953:
“As a result of a letter to the Parish Council by the Boy Scout and Youth movement early in 1944, at a public meeting in Ryburgh, it was decided to make efforts to build a village hall. From a house to house weekly
collection, a fund was started. In 1945 Messrs F.& G. Smith Ltd. gave a piece of land in the centre of the village for a site for a Hall. In 1946 A public meeting decided the building should be called “The Memorial Hall” and to be in memory of those who fell in the wars from Great, Little Ryburgh and Testerton and to be controlled by a committee of not more than 20 people. By 1947, when Revd F.H.Tatham died, the fund had reached £1,045-16/- 4d. By 1951 £2000 had been collected and at a public meting plans drawn by Mr G Page (Architect) were shewn. The approximate cost would be £4000. Finally in 1952 permission was obtained to build and a start was made on a modified scale to the original plans – owing to increased building costs and constructed to allow additions when funds allowed. A grant of £1250 from the Ministry of Education allowed the start to be made.”
The Hall was opened on Wednesday May 6th 1953 by Lt. Col. Sir Edmund Bacon Premier Baronet of England whose ancestor Sir Robert Bacon, who died in 1655, lies buried with his wife Anne Buttes in St Andrew’s.
The trigger for this time travel was the investigation of some red stacking steel chairs stored beneath the stage in the Memorial Hall with names on the backs and contemporary with the Hall opening. Preliminary investigation suggests that there were a large number named, though I was only able to locate 14 and the confirmation of a 15th in an allotment shed bearing the name of CT Joice who was the Chairman at the opening. The bulk of the remaining chairs are green and it would seem the red chairs were sponsored by the nominees.
Of course, as with all projects, they were only one of the many fundraising schemes which brought the venture to a successful and extremely popular conclusion. (you can see the EDP photo of the event on the church website)
As I write this it occurs to me that it would be not inappropriate if those special chairs could be in use at our Gas House opening in September to represent the many kind persons who have continued the tradition of sponsorship with our project?
To return to the Bell Tower itself, we will be no longer having a general practice on Tuesdays as of now and in order to remind the village that we do have a practice, the bells will be rung, as a general rule, “open”...the real thing without the use of simulated sound. As ever, the invitation is there to join us any Thursday night at 7.30p.m.
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From the Bell Tower: July 2019
When Edward and Fiona Barnaby moved away we not only lost a cherished organist but also one half of the Friday morning churchyard mowing gang. This could have placed a serious burden on good old Dick Greenbank, but as ever, true to my mentor Mr.Micawber, someone turned up in the form of Katherine Woodley from the choir, who was already part of the larger gardening gang. She has now joined the race with enthusiasm behind the red mower.
Not long after, a kind person purchased for the churchyard gang a “ride on” mower which I had sourced from friends who were downsizing with a view to emigration. Dick, being a gentleman and all, has taken upon himself the task of whizzing round the majority of the area first on the ride on in order that he can then help Katherine with his grey mower to get to all the places that fancy machinery cannot reach. This certainly cuts down the time spent, seems to ease the overall task whilst maintaining the common bond of friendly banter that our redoubtable push mowers share. That is part of the reason that the churchyard looks so well…...but that is not the whole story of course.
What happens to those last areas that even the well handled push mower cannot reach? She is called Dianne Palmer, also of the choir, who as well as tending to the large square grave plot on the Northeast side of the churchyard, pays flying visits with strimmer, spare battery and extra cord to top and tail the gravestones. And what about the remainder of the graves and have you seen the garden of remembrance lately? This would not happen if it were not for the combined efforts of bellringer Sue Massingham, Katherine, Di Greenbank and of course, churchwarden, Anne. Not only does this very considerable effort produce extremely pleasing results, it also gets those of us working on the gas house behind the wire fence, a welcome cup of tea and biscuits when they have finished their labours…...and I have to say, invariably entertainment. Contrary to my suggestion at our last tea meeting that I reveal all in my next bell-tower, I am saying nothing, except that nobody had anything to say about the lady Vicar who appears on Gogglebox!
So thank you to all of the above from those of us behind the wire and on behalf of all those villagers and visitors who so much appreciate and get the benefit of all your hard work.
Local history is having to take a back seat for the while as that certain building project requires my fullest attention for the time being. However, Thomas Buttes will return…... and of course there are always bells to be rung on a Thursday night from 7.30p.m.
