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Cavendish: a description from 1865
Cavendish as it was. (written in June 1st 1865)During the past few years our pretty little village has been completely altered and improved in external appearance and if a lad who left Cavendish 50...
View ArticleThe Great Death of Birds
Whilst thumbing through the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles the other day (Translated by Anne Savage) I came across the entry671AD There was the Great Death of Birdsin the year 664 there had been a plague, but...
View ArticleGustav Holst, and songs of Praise
A fortnight ago, I appeared briefly on Songs of Praise, on the television, to explain some of my theories and thoughts about Gustav Holst and Thaxted. This is all in the article I wrote for the...
View Articlemore thieves and receivers than any other part of the county
It is rather startling to think of the wild past of Cavendish as one, nowadays, creeps into the Bull Inn, on a sunday, to see the ranks of genteel retired bank-managers eating their sunday lunches.A...
View ArticlePauline Plumb
One normally hesitates to treat matters as recent as sixty years ago as history, since relatives are still around, and memories are long. However, the following sad tragedy of Pauline, a local girl, is...
View ArticleGlobal Cooling
What of Climate Change? Is there historical evidence for it?Just recently, we have been involved in a considerable task of going through newspapers and other historical records to find evidence of...
View ArticleThe Englishman's view of history
Songs of Education:I. HistoryForm 991785, Sub-Section Dby G.K. ChestertonThe Roman threw us a road, a road,And sighed and strolled away:The Saxon gave us a raid, a raid,A raid that came to stay;The...
View ArticleTilty Mill
It seems incredible that we are about to witness the spoiling of the last intact Watermill in Essex. By spoiling, I mean conversion to residential use. Watermills are a neglected part of our heritage....
View ArticleThe Slit Nose
The ghost stories of M. R. James are some of the best in the english language. they are often set in East Anglia, and were originally told to the boys at Eton School, where M. R. James was the Provost,...
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The Pentlow Home Guard
Here is a photo of part of Pentlow Home Guard c 1940 Outside the Pinkuah Arms. It is a rare photo that we've only recently been fortunate to come across. The mystery is this. Who is the officer in the...
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The Addyman Collection
It may have seemed that things have been quiet on the site. Certainly, there has been little to report in the 'Hysterical Hystorian' though I have, I must confess, appeared on the Telly againWhat has...
View ArticlePentlow and the Poll Tax
As luck would have it, we have a record of the Poll-Tax payers of Pentlow for the year 1381. It is interesting to note that some of the surnames have persisted in the area, (Oliver, Reeve, Brett,...
View ArticleThe famine of 1527
The harvest of 1527 in East Anglia was a failure, and there was a great dearth of barley and wheat in the eastern counties. The price of grain recketed. In December the Government appointed...
View ArticleThe Great Rail Disaster at Witham
As the Cromer Express was running through Witham Station at 10.30 a.m. on 1 September 1905, the whole of the train with the exception of engine and tender suddenly left the rails. The train consisted...
View ArticleCoverin' the Stack
These few lines are from farm workers hoeing sugar beet or mangels at Foxearth Hall in the mid thirties who amused themselves while doing this soul destroying job. The rhyme is as learnt by Paul Suttle...
View ArticleHooliganism at Glemsford.
From the Suffolk Free Press: December 29th 1909.At a meeting at the school in Glemsford when Mr W. Eley Quilter the Unionist candidate and several more gentlemen visited Glemsford with the intention of...
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Article 8
This photo was taken in the spinney opposite the Pinkuah Arms, Pentlow, before the 'Beerhouse' became a pub. The mystery is who the people were, the date of the photo. and the occasion they were...
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Wards Brewery
It seems incredible that just a few rare collectors' items, our first book 'Foxearth Brew' by the award-winning author Richard Morris, should still be available. Already, the rare copies signed by the...
View ArticleInsurrection in Suffolk
from the Bury and Norwich Post 1830A meeting of the Aldermen and Magistrates was held last night in Bury Guildhall in this borough yesterday se’nnight when resolutions were passed declaring that there...
View ArticleSamuel Nott and the libellous doggerel
This strange piece of poisonous doggerel comes from the Bury and Norwich Post of 1879. The story is from Alphampstone, and was discovered by David Lewis who lived in the old pub at Alphampstone. The...
View ArticleThe First Newspaper Account of the Borley Ghost.
The Borley “Ghost” July 18th 1929. Suffolk Free PressExtraordinary Incidents at the Rectory Domestics ExperienceMatter for Psychic InvestigationsThe district has been thrown into a state of...
View ArticleSmelly Cavendish!
From the Suffolk free Press April 10th 1905Cavendish. From our correspondent. I believe as long ago as September last the Cavendish Parish Council appointed a committee to locate if possible the source...
View ArticleSpeaking on BBC Radio Suffolk- The Weather
There is a certain terror about going onto live radio to talk about local history. I'm not a natural speaker, but I didn't even dare to ask Tom if he wanted to do the talk.I chose to talk about weather...
View ArticleWaveney Valley Floods of August 1912
From Eugene Ulph’s Scrapbook 1962-64 in Beccles MuseumTorrential rain accompanied by a severe hurricane left scenes of flooding and desolation. The strong wind and heavy rain played havoc with trees,...
View ArticleBorley Rectory Crib-Sheet!
For a chat on Radio Suffolk over Christmas, I prepared the following chart that lists the main points that point to the conclusion that there is no need to think that Borley Rectory was ever haunted....
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