Committee Announcements

A tour of Belchamp Hall

Andrew Clarke — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:28:00 +0000

On Saturday July 14th. A small group of 10 members and friends were invited at short notice, via an e-mail, to a tour of the home of Mr C Raymond at Belchamp Hall. Mr Raymond showed us through the major rooms on the ground floor pointing out portraits of his family who have owned this house and its surrounding estate since 1611. The evening was organised by antiques dealer Curtis Dowling who gave us a slide supported talk on fakes and forgeries in the antiques world. Drinks and canapés were provided and during a break in the proceedings we were invited to stroll through the gardens. The house, grounds and outbuildings were used extensively during the recording of “Lovejoy”, the popular television programme of a few years back and Curtis Dowling was actively involved with the production. A most enjoyable visit and one which we understand may be repeated during the coming months. Chairman Alan Fitch warmly thanked Curtis and Mr Raymond for their hospitality. AGF

History programme 2007-8

Andrew Clarke — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:33:00 +0000

FOXEARTH & DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Programme of events for 2007

Tuesday January 9^th. A talk on local breweries by Stuart Boswell

Tuesday February 13^th. A talk on Landguard Fort by Mervyn Lemon

Tuesday March 14^th. AGM followed by a talk by Andrew Clarke

Tuesday April 3^rd. Visit to The Law Courts by coach

Saturday May 12^th. Visit to Nayland to the Suffolk Punch Horses

Saturday June 16^th. Visit P & A Wood Dunmow Rolls Royce garage

July No meeting this month (instead of August) due to holiday season

Saturday August 11^th. or 18^th. Coach outing Venue to be announced

Tuesday September 11^th. Talk, history of the barometer Patrick Marney

Tuesday October 9^th. Talk, American links with East Anglia Linda Scholes

Tuesday November 13^th. Talk, 18^th.Century Poor Relief by Mr Trewella

Tuesday December 11^th. Christmas festivities To be announced

Tuesday January 8^th. 2008 Life in a village 1920-1939 by Mr Pawsey

Tuesday February 12^th. 2008 A talk by Jane Parker the Mid Suffolk Registrar

New members always welcome. Why not give us a trial run? £1 on the night Includes tea/coffee and biscuits

Chairman Alan Fitch 311913 Secretary. Joyce Potter

Vice Chair. David Busby Archivist. Susan Fenner

Treasurer. Justine Corney Member. Linda Rumbold

The Society meets at Foxearth village hall at 8pm unless stated otherwise

visit to the Royal Law Courts

Andrew Clarke — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:41:00 +0000

On Tuesday 3rd. April eleven members of the society visited The Royal Law Courts in The Strand.

It was a cold, damp, raw start to the day and the reduced numbers were due to both the weather and problems with booking a coach to take us there and back.

The journey was undertaken by train and immediately took on a feeling of an outing to the sea or a London museum in ones younger days. Apart from a late start from Sudbury the journey was remarkably easy.

We were met at the entrance to The Law Courts by the tour guide Graham Wickenden who incidentally lives in Cavendish, his enthusiasm for the courts was immediately evident and the two and a half hour tour was full of anecdotes about the building and the people who work in, or pass through it.

Graham’s obvious love of the place showed from start to finish and we visitors were held under the spell of the sheer size, complexity and grandeur of this massive Victorian building, which has over a thousand rooms in the main part, three and a half miles of corridors and was the first public building to be lit by electricity.

We were especially privileged to be able to visit the most important court in the building, which is the most senior court in England and Wales, a most imposing place to visit. On the wall behind the judge’s chair is the most amazing carved wooden coat of arms from the Hanoverian period and which originally hung in the courts at Westminster.

At the end of the visit Graham was warmly thanked by chairman Alan Fitch and the members showed their appreciation with a round of applause.

Especial thanks to Linda Rumbold who organised this trip.

