|
LOCAL
BOOKS REVIEWED
 |
|
| PETER
BROOKS |
|
Dereham-born
Peter Brooks attended Hamond’s Grammar School in Swaffham
before studying in London to qualify as an environmental health
officer, later moving to Warwickshire to take up a post.
Returning
to Norfolk in the mid-’50s, Peter eventually moved to
Sheringham-based Erpingham RDC, becoming the chief environmental
health officer.
Chairman
of FOND from 2002–2005, Peter is a well-known author
of many books on local history and a regular contributor to
The Merry Mawkin with his series of book reviews on
local subjects.
CASTLE
ACRE: A Social History
Mary-Anne
Garry. The Larks Press 2009. 84 pages, 18 black and white
illustrations and 1 map. ISBN 978 1904006 46 6. Price: £5.50.
The
village of Castle Acre is one of the few villages on the route
of the Peddars Way. With English Heritage having produced
a guide to the Castle and Priory the author decided to concentrate
her research on the lives of ordinary villagers during the
eighteenth century.
Her
journey through time is both prolific and enlightening: arguments
over the appointment of a new vicar; the activities of the
village ‘Crier’; the village theatre (in truth,
a barn) situated in the specially renamed Drury Lane; the
lewd songs by ‘gang’ girls as they returned home
after a hard day’s work in the fields; the stigma of
poverty of the working men set against the wealth of the gangmasters
– all are well documented.
Dedicated
research has resulted in this reviewer appreciating that however
small or large a village may be and whatever special attraction(s)
it may have it pays to look beyond the obvious to discover
what lies behind the modern façade and how the community
and environment have changed and developed over the years.
For
further details or to buy online click here
THE
MOTHER OF NECTON: A Century of Norfolk Life
Mary Nichols. The Larks Press 2009. 184 pages. 36 black
and white illustrations and a village map. ISBN 978 1904006
48 0. Price £9.50.
Mary
Nichols has written more than thirty historical novels, including
some romantic tales for Mills and Boon, but this is her first
work of non-fiction and this reviewer is certain it will join
the ranks of her popular novels. Why? Because the story of
her grandmother, Eliza Ong, the village’s unregulated
and uncertificated midwife, is told with a mixture of love,
respect and an understanding of the hard life she lived, all
in a style of writing which is eminently readable and in its
way is a masterpiece.
The
way historical facts, village history, our native dialect
and human emotions are brought together to record the story
of just one lady and a village we take for granted as we drive
swiftly past on the busy A47.
For
further details or to buy online click here
NORFOLK
TALES OF MYSTERY & MURDER
Neil Storey. Countryside Books 2009. 96 pages. 16 black
and white illustrations. 1 map.
ISBN 978 1846741 61 6. Price £8.99.
See
the name Neil Storey on a book cover and you will know that
whatever the subject may be it will have been conscientiously
researched, and this is certainly the case of the true stories
told in this book with its graphic descriptions of executions,
corpses and how they died.
Although,
as might be expected, Norwich and Great Yarmouth experienced
the most murders the stigma of being the scene of a capital
crime is spread across the county; from Barton Bendish, Felbrigg
and Feltwell through Holkham, Hempnall, Honingham and King’s
Lynn to Pulham St Mary and Wymondham.
Interestingly,
Neil includes seven pages on the sighting of mystery zeppelins
over Norfolk during 1909. Apparently German archives and our
own national intelligence sources do not have any record of
these secret missions...
For further details or to buy online click here
WALKING
ON BURIED HISTORY
Charles Lewton Brain. The Larks Press 2009. 80 pages. 11
black and white illustrations and 1 map. ISBN 978 1904006
47 3. Price £7.99.
This
volume contains twenty-nine short articles which were originally
published in the Eastern Daily Press during the 1970s.
The
author was born in 180 in Swanton Morley where his parents
were Headmaster and Mistress of the local school, and, after
a few years as one of their pupils, he went on to study at
the King’s Lynn Grammar School for Boys, followed by
employment in one of the town’s banks.
WWI
saw him serving in the Royal Artillery experiencing active
service in the trenches and then three years in Palestine
and Egypt. On demobilization he found employment in ‘a
dark office’ in London.
On
retirement in 1947 he and his wife returned to Norfolk, setting
up home in Heacham, from where he enjoyed nothing more than
exploring his native county, often travelling several miles
on what his daughter has described as ‘an ancient bicycle’.
Following
a chance meeting with amateur archaeologist Ivan Thatcher,
who introduced him to the delights of researching the past,
Charles became a member of the Norfolk Archaeological Research
Committee and the author of a booklet listing over a hundred
previously unknown prehistoric sites in the Heacham area alone.
Walking
in Buried History is a joy to read, written by a local
man who highlights aspects of our county – such as unrecorded
Roman roads, how to make a dewpond, the importance of Mounds,
Mottes and Barrows (the latter on Harpley Common possibly
being of some significance), long-lost villages and the relationship
between oysters and animals with archaeology which we may,
and often do, overlook. For
further details or to buy online click here
RUMOLEDEW:
Telling Tales in a Norfolk Village
Keith Skipper. Halsgrove 2009. 120 pages. 13 black and
white illustrations
ISBN
978 1841149 69 1. Price £12.99.
As
you read through Keith’s latest foray into recording
life in a village of under 500 inhabitants you must remember
this is a work of fiction. Where else will you find a village
of this size complete with its own shop, pub, church, school,
new village Hall – and a Post Office?
