Author: Pamela Brooks
Norfolk Miscellany
Norfolk Miscellany is an eclectic mix of historic tales of places and personalities plus a wealth of facts and figures about the fifth largest county in England.
There are tales of pirates, smugglers and duels, of King John losing his treasure in the Wash, and strange prophecies. Who made and played an iron cello, where’s the oldest and largest Norman keep in the UK, and why was there once a whale’s skull in a Yarmouth church? There are some things peculiar to Norfolk – such as Jack Valentine, biffins, Cosseyware, whifflers and the Norwich shawl – and we also have more windmills and more medieval churches than anywhere else in the country.
In this book you’ll find stories of sailors, explorers, treasure, giants and dwarves; stories of a man who started out as a vicar and ended up being eaten by a lion; and of the man who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. Then there’s Henry Kabel, who was sentenced to transportation for burglary and became the chief constable in Sydney – and also won the first court case heard in the colony. Tom Paine, political thinker, narrowly escaped being guillotined in the French Revolution and went on to find fame in America. Amy Robsart was the woman who stood between Elizabeth I and the love of her life, Robert Dudley: was Amy’s death a murder or an accident?
Do you know what a Harry Carrier is and where it was used? Where to find the largest colony of seals in the UK or the only known maternity colony of barbastelle bats? What were the famous Pulham Pigs, and where did the Sex Pistols once play in Norfolk? Where was the fish finger invented, and where was the first recorded steeplechase in England held? Where can you find the only medieval merchant’s hall to survive in Europe, or Britain’s tallest corn mill? And where at noon would you be able to tell the time at Rome, Amsterdam, Constantinople, Lisbon and Bermuda?
Find out all this, and more besides, in Norfolk Miscellany!