Next meeting: Saturday March 12th. Nayland to see the Suffolk horses. (own transport)

AGF

The Foxearth and District Local history Society: 2006 program

Andrew Clarke — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 21:23:00 +0000

F&DLHS Programme of events 2006

Tuesday November 14.	Melford House By Mrs Horder.
Tuesday December 12.	Christmas festivities (venue to be announced)

Unless stated otherwise the society meets on the second Tuesday of each month at The village hall, Foxearth 8pm
New members always welcome, please contact Alan Fitch 311913 Orchard House, The Street, Foxearth, Sudbury, Suffolk. CO 10 7JG

Committee:

Chairman.  Alan Fitch -1787 311913
Vice Chair.  David Busby
Treasurer  Justine Girling
SecretaryJoyce Potter
Archivist.  Susan Fenner
Diarist  Trish Jackson
Member.  Julia Pucci

Foxearth and District Local History Society

Andrew Clarke — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:03:00 +0000

F&DLHS Programme of events 2005

11th. January:	Edith Freeman. "Researching family history"
8th. February:	Anthony Wheeler. "Village names"
8th. March:	AGM followed by talk by Darren Clarke on the use of Metal detectors in local Archaeology
9th. April:	Saturday Tour of Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds.
24th. May:	(NB) Joint meeting with Cavendish H.S. At Cavendish
14th. June:	Visit to Bury Cathedral 7.30. Charge of £3 per head
1 6th. July:	Summer outing, venue to be announced
August:	No event this month
13th. September:	Andrew Clark. "The bones of Borley ", the truth about Borley Rectory
11th. October:	Ron Chapman "Goldsmithing"
8th. November:	Patrick Marney " History of the barometer"
13th. December:	Christmas festivities

Committee:

Chairman.  Alan Fitch
Vice Chair.  David Busby
Treasurer  Justine Girling
Archivist.  Susan Fenner
Diarist  Trish Jackson
Member.  Julia Pucci

Meeting of the society 13th September

Andrew Clarke — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:29:00 +0000

The District History Society resumed its programme after the summer break with a highly entertaining and detailed talk by member Andrew Clarke entitled "Bones of Borley".

Starting with the building of Borley Rectory in the 19th century by Rev Bull, Andrew took us through the history of the alleged paranormal phenomena which had been a reason for numerous investigations and theories over the years. It was now clear that the legend of a ghostly nun had been started by some of Rev Bull's daughters (he had 13 children) who were unmarried and possibly addicted to the romantic fiction of the time!

Rev Bull's son, Harry, succeeded his father in the living and - being of a superstitious nature - he believed the myths. So the stories flourished along with accounts of associated strange happenings such as the ringing of servants bells, apparently on their own, and mysterious sounds at seances.

The culmination was the discovery of buried bones in 1940 identified at the time as being pig in origin but which miraculously turned into human bones with the intervention of the psychic researcher Harry Price! Andrew showed that there was a mass of information in the form of contemporary accounts - particularly of the seances - which explained on a rational and scientific basis the so-called paranormal events. All of this information is available on the Society's web site.

The talk, which was illustrated by lots of photographs, demonstrated Andrew's painstaking research and thorough knowledge of the subject; it was presented with a dash of humour and was greatly appreciated by the 25 members present.

Chairman, Alan Fitch, informed members that the Christmas dinner would be held at the Cherry Tree, Belchamp St Pauls on 13th December. The next meeting of the Society would be at 8pm on Tuesday, 11th October when Ron Chapman would speak about Goldsmithing. Ken Nice

Foxearth Society AGM 2005 Tuesday 8th March

Andrew Clarke — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:47:00 +0000

A good attendance of 25 members at the Foxearth and District Local History Society's annual general meeting on Tuesday 8th March heard Chairman Alan Fitch review an extremely successful year of lectures and outings during which particular highlights had been the setting up of the Web site and the publication of "Foxearth Brew" He looked forward to another active year which would include talks on Goldsmithing, the history of the barometer and tours of the Theatre Royal, Bury and the Cathedral; there would also be a joint meeting with the Cavendish History Society. Andrew Clarke would give a talk on his new book "The Bones of Borley" which is about to be published. In recognition of their invaluable work in developing the Web site the Committee had decided to award Andrew and Jenny Clarke life membership of the Society - a step warmly endorsed by members. One further development was announced by Alan: because the acquisition of historic vehicles in the villages appeared to be infectious, it was proposed to form, under the banner of the History Society, a Stour Valley Historic Vehicle Society. This would be a quite informal association of interested owners and merely a chance, it seems, to use an entirely unpronounceable but palindromic acronyn SVHVS!

The Treasurer, Mrs Justine Corney, presented her report showing a satisfactory financial situation. She had recommended that subscriptions remain at £10 per year per member.

The Committee was re-elected en bloc with the addition of Mrs Julia Pucci. Andrew Clarke briefly addressed the meeting explaining efforts being made to extend the appeal of the Web site which was already attracting an incredible 350 hits a day. A project presently underway was research by Richard Morris to produce a history of the BBA site, funded by the company. Andrew and Richard had started upon fund-raising in order to have an historic book "Melford Memories" reprinted but the owners, Melford History Society, had withdrawn permission. However, Andrew hoped to have a fascinating book, published in 1845 and called "Sketches of Saffron Walden and its vicinity", in his ownership, reprinted.

