7

TUDORS TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1485–1714

The 230 years covering the Tudors and Stuarts embrace the transition from medieval Norfolk to the early modern period. The age of the Tudors is often viewed as a golden age and a watershed in British history. The period starts with the accession of Henry VII (r. 1485–1509) to the throne of England, following the Wars of the Roses, ushering in the Tudor dynasty. It was dominated by the Reformation in England which was started in 1540 under King Henry VIII (r. 1509–47). This was a period of religious turmoil, with a series of events that saw the Church of England part from the Roman Catholic Church. It was to have a profound effect on the religious, economic, political and social development of the country. In 1603 King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne, ushering in the Stuart line. He became James I of England (r. 1603–25) and united the crowns of the two kingdoms. These years, through to the reign of Queen Anne (r. 1702–14), saw the throne held by queens on three occasions.

It was a time of strong economic growth, improvements in agriculture and an increase in the production and export of Norfolk wool. There was also a rise in foreign trade, with additional wealth arriving from the New World. At the same time, there was a growing gap between rich and poor and widening of social divisions.

This was an Age of Discovery, when European nations explored the globe. Colonies were established overseas and trading networks embraced the Americas and Asia.

There was a sense of wanting to understand the exotic world, of which snippets were brought back by seafarers. In 1607 the first permanent English colony in the Americas was founded at Jamestown in Virginia. There was also a renewed desire to examine the classical past.

The Tudor period was one of widespread social unrest, with a series of rebellions throughout the country. During the Stuart years, the great Civil War in England began in 1642, culminating in the execution of King Charles I (r. 1625–49) and the creation of the first Commonwealth (1649–60). This was followed by the Restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II (r. 1660–85). The union between England and Scotland was sealed in 1707. Both parliaments were united to become the Parliament of Great Britain, based at the Palace of Westminster in London.

England’s navy and army were active throughout these restless years. During Elizabeth I’s reign (r. 1558–1603), the Spanish Armada was defeated by the English fleet in 1588, during the period of hostility with Spain between 1585 and 1604. During the reign of Queen Anne, on land, the English defeated the French at the Battles of Blenheim (1704), Ramilles (1706) and Malplaquet (1709). Britain and France eventually signed the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 to end the War of the Spanish Succession.

THE TUDOR COURT

During the Tudor years, Norfolk was faced with periods of civil unrest and also needed to enforce its own responses to religious changes, including the Dissolution, and to the disruptive political upheavals of the day. At the same time, a number of its citizens were directly involved in national events, through playing prominent roles at the Tudor Court.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (1473–1554) was a leading politician during the reign of Henry VIII, as well as uncle of two of the King’s wives; Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Sir Richard Southwell (1502/3–64), High Sheriff of Norfolk, was a wealthy and powerful landowner with over thirty estates. He became a Privy Councillor and was involved in political events concerning the Tudor royal succession at several stages. Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1436–1572), was a leading politician during the reign of Elizabeth I, to whom he was also a second cousin.

The Tudor royal family had other direct ties with the nobility of Norfolk. Queen Anne Boleyn (r. 1533–36) second wife of Henry VIII, was born and raised at the family home of Blickling Hall, in North Norfolk.

THE TOWNS

There was a great fire in Norwich in 1507, which removed much of the medieval city and many of the earlier buildings, apart from those built in stone, notably the churches. Through the scale of the reconstruction, it has sometimes been characterised as a Tudor city today, especially with the wonderfully preserved buildings in the vicinity of Elm Hill. The Dissolution also left a significant mark on the city, as elsewhere in the county. Among the religious institutions abolished were the Cathedral Priory, Carrow Priory and the city’s friaries.

Throughout the sixteenth century Norwich was both the largest and the wealthiest city beyond London. It was a thriving centre for trade, although much of its wealth was restricted to the governing class, while the majority of the population lived in conditions of extreme poverty, which was becoming a national issue. The population doubled in the century after 1525 and parts of the city were subject to severe overcrowding, which was compounded by waves of Dutch and Walloon immigrants. Nevertheless, the city was considered progressive in its efforts to address the issue of provision for the poor, which paved the way for the later Elizabethan Poor Laws.

