Local History Society

Dr Nick Amor was our October speaker and his subject was the Medieval Woollen Cloth Industry in Suffolk. We already knew the importance of Suffolk in the rearing of sheep and the making of cloth but one of the most interesting pieces of new (to us)information was that in 1483, Richard Broun, a woolman of Wickhambrook was sued in the courts for £40, the equivalent of many thousands today…

Thomas Blague of Horringer was rightly described by John Sutton , our speaker for September, as Suffolk’s most famous cavalier. He was born at Little Horringer Hall in 1613 and his early life is a mystery. He was probably a mercenary in Europe, as his military skills were evident in his later life…

During the summer the History Society went on two excellent outings with fine weather, interesting locations and good company. The first was to Lincoln Cathedral and Castle where we had guided tours by two guides who brought the past to life and spent lots of time chatting, answering questions and generally making us feel very welcome. We also visited Gressenhall Workhouse and Museum of Norfolk Life…

The May meeting saw a welcome return of Tony Kirby. His talk “Churches and Chapels since the Reformation”, illustrated by slides of East Anglia, was full of interest. The period 1530-1560 saw a 1,000 years of religious building destroyed with the destruction of abbeys and monasteries…

At the AGM, the committee and office-bearers were re-elected to serve for another year. The secretary, Gillian Cooper, unveiled the new programme and gave details of summer outings to Lincoln Castle and Cathedral and Gressenhall Workhouse Museum and Farm. The speaker for the evening was Martin Roper and his subject was History and the Printed Cartoon…

Robin Ford brought an actual ‘Magic Lantern’ to the March meeting so that he could show some of his very interesting collection of original slides…

In February we welcomed Kate Jewell to the meeting. She has not spoken to us before and we have discovered a gem (pun intended!) What a delightful, knowledgeable and fluent speaker! We coild have listened all night to her talk on ‘Cakes, Ales and Partying…

Robert Burridge gave a talk on Native Americans, which covered the Indian wars, early settlers, strife between the tribes and the white men who wanted to take over the land…

We had a very successful weekend in every way. All Saints Church made £2,000, the History Society gained some new members and everyone who came enjoyed their visit and spent a lot of time browsing in the church so all our hard work paid off…