The final formal part of the meeting was a talk by Darren Clarke of Waldingfield on metal detecting. Drawing on 15 years experience of the science, Darren explained the way in which different signals allowed identification of what metals were being detected and how one could make an assessment of whether excavation was indicated.!

It was essential, of course, always to obtain permission of the land owner before embarking upon exploration but he had found local farmers mostly very helpful and work in association with archaeologists in Bury had enabled him to discover about 7 new Roman settlements. Darren brought along a selection of his finds some of which dated back to the Bronze Age. He fielded many questions expertly and suggested that an afternoon of detecting might perhaps be arranged for Society members. Over a glass of wine, members examined his exhibits together with examples of local memorabilia assembled by Carol and Roger Hobbs and Tom Hastie.

The Society's next engagement will be a tour of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 9th April.!

Ken Nice

Anthony Wheeler and the Origin of Place Names

Andrew Clarke — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 19:55:00 +0000

Antony Wheeler, the well-known Sudbury historian, made a very welcome return visit to the Foxearth and District Local History Society on Tuesday 8th February and talked to 19 members about the origin of place names. Antony began by explaining that the large majority of the names of villages and towns in what we now know as the United Kingdom may be traced back to the immigration of Angles, Saxons and Frisians in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. Illegal immigration was rife even then as these peoples from northern Europe faced population increase, rising sea levels and harassment from tribes further east. In the land recently occupied by the Romans there was plenty of room and although the Romans attempted to stem the incoming tide by establishing forts along the coast, the immigrants gradually infiltrated bringing with them their languages. Much of England was at this time forested and work had to be done to create settlements. So ancient words - and their derivations - meaning, for example "people", "clearing" and "home" can be seen in place names today. Thus Saxham means, literally "home of Saxons". Information about what trees and crops grew and what wildlife thrived can often be discovered by tracing back how a place name originated. "Foxearth" almost certainly derived from words meaning " a forest clearing where foxes dwelt" Mr Wheeler- a teacher - held this class's attention as he peppered his fascinating talk with many such examples and he was warmly thanked by Chairman Alan Fitch. Mr Fitch reminded members that those wishing to go on the tour of Bury St Edmunds Cathedral on June 14th should let him know as soon as possible. This will cost £3 and it is hoped that an ascent of the tower will be possible. He also reported that the Web site was being visited by an increasing number of interested parties; it was important to include "org" in the address to avoid confusion with a site in America! Tuesday, March 8th at 8pm in Foxearth Village Hall will be the annual general meeting and following business there will be a talk about recent metal-detecting discoveries in Long Melford. Ken Nice

The First meeting of 2005

Andrew Clarke — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:35:00 +0000

For its first meeting of the 2005 season, on Tuesday 11th January, the Foxearth & District Local History Society gave a very warm welcome to the well-known Sudbury Author and Historian Edith Freeman. The title of her talk was 'Researching Local History', and Edith gave us a detailed account of the way she had approached the subject. She stressed the importance of experiencing history directly by visiting old sites and houses, by talking to people and sometimes simply by standing and staring; "Feeling history through one's feet" was how she described her walking adventures, and many of her visits to houses were adventurous as she showed by humorously recounting episodes of being stranded in lofts and cellars, and getting lost in the wilds of Essex and Suffolk. Edith also explained the vital task of studying documents to get at evidence from the past, but this was invariably immensely rewarding and old maps, particularly those produced showing fields, rivers, railways, and settlements were a rich source of information.

Society Chairman Alan Fitch thanked Edith on behalf of an appreciative audience of 20 members for her fascinating and entertaining contribution. Alan also reported that Mrs Joyce Potter had offered her services as Secretary of the society and on behalf of the committee and members he thanked her for this. It was encouraging to note that sales of Richard Morris's book on the history of the Foxearth Brewery were proceeding well, and that the Website was attracting a large and growing number of visits and enquiries.

Next months meeting, on February 8th at 8pm, will be a talk by Anthony Wheeler on "Village Names": Anthony is no stranger to the society and this promises to be an enjoyable evening Ken Nice

Foxearth Society Meetings 2004

Andrew Clarke — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 02:23:00 +0000

The meetings for 2004 have been confirmed as follows. Meet in the village hall at 8pm.