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From the Bell Tower: August 2019
When Revd. Robin had a look around the work in progress on the Glebe field recently, he vouchsafed the project, a modern miracle. I think this was partly on account of an otherwise cash strapped church in the Benefice being so ambitiously forward looking. But in fact, this belief for the future of St Andrew’s has been drawing heavily on the past for its inspiration, its building techniques and materials.
The walls are solid reclaimed flint stone set in a lime mortar made the traditional way with just quicklime and sand. The watchword of the building is its breathability and to that end there is no plastic damp-proof course and no cement. The building will stay dry because of its ability to breathe but will do so only provided that this natural breathabilty is not compromised in the future by the use of quick fix inappropriate materials, and yes, that includes silicone!
I for one, very much deplore our increasingly throw away society and have been taking every opportunity to incorporate where possible the element of recycling into the new build. This week’s gem (to my mind at least!) was a 12 inch square cast iron air brick, purchased very reasonably from Ebay and covered with many decades of thick brown paint. As it turned out the courier seemed to have been less than gentle with the rather weighty and dare I say poorly wrapped item, such that upon unpacking, the frame of the grille was found to be broken through! The Ebay seller was a decent sort and refunded me the purchase price and told me to keep the airbrick. This week saw the paint stripped from this rather unprepossessing item revealing a fine late 19th Century No 30 grille and frame made by Heating and Ventilation Engineers C Kite Ltd. London NW By Royal Letters Patent. Its new home is on the South gable to conceal the 21st Century extractor fan outlets required by modern building regulations.
A cast iron window from West Raynham Foundry donated by Mr and Mrs John Reed is to be found on the long East wall, The Gothic headed window frame on the South gable was constructed by Ryburgh’s Nigel Barnett from the Fransham Forge using reclaimed diamond lattice cast iron lights. Nigel was also the source of the new churchyard lampost which once adorned the streets of Sheffield, appropriately then burning gas. The moulded corbel bricks and the rather fine gable straps were found at our local reclaim yard and I have written before about the generosity of many others in donating bricks, stone, joinery sanitary ware et al. And if anyone was wondering what became of the old North transept gable copings and the copings salvaged from the churchyard wall……..they are/have been used as cills for doorways and windows respectively……...and the datestone came out of the footings when we were digging them! I could go on but I am up against a deadline……. midnight on July 15th when this copy has to be delivered, which leaves me no time to talk about bells which I shall have to do next month and of course Thursdays at 7.30p.m. if you wish to pay us a visit.
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From the Bell Tower: September 2019
September 1st.sees the Dedication and Blessing of the new building. I make no apology for it being unfinished at this time, because it has to be finished within the available budget, and throwing money at it to meet a deadline would mean it would be permanently unfinished when the money ran out! The building has steadily evolved over the last few months gradually revealing what has been on paper and in my head. It is now at a point when the intent, if not all the detail is quite clear.
I have always reached a point in all the (for me) large scale projects in which I have been involved, that feels like being in the middle of an endless tightrope. Then almost without noticing you’ve reached the other side. I don’t know if it is just my experience in the building trade or that it is common to all activities, however the service on September 1st will for me be the booster to the finish line whenever that will be.
I wrote some time ago about William Martin, the little boy who was brutally murdered whilst in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in December 1875, and the fact that his grave is adjacent to the path through to the new building. I have been in touch with his Gt, Nephew and Niece and found out much about the incident but very little about the boy himself. It would appear that he had been in the hospital for about 2 weeks prior to his death due to a “diseased knee” that has been professionally conjecturally diagnosed as either due to osteomyelitis or TB.
When we uncovered his neglected headstone early in the project it seemed so sad that he appeared to have been entirely forgotten, in Ryburgh if not by his wider family. The thought that he shouldn’t be forgotten again has remained with me, and then, as these things do, it struck me that the new building needed a name that didn’t involve gas or any euphemisms to convey one of its principal purposes. I thought if every time visitors to the church walk from the new car park they could pass by the “William Martin Building” and in that way even if they don’t notice or are unaware of his modest headstone and his tragic history, the so named building would help to maintain his remembrance.