Queen Elizabeth I visited Norwich in August 1578 and stayed for almost a week. She resided in the Bishop’s Palace in the Cathedral Close. During her stay she knighted the Mayor, Robert Wood.

Norwich continued to thrive in the seventeenth century. Its vibrant reputation was enhanced by its attractive range of buildings, shops and coffee houses. The textile industry was of principal importance throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, while associated trades proliferated. It was still also an important market centre for the region’s agriculture. Increasing numbers of people continued to be drawn to the city and set up home in the expanding suburbs, in turn putting more pressure on limited resources. Herring caught on the east coast were an important source of food for the urban population and they were regularly transported inland to the city by river from Yarmouth.

In 1536 the town of Lynn ceased to be under the protection of the Bishops of Norwich. King Henry VIII then claimed the town and what had been Bishop’s Lynn became King’s Lynn. It was home to wealthy merchants and there was considerable rebuilding between 1550 and 1650. Much of the new construction was in stone, brick and tile, replacing earlier timber. Cultural links with the Low Countries developed through trade are attested in Dutch gables, present on many of its buildings.

A notable building of this period is Thoresby College, which was founded in 1500 by the wealthy merchant and mayor Thomas Thoresby. The College was originally built for the use of priests and, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was converted to a house and warehouses. This impressive building survives today, restored by the King’s Lynn Preservation Trust.

Great Yarmouth was dependent on its quayside for the loading and unloading of ships. It was from as early as the mid-fourteenth century that the mouth of the River Yare started to silt up and threatened to become unusable. Over the next 300 years no fewer than seven attempts were made to construct a permanent outlet, or ‘haven’, but all of the early efforts silted up after just a few years. It was not until Joas Johnson, a Dutchman, was employed as engineer on the seventh haven that the problem was solved. Used to solving similar problems in Holland, between 1559 and 1567 he constructed the haven that is still in use today.

Although no traces remain today, Yarmouth still possessed a medieval castle at this time. We know that in 1550 it was transformed into a gaol. During the reign of Elizabeth I it was then used as a fire beacon. It was finally demolished in 1621 for building materials.

Thetford was a smaller town at this stage. It had many religious houses and was badly affected by the Dissolution, which caused a decline in economic and social life, leading to poverty and unemployment for the population. The main beneficiaries of the distribution of Thetford’s monastic land were the Howard family. Another was Sir Richard Fulmerston, a minor government official and friend of the Duke of Norfolk. The town received a visit from Queen Elizabeth I in 1578 and also frequent visits from King James I (r. 1603–25) for the purpose of hunting; staying at his hunting lodge, which is now called ‘King’s House’.

In contrast to the fortunes of Norwich, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth, Thetford’s decline continued; lasting until the end of the eighteenth century. It retained some local importance as a regional market for south Norfolk, with an economy based on the woollen industry and clothing manufacture, together with sheep farming and rabbit breeding.

RELIGION

Monasticism in England came to an abrupt end between 1536 and 1540. All monasteries were dissolved under the authority of King Henry VIII. The Dissolution was set in place by Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey and led to great changes in the religious landscape of the county. A series of anti-Catholic procedures were instituted through which Henry VIII disbanded Roman Catholic monasteries, priories, convents and friaries. Their estates were taken by the Crown and the land was then either sold or granted to favoured private individuals.

Very few churches were built in Norfolk after 1540. The Dissolution also led to a decline in pilgrimages. Great Walsingham suffered, having become a focus of worship for thousands of pilgrims from across Europe, and although Henry VIII himself had visited there twice, this tradition was curtailed during his reign. Bromholm Priory was also affected.

When Mary Tudor (r. 1553–58) became Queen she attempted to undo the Reformation put in place by her father and to restore the old Catholic religion. Her reign gave rise to a period of religious persecution. In Norwich, forty-eight local people were burnt, accused of heresy. One location for these executions is known as Lollards’ Pit, located to the north-east of the city, where people were burned at the stake for their religious beliefs. Religious imagery was also returned to churches during Mary’s reign, which included a new rood screen, depicting Christ on the Cross, at St Catherine’s church, Ludham. The Reformation subsequently resumed on the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558. Murals, statues, crucifixes and religious imagery were once again removed from churches. This programme was continued by the Puritans, under Oliver Cromwell, in the 1640s.