January 13th	Talk on the Zeppelin raid on Sudbury during WWI
February 10th	Talk on Simon of Sudbury
March 9th	AGM., Village property audit, Cheese and wine event
April 13th	Talk on Black poplars
May 11th	Colchester ghosts. Meet at The George Hotel Colchester 7.30
June 12th	Saturday tour of Lavenham Guildhall, meet 2.30 at Lavenham
July 10th	Coach to Southwold with brewery visit on the way and trip round lighthouse.
September 14th	Visit to and tour of Hill Farm Gestingthorpe with Ashley Cooper.
October 12th	Talk on pargetting and wall sculpture.

November 9th	Talk on the river Stour .
December 14th	Christmas festivities, (see above)

The Cavendish Local History Society Committee

Andrew Clarke — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:32:00 +0000

These are the current committee members of the Cavendish Local History Society as of 2004

Chairman	Rev Gordon Stinson	14 The Columbines, cavendish	01787 281381
Treasurer	Peter Leigh	14 Peacocks Close, Cavendish	01787 280676
Secretary	Paula Atkins	3 Peacocks Ley, Cavendish	01787 281479
Programme	Brian Kemp		01787 282145
Membership	Elimar Harvey	Applecross, Melford Road, Cavendish	01787 282193

Cavendish Local History Society Meetings 2004-2005-2006

Andrew Clarke — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:01:00 +0000

All meetings are held at the Cavendish Memorial Hall at 7.30pm

2004
April 27th	Barry Wall "Elizabeth de Burgh - Lady of Clare"
May 25th	David Alderton "Industrial Archaeology, National and Local"
June 12th	Visit Pentlow Hall Members only
June 22nd	Sylvia Horder (in period costume)" The History of Hedingham Castle"
June 25th	Cheese and Wine Evening at Green End, courtesy of Alan & Beth Mills.
July 27th	Michael Home "The History of Haverhill"
Aug. 24th	Visit to Hill Farm Museum, Gestingthorpe, courtesy of Ashley Cooper.
Sept. 28th	Dr. Gordon Blackwood "Cavaliers and Roundheads of Suffolk"
Oct. 26th	Alan Mackley "Building a Country House"
Nov. 23rd	DonJ. Unwin "Tempus Fugit"
DECEMBER	NO MEETING
2005
Jan. 27th	Edith Freeman "Thomas Gainsborough and the Underdog"
Feb. 22nd	Ron Chapman "Goldsmithing"
Mar. 22nd	A.G.M. followed by Ashley Cooper "Local Historical Connections with India"
April 26th	Mark Mitchells >"Characters of East Anglia"
May 24th	Frances Harper "Silk from China to Braintree" Joint meeting with Foxearth Local History Society
June 28th	Dr. Ronald Blythe "Living as a Writer"
TBC	Afternoon visit to Thurston End Hall Summer "Cheese and Wine" at the White House
July 26th	Barry Wall "The Riddle of the Sudbury Terracottas"
Aug 3rd	Conducted Tour by Bill Wickendon of the Royal Courts of Justice , London
Sept 27th	John Taylor "History of the Forge House and Brickmaking in Ballingdon"
Oct 25th	Clive Paine "The Victorian Seaside in Suffolk - The Development of Lowestoft and Felixstowe"
Nov 22nd	Sylvia Horder "Nelson and Emma"
DECEMBER NO MEETING
2006
Jan 24th	Robert Halliday "Suffolk Ghosts and Hauntings"
Feb 28th	Roy Tricker "Eccentric East Anglian Clergy"
Feb 28th	A.G.M. followed by Edith Freeman "Some personal reflections on the History of Cavendish"

Glemsford Local History Society

Andrew Clarke — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:13:00 +0000

September 16:: President's Evening and Barbecue, preceded by a visit to the Silk Mill, with a guided talk
October 14: Fred Pawsey: "Suffolk Dialect"
November 11:: AGM, followed by WW2 "I remember when ..." theme; members' talks; artefacts; photographs
December 9:: Clive Paine: "Victorian Christmas"
January 13:: Tom Shaw: "Researching your family tree"
February 10:: David Lee: "East Anglian Wartime Airfields"
March 10:: Peter Minter "A History of Brickmaking"
April 14:: Clive Paine: "The Peasants' Revolt in Suffok"
May 12:: Dr Philip Pantelis: "Buried Treasure in East Anglia"
June 9:: Outing, walk, Cheese and Wine? Any suggestions?