Interviews
with a score, or so, of parishioners find common ground with
real parish councils dealing with ‘in-comers’ who,
as soon as they arrive in their new home, want street lighting
and double yellow lines all over the place and other reminders
of the ‘civilisation’ they have left behind. As
local history enthusiast, Peter Diggins, so rightly says:
“I want local villages to flourish – but not at
the behest of greedy outsiders.”
Thank
you, Keith, for reminding us of the importance of nuturing
and supporting our villages, otherwise we will really be faced
with a rum ole dew. Even the twin village of Sloightly-sur-le-Huh
may have its work cut out to enable us to walk tall with no
inclinations to work other than for the good of our communities.
For
further details or to buy online click here
NORFOLK
DIALECT AND ITS FRIENDS: Ten years of FOND memories
Robin Limmer. John Nickalls Publications 2009. 224 pages.
Over 100 black and white illustrations. ISBN 978-1-904136-29-3.
Price £9.99.
Norfolk
Dialect and its Friends is not just the story of FOND’s
first ten years of successful efforts to preserve the unique
sound and character of the county’s native tongue –
neither is it just about helping the broadcasting media get
the accent right.
It
is, in fact, also an appreciation of all things Norfolk as
seen through the eyes of both well-known and lesser-known
people who were either born here or have become ‘Norfolk
by adoption’. In the book there are tributes to such
icons as Ted Ellis, Sidney Grapes, Dick Bagnall-Oakeley, Sid
Kipper, and the Singing Postman, to remind us why this county
is so special! For
further details or to buy online click here
WEBMASTER’S
REVIEWS
THE
BROADS IN PRINT: The Days of Discovery – Early 1800s
to 1920
David Clarke. Published by Joy and David Clarke 2009. 112
pages. 98 colour illustrations and 48 black and whites. ISBN
978-0-900616-86-0. Price £10.95.
The
Broads in Print is intended to be an accurate listing
of the major books and pamphlets published about the Norfolk
and Suffolk Broads up to 1920. Each chapter briefly describes
their format and content, with the majority illustrated in
colour or within the text. Its publication comes nearly ninety
years after the last real attempt to compile a listing, that
being done by the then City Librarian, Geo A Stephen.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
David Clarke has spent his working life renovating and managing
houses and flats within Norwich. With his wife Joy, he has
also been an antiquarian bookseller for many years, Norfolk
History.
He
has also written the first two volumes in the Country Houses
of Norfolk series, with a third due to be published in
2010. For
further details or to buy online click here
THE
BOOK OF SHERINGHAM: Twixt Sea and Pine
Peter Brooks. Published by Halsgrove. 160 pages, with over
300 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-84114-944-8. Price £19.99.
The
name of Halsgrove Publishing is becoming increasingly well-known
across Norfolk, with one of their latest books recently published
being The Book of Sheringham: Twixt Sea and Pine and
written by none other than our very own book reviewer and
founder-member of FOND, Peter Brooks.
Within
the book’'s 160 pages there are over 300 illustrations
covering a range of topics from fishing and fishermen, the
lifeboat service, town shops and the people who run them,
sports, the war years when Sheringham was very much a‘front
line’ town, and famous people who have either lived or
had holidays in this popular seaside resort.
Among
the more unusual aspects of town life recorded is the search
for an airplane landing-ground during the 1920s, the reason
why the German zeppelin Hindenburg flew over the town
in June 1936 and the fishermen who visited Great Yarmouth
and allegedly caused a riot.
The
Book of Sheringham costs £19.99 and is available
from all good bookshops, or direct from Halsgrove, Tel:
01823 653777 or online at www.halsgrove.com
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Peter Brooks moved to Sheringham in 1963, where he was the
environmental health officer to the town council, and almost
immediately began collecting postcards, photographs and books
relating to his new home town.
Always
interested in local history, Peter has written many books
on the subject with The Book of Sheringham being the
largest and most comprehensive by far.
This
book should appeal to anyone wishing to know more of the history
of Sheringham, local and furriner alike – it certainly
does to this Webmaster, but then I’m slightly biased
I suppose, having been bred-and-born in the town. For me,
Sheringham will always be home! For
further details or to buy online click here
HIKEY
SPRITES: The Twilight of a Norfolk Tradition
Ray Loveday. Published by E Ray Loveday. 40 pages, with
11 black and white illustrations, and two maps. ISBN 978-0-900616-87-7.
Price £5 (including postage) from the publisher: Ray
Loveday, 54c Pottergate, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1DY
If
you really want to know more about the Hikey Sprites –
or Hyter Sprites as described in some books – then this
is the book for you! This really is a ‘must have’
for the enthusiast of all things Norfolk.
The
author, Ray Loveday, spent many hours of patient enquiry,
walking hundreds of miles to find, and sketch, Hikey sites,
with this book being the result of two years spent tracking
down these elusive creatures!
Compiled
from recollections of many older Norfolk folk, and full of
authentic folklore, it offers a helping hand to the Hikey
Sprites to give them a foothold into the future.
A
beautiful little book, in the popular A5 size, packed from
start to finish with anecdotes relating to the Hikey Sprites
as seen through the eyes of local folk. Locator maps are also
included showing the sites where the Hikey Sprites have been
‘seen’ whether Supernatural, and Mysterious, or
Natural and Human. Some of the sites have also been nicely
illustrated in pen and ink by the author. Certainly well worth
buying, if only for the sake of satisfying one’s curiosity!
Please
sign our guestbook
as we would love to hear from you – or,
if you prefer, email:
|
