First, exploration of Kings Lynn - the old parts are truly beautiful: the Guild Hall; an old market place with some very wonky houses;
and a lovely Minster.
Then a bus to East Rudham. East Rudham is such a small, and largely unspoilt village that one can easily imagine what it was like in the 1860s and 70s. My great-grandmother - my father's grandmother, who was very involved in bringing up him and his brother Don, was born there in 1865. She and her siblings were certainly still there at the time of the 1871 census: family lore (or my grandmother's wobbly memory) recounts that my great great grandfather was given a ride to the elections (in Fakenham, 5 miles away?) by the landowner for whom he worked, and he was overheard saying that he wouldn't vote for any Tory - and by the time they returned, his sentiments had been reported; and the family were no longer allowed to graze their donkey on the village green (below), and they were turned out of their tied cottage, and went to work in the mills in Sheffield. But ... even after the 1884 Reform Act, my ggg still, as an agricultural laborer, wouldn't have been able to vote, and in any case, by 1881 they were all up north. I think they must have been given the day off for the 1874 election, because I do have a sense that my gg was about 9 or ten when they moved. But I also think that the agricultural depression was just starting to bite then, too.
In any case, the shock of living on this street must have been enormous, after bucolic Norfolk.
Even the old looking village church might have looked weird when they were leaving, since the medieval tower collapsed into the nave in 1873, and was rebuilt ...
Were they around when this, and some other medieval alabaster fragments, were found in the collapse?
And where did they live? "Lower Anchorage," says the 1871 census. But is this Lower Anchorage? Yes, according to some accounts. But it's also known as Anchorage Cottage, and Anchorage House - I can't find a separate "Lower Anchorage" on C19th (or more recent) maps, and it's been very refurbished. (Nothing to do with mooring a boat: there was a medieval anchoress who lived there, or in an earlier structure).
I hope I can be more confident that the relative who was a blacksmith lived in Forge Cottage.
After that, another bus back to Kings Lynn, and a bas to Hunstanton - archetypal English resort if you walk in one direction;
muddy beach in another (why a pink Messi #10 short??);
rock pools looking like a nineteenth-century painting from my book;
extraordinary cliffs;
more seaweed:
a cute lighthouse;
and back for dinner at my hotel, overlooking the Ouse.
Did my great grandmother ever get to see the sea - or even Kings Lynn? - when she lived in East Rudham?