It was the dissolution of the Augustinian Priory at Beeston Regis, near Sheringham, in 1539 that led to the creation of Gresham’s School at nearby Holt. The Priory had provided schooling and with its demise there was no remaining provision for education in the area. In 1555 Sir John Gresham founded a free grammar school, initially for forty boys. Today, Gresham’s is one of the country’s leading independent schools. Its alumni include W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Ben Nicholson, James Dyson and Olivia Colman.

THE LANDSCAPE

During the seventeenth century Norfolk’s landscape continued to be transformed by natural forces. In 1604, the sea eventually overwhelmed the small but thriving fishing village of Eccles-on-Sea, 12.5km to the north of Great Yarmouth. A storm removed great stretches of the eastern coastline and the village had to be abandoned. Its old round church tower survived as a monument to the town until 1895, when more gales eventually sent it crashing to the beach. In recent years evidence of this lost village has been revealed by wave action and many ancient artefacts recovered.

Norfolk’s surviving ancient woodland was once again significantly reduced, between the years 1500 and 1800. Rare survivals from earlier centuries include Wayland Wood, south of Watton, and Foxley Wood in Breckland.

GRAND HOUSES

During the Tudor period the growth in trade, the redistribution of monastic wealth and the acquisition of land by both existing and new landowners led to an outward expression of their wealth in the form of new buildings. It was from around 1540 towards the end of Henry VIII’s reign that a number of great houses started to be constructed and continued to be so for the remainder of the Tudor and Stuart years and beyond. Their development also saw villages starting to be displaced by large estates, associated with the houses, in the hands of new landlords. This further encroachment on existing villages and surrounding land, together with the removal of common land by enclosure, added to the tensions between social orders.

These great estates have left a legacy that characterises the Norfolk landscape today. Some of the earlier great houses, which date from the 1580s and ’90s, include Breckles Hall, Costessey Hall, Flordon Hall, Heydon Hall and Dalling Hall. Others dating from the early decades of the seventeenth century include Barningham Hall, Kilverstone Hall, Kirstead Hall and Blickling Hall, near Aylsham.

Blickling had belonged to Sir John Fastolf of Caister during the fifteenth century and was acquired by the Boleyn family in the 1450s. Anne Boleyn, later to become the second wife of King Henry VIII and Queen of England between 1533 and 1536, was born there in 1507. The Hall that survives today was built over an earlier moated house by Sir Henry Hobart (c.1560–1625), the Lord Chief Justice. Blickling Hall was constructed in its present form between 1618 and 1629. The approach from the south has been described by Pevsner as one of the most spectacular in English architecture. Another fine Jacobean survival, Felbrigg Hall, close to Cromer, was constructed at the same time as Blickling, between 1621 and 1624, for John Windham (1558–1645). Felbrigg remains unaltered on the exterior and retains a fine Georgian interior.

Brickmaking had been reintroduced to East Anglia in the thirteenth century. However, it was under the Tudors that the use of brick really became fashionable and widely used. The grandeur of Tudor brickwork was manifested at several great houses including Thelveton, Kirstead, Salle and Heydon.

The proximity to northern Europe ensured that foreign building styles were adopted in the county. The Flemish bond became popular from the 1630s, which was a style of laying bricks head first (headers) and then lengthways (stretchers) in a single course. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the distinctive brick Dutch gable was introduced. An earlier form is seen at Blickling and Raynham Halls.

A more local influence was the use of Norfolk reed for roofing. In the east of the county, reeds from the Broads were used for thatching, and there was one of the highest proportions of thatched roofs in the country.

AGRICULTURE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE

This was also the period when manorial lords began the enclosure of land, which was a result of the increasing emphasis on sheep farming and a process that was to continue through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Enclosure removed the right of pasture enjoyed by small farmers, who until this time could graze their livestock on common land. The large landowners began to fence off and enclose the land for their own private use. The result on the countryside was an intensively farmed landscape, with the remaining open fields, which were divided into cultivated strips, interspersed with the self-contained enclosed farms in between. Large areas of the countryside were devoted to sheep grazing through the enclosure system.