I put the idea to Revd Robin and he in turn to the PCC and I am pleased to say it has generally met with their and others approval and so, subject to the family’s agreement, the Gas House Project will be dedicated as the William Martin Building on September 1st. A full account of the tragedy transcribed from the contemporary newspaper reports by William’s Gt Niece will shortly be on the church website under the village history menu.
In the hope that you like what you see on September 1st or indeed would like a viewing before or after the day, you can always catch me at the bell practice Thursdays at 7.30p.m. if you wish to pay us a visit.
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From the Bell Tower: October 2019
I would like to begin by thanking people for their kind comments and enthusiastic response to the new William Martin Building and to say that I am now fully occupied by its journey to completion.
As for William himself, discussion with the family has more than once speculated on who might have been responsible for the cost of his gravestone as they were not a wealthy family. I suggested that perhaps all the victims might have had identical monuments funded by the N & N Hospital or at least some public/philanthropic subscription/donation, This theory was based mainly on the inscription that is on William’s headstone and which reads “O Boys be strong in Jesus”.
Drs. Gill and Tony Waldron have also been somewhat absorbed by this incident from a professional point of interest and their recent visit to the Norfolk Record Office turned up an “Extraordinary Expense” of £13-11/- that was for “funeral expenses and coffins for 3 patients” in the Hospital Management Report for 1875. Three of the boys died together on December 13th and a fourth two months later in 1876. Although they are not specifically named, the circumstantial case for it being a payment for the boys is quite strong. It does nevertheless beg the question whether such an amount split between 3 families would have run to what must have been relatively costly stonemasons work as well as coffins with all the trimmings.
The next step was to find another grave, which as it turned out was quite easily done. This was thanks to Revd. David Smith, Rector of The Benefice of St Benedict Prior of St Benet's Abbey (and bellringer) who by return of email sent me the location, inscription and photographs of the grave at Barton Turf of Joseph Thomas Colman one of the other boys who died along with William. My theory fell apart at this point because the headstone is of a totally different design and stone and his inscription reads as follows:
In
loving memory of
Joseph Thomas
the only son of
Robert & Ann COLMAN
who was suddenly called
from time into eternity at the
Norwich Hospital December 13th 1875
aged 11 years
Short was my race, long is my rest
God call'd me when he thought it best
My time was come I in a moment fell
and had not time to bid my friend farewell.
However, like the address to “Boys” on William’s headstone, the wording of the final line intrigues me. Does it specifically link the victims or is it just a metaphor for the life he was never to enjoy? Finding the last resting places of the other two boys who lived in Norwich is proving to be a rather harder proposition but I continue to search! A fifth boy, 10 year old Edward Lubbock from Buxton, survived his injuries, eventually marrying a Suffolk girl in 1891. They lived in Starston where he worked for the Taylor family at Starston Place as head gardener. He died in 1945. I had also intended to go ecumenical and write a little about the Ryburgh Wesleyan Methodist Church ….but that will have to wait until next month as I am running out of space! If you want to know about that or just about ringing bells it’s Thursdays at 7.30p.m. if you wish to pay us a visit.
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From the Bell Tower: November 2019
I would like to begin where I left off last month following a visit to the now closed Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. This has recently been undergoing some refurbishment and Stan Judd had suggested I take a look, as the builders had uncovered the almost forgotten underfloor heating system. He thought perhaps it had its origins at the Ryburgh Farmers’ Foundry. When I saw it, the firebox was extremely basic, a rough cast iron box with a small door to load it and a door on the ash-pit below. There was still a full coal bucket and shovel on the steps down to the furnace from when Audrey Judd had last lit the fire, possibly for the Sunday School forty or more years ago! There were several cast iron gratings above the fire box which most probably came from the Foundry which was in its early days when the heating was installed as part of the 1883 refurbishment of the chapel. The added bonus to this visit came from the uncovering of a section of the horizontal flue which ran from the back of the firebox the length of the chapel, under the rostrum and into the chimney on the rear wall. This flue was made up of a series of stone cappings supported on bricks. However, they were no ordinary slabs of stone as they revealed on the underside, caked in soot, deeply carved lettering which in their entirety must have read Ryburgh Wesleyan Chapel over a 10-12 foot length:
I then remembered that I had a plan of the chapel that I photographed some years ago in the Norfolk Record Office. This plan was drawn for the 1883 refurbishment and shows a coloured elevation of the front showing an elegant Georgian building with 3 upper-story windows over a long panel that was above the ground floor entrance door and 2 windows. Superimposed on that elevation were the new porch and the two full height windows that replaced the upper and lower windows and cut right through the long panel. This panel has to be the stonework that the builders had uncovered. The plan view also showed originally two levels of ground flooring which could also be interpreted as indicating a gallery that would have been lit by the original upper story windows. At the time there were no additional buildings attached to the rear although it is possible that they were being planned. The plan called for the two rear window openings to be blocked up and the casements reinstalled in the west wall and two new matching windows made for the east wall. Being an unashamed scrounger I requested that instead of them going in the skip, I rescue them for the William Martin Building. Although the majority of the stone is still in-situ under the new flooring, that which was surplus to requirements now has pride of place over the inside of the loft entrance in the new building.
Harking back once more to last month, the search for the final resting places of the two murdered Norwich boys has made some progress and a conclusion at least for one of them, Alfred Clarke. It transpired, after some family research, that Alfred was born Alfred Ebbage, his father William dying the year following his birth. His mother Adelaide remarried Thomas Clarke a widower and publican of the Crown on Elm Hill. Once I had the correct surname, full details of his grave in the Earlham Cemetery came easily to light, and I am shortly to get photos of his grave. This just leaves John Lacey, the son of the late Daniel Lacey and his widow Martha whose whereabouts still resolutely remains a mystery.
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From the Bell Tower: December 2019
This year has absolutely flown by with never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. Next year should be a little more relaxed when the William Martin Building is finally complete.
The incessant rain of late has made the final ridging of the building impossible to complete, but the building is in the dry which means I can work inside whatever the weather and so the toilet section is well underway for use, I sincerely hope, in time for Christmas. Plumbers and electricians will be at work as you read this and this month’s “bargain of the year” in the form of a Jewson ex display-kitchen, complete with appliances, will be taking up residence in the room next door!
Local History, though somewhat on the back-burner, still affords me time to look at Thomas Buttes as Lord of the Manor. Recently I have been transcribing a valuation of the Manor drawn up in 1578 in connection with the marriage settlement of his niece and heir Anne Buttes who married Sir Nicholas Bacon (the younger) from Redgrave
The first section of these accounts ends thus:
The totall Some of all the demeanes with all other pfightes & commodytyes here before mencyoned in the five leaves nexte before written cometh and amounteth to the yerlye valewe of
which if we round it up that means £155.86p. for a year’s income derived from 460 or so acres of land in Ryburgh. What a different world then, when Sennowe’s importance was based on rabbits and the site of the Saxon cemetery was described as:
Item
A ffennye or moorishe pece of grownde lienge betwen greate Ryburgh Bridge & the water mylle there enclosed w[i]th
the Ryver rounde aboute w[hi}ch is worth yerelye to be let }. xiii s iiij d (8/-4d.)
Item
Sevenskore Cooples of Conyes reserved to the sayde Thomas Buttes from Richard Peers fermor of Senhawgh Warren w[hi]ch
after iiijd the Coople are yerelye worthe } xlvj.s viij.d (46/-8d)
Item
ffoureskore Cooples of Rabbettes likewyse reserved unto the sayd Thomas from the sayde Richard Peers fermor of the said } xx.s (20/-)
By the time you read this, the last of our WW1 soldiers who died during the conflict will have been commemorated with a half-muffled peal on Ryburgh’s bells on the anniversary of their death. It is by coincidence that the peal to be rung on the afternoon of November 28th is in memory of Anthony Edgar Hammond, son of Edith Smith, one of the donors of the Ryburgh Bells who lived at the Mill House, which in Buttes’ time was described in his accounts as:
Item
the corne mylle or watermyll belonginge to the sayde Mannor ys yerelye worthe to be lett } x.li (i.e.£10.00 a year)
Anthony Hammond was an interesting man and his story takes us into some more obscure Smith family history, via Hollywood in the era of the silent film to Canada and distinct hints of the love which then dared not speak its name. Read Anthony’s page here together with those of the 46 other men whose lives and whose sacrifice we have tried to honour with this unique series of half-muffled peals.
I look forward to next year in the expectation that it brings as much variety to life in the bell tower as in previous years (all 25 of them!) and that everyone who reads these jottings is likewise blessed.
See you again in 2020 (if that is not too obscure a pun or false a hope) Thursdays at 7.30p.m.