The removal of the right of common pasture caused great anger and mistrust between the orders of society. However, the change did ultimately enable the land to be farmed more efficiently and facilitated the introduction of other new farming methods.

Alongside the process of enclosure, the period is associated with important agricultural innovation. Charles Townsend (1674–1738) is remembered for his contribution to what is sometimes called the British Agricultural Revolution. Townsend was a Whig politician and brother-in-law of Robert Walpole. He became known as ‘Turnip’ Townsend for his interest in the cultivation of turnips, which alone was an important improvement to farming. Townsend also promoted crop rotation, made improvements to grasses and used marling, the application of a lime-rich mudstone, to improve the condition and fertility of soils. All of these improvements had a beneficial impact on agricultural production.

Agriculture in the Fens provided great wealth for west Norfolk and King’s Lynn, through the farming of sheep, cattle and crops. The Fens were frequently flooded during the winter months. In the early seventeenth century it was appreciated that there would be advantages in introducing dykes and dams in order to provide proper drainage and improve the productivity of this naturally fertile landscape. Drainage of the southern peat fens was achieved once again through the county’s association with the Low Countries, initially between 1630 and 1653 under the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden. The improvements continued through to the late seventeenth century, creating some of the best agricultural land in England.

The decline and desertion of villages, which had begun in the mid-fifteenth century, continued through the sixteenth and seventeenth. The process of the movement of villages away from their original location to beyond the boundaries of the new estates that were being created around the grand country houses is known as ‘emparking’. Another cause of settlement decline at this time was related to the natural environment and the impact of coastal erosion, as seen by the loss of Eccles and other villages on the east coast, including Whimpwell, Keswick and Little Waxham.

HISTORICAL EVENTS UNDER THE TUDORS

The growing unrest within society led to a series of popular uprisings right across the country, with a number of movements against the authority of the Tudor monarchs. These extended from Yorkshire in the north, in 1486, to Cornwall in the south, in 1497, and Essex in 1601, towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign. For a brief period in the mid-sixteenth century a local rebellion led by Robert Kett made Norfolk the focus of the whole country’s attention.

At this turbulent time, the whole of East Anglia descended into civil unrest. Food prices were high and the gentry were hated by many people, particularly as a result of the enclosure process. With ongoing efforts to maximise the income possible from the wool trade, the enclosure of common land for sheep farming had become a major grievance right across southern England. People were fed up with common land being taken away from them. It was during the reign of King Edward VI (r. 1547–53) that simmering unrest ignited into a major popular uprising. Following a large gathering at Wymondham Fair, south of Norwich, in 1549 a group of local peasants proceeded to break down fences that had been erected around common land by John Hobart, Lord of the Manor at nearby Morley.

Robert Kett (1492–1549), a yeoman farmer and landowner at Wymondham, offered to lead the rebels in a protest, ‘in defence of their common liberty’. Together, they marched towards Norwich, rallying with supporters beside an oak tree at Hethersett, to the north-east of Wymondham, on 9 July. The oak tree still survives and is a living memorial to Kett and his followers.

The rebels finally established a camp on Mousehold Heath, overlooking Norwich, where some 15,000 gathered. Over the following weeks there were a series of battles and for a while the rebels controlled the city. Successive royal armies were sent to deal with the troubles. Eventually, the rebels were engaged by the Earl of Warwick in a final battle at Dussindale, to the north-east of the city, on 27 August. Some 3,000 rebels died and a further 200 were captured and hanged outside the city’s Magdalen Gate. Kett was later captured. He was imprisoned and finally executed outside Norwich Castle on 7 December.

This tragic and shockingly bloody episode had a national resonance at the time, although it is best remembered in Norfolk today. Kett’s rebellion characterised the national struggle by the poor for rights against the greed and oppression of the wealthy. The stand made by Kett in the face of overwhelming odds has ensured his enduring memory as a local folk hero, alongside Queen Boudica and others still to enter the historical record.

NORFOLK AT WAR

Until the Tudor period Norfolk’s defensive structures had mainly been situated inland. Castles had been constructed by local lords as symbols of power and authority, and to subjugate the population. It was a reflection of regal authority under the Tudors that internal private power struggles were reduced and the emphasis of national defence was focused outwards, at the coast.

During the years 1539–40 Henry VIII looked to secure the English coast in the face of threats from his main European rivals, the Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Francois I, King of France, who might look to reclaim England for the Catholic Church. He constructed fortresses in southern counties and looked to identify key defensive locations on the Norfolk coastline. His main efforts were eventually concentrated on Norfolk’s major ports, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn, and which also included Blakeney harbour.

Under Elizabeth I, in 1588, a new threat came from the Spanish Armada. It was identified that King’s Lynn, Weybourne and Yarmouth were in need of further strengthening. King’s Lynn had already been provided with a fort at St Anne’s. A small earthen fort was also constructed at Weybourne in the north. Cannon were then located at intervals along the coast. At Yarmouth the town wall was revetted with an earth bank.

LATER HISTORICAL EVENTS

Despite the undercurrent of civil unrest, the Tudors managed to unite the nation around the institution of the Crown. At the end of Elizabeth’s reign, England was not in a position to rival the major powers of France and Spain but the country was at peace and was engaging in international affairs through trade. When Elizabeth died in 1603 she had no direct heir and requested that the Protestant James, son of Mary Queen of Scots, should succeed her. James I (r. 1603–25) became the first Stuart monarch and was in turn succeeded by Charles I (r. 1625–49), during whose reign the country was to descend into Civil War.

Norfolk remained comparatively peaceful during most of the English Civil War of 1642–48. At its outbreak there was a diversity of allegiance right across society, leaving many families divided. The county is associated with a strong support for Parliament but at the outset many of Norfolk’s gentry supported the Royalist cause, while the majority of people in the area supported a moderate Puritanism. The active Puritans in the region were well organised and were able to mobilise the strongest local support and suppress the Royalist opposition.

Norfolk’s allegiance to Parliament was maintained through its membership of the defensive alliance known as the Eastern Association, alongside Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. Thereafter, the area was unaffected by major battles. Norwich in particular was strongly Parliamentarian and the city was considered key to the defence of the county. The city walls had fallen into disrepair and £200 was provided for their restoration. They were also fortified with cannon. Norwich Castle was similarly refortified, for the last time in its long history. Booms were installed on the river at Norwich and a chain laid across the Yare at Great Yarmouth.

Whilst Norfolk overall was strongly committed to the Parliamentarian cause, the Royalists were aware of the key strategic importance of King’s Lynn and its port in the west. Although Royalist support had been effectively suppressed across most of Norfolk, in August 1643 King’s Lynn declared for the Crown. Parliamentary forces under the Earl of Manchester, assisted by Oliver Cromwell, laid siege to the town with 18,000 men. Lynn eventually fell to Manchester’s army in September that year.

Some Royalist sympathy also existed further south, at Lowestoft, where supporters of the King converged in early March 1643. Oliver Cromwell, who was in Norwich at the time, set out with five troops of the Eastern Association and recovered the seaside town without bloodshed, leaving a cavalry detachment in the area. In 1989, a coin hoard of the period, buried in 1643, was discovered at Wortwell, in the Waveney Valley, close to the Suffolk border. The hoard was concealed in the ground, some 18 miles inland from Lowestoft, apparently by a Royalist sympathiser who had been targeted by Cromwell’s troops when they were raiding in the vicinity. After 1643 Norfolk remained a relatively peaceful area and there were few subsequent disturbances.

There were Norfolk individuals who remained loyal to the King. Sir Henry Bedingfield (1582–1657) was Sheriff of Norfolk and he, along with his sons, fought for the Royalists at Marston Moor in 1644. Sir Henry was later imprisoned in the Tower of London. His home at Oxborough Hall was ransacked and partly burned down. The house was rebuilt during the Restoration, under King Charles II, when the Bedingfield family found favour with the new King for their enduring loyalty to the throne and to the Catholic faith.

Norfolk was to make one more contribution to national events at the close of the Civil War. A bailiff of Great Yarmouth named John Carter had a house on South Quay. It was there in 1648 that the Parliamentarian leaders met and took the fateful decision that the King should be tried and executed. Now known as the Elizabethan House, Carter’s home has been preserved as a memorial to this historic meeting.

THE LATER SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The second half of the seventeenth century saw a new seaborne threat during the Anglo-Dutch wars, especially between 1652 and 1684. Hostilities had ignited between the nations through clashes over trading and overseas colonies. Militia were mobilised to guard strategic positions along the coast, especially the flat beaches to the north of Great Yarmouth and around Weybourne. Old signalling beacons erected at the time of the Armada were called back into use and a small brick fort was constructed by the river mouth at Yarmouth.

In 1685 King James II (r. 1685–88) raised eight new regiments to help quell the Monmouth Rebellion, which was an attempt to overthrow the new king in favour of the Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II. One of these was Colonel Henry Cornwall’s Regiment of Foot, later known as the 9th Foot and to become the Royal Norfolk Regiment. The Regiment served with distinction in campaigns across Europe between the years 1689 and 1694. They served in Ireland and fought in actions including the Battle of the Boyne. They then participated in expeditions against France, which involved a dramatic raid on the port of Brest. From 1701 they fought in Europe during the War of the Spanish Succession.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

By 1500 only about thirty-five markets remained in the county, from an earlier medieval peak of 138. While declining in number, some became larger. Swaffham, in central Norfolk, is an example of a medieval market that has become a permanent institution to this day.

The early sixteenth century had seen a decline in the wool trade. The Norwich textile industry was beginning to struggle because of changing public tastes and also from continental competition. In 1565 a new wave of Strangers arrived in Norwich to reinvigorate the industry. These Protestant refugees from the Spanish Netherlands were skilled workers and were invited to settle in the city. Thirty families arrived in 1565 and they subsequently developed into a substantial community. They introduced new advanced techniques and methods that stimulated the textile industry, through passing on their skills to the local population. The materials they produced were lighter and well-finished. Their produce included fine clothing and dresses, scarves and shawls. Norwich’s prosperity steadily revived thereafter. When Queen Elizabeth I visited the city in 1578, she was impressed by the work of the Strangers, along with demonstrations of their spinning and weaving skills.

King’s Lynn’s trade and industry flourished under the Tudors. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the town was a thriving port of comparable size to Bristol. At this time its international trade routes encompassed Norway, Greenland, Iceland, the Baltic and Low Countries. Its coastal trade included the import of coal from Newcastle, while corn was its major export. Great Yarmouth also engaged in international trade with countries including Norway, Spain and Italy. In the north, the Glaven ports of Blakeney, Cley and Wiveton remained important for merchant shipping into the seventeenth century. Wells harbour also thrived from the late sixteenth century.

The unstable political situation from the 1630s caused financial difficulties and damage to trade and the running of the economy. There had been a reduction in the size of silver coins that, coupled with a shortage of small change in circulation, led to the need for a form of currency that would enable small monetary transactions. During the aftermath of the Civil War, tradespeople sought to address this need and started to produce their own versions of farthings, which we now call trade tokens.

These tokens were produced across the country between 1648 and 1672. They were issued by local traders, who gave them to customers as small change. People had to trust the traders, for if they went out of business, their tokens would become worthless. It was not only the tradespeople in the major towns of Norwich, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth who issued tokens. Those from dozens of smaller villages also produced them. These tokens carry the names and professions of the traders, providing us with a wealth of information about specific individuals and their working lives.

NORFOLK WITHIN THE WIDER WORLD

It was at this time that Europeans set out to distant shores, not only to find new territories and fortunes but also in the quest for new knowledge. There were no public museums in seventeenth-century England and members of the nobility sought to form collections of items from abroad in order to reflect their own learning and status. A renowned collection was assembled by the Paston family, held at their home of Oxnead Hall. It contained pictures, sculptures and fine objects, reflecting what was considered to be the range of people’s achievements.

The developing exploration and awareness of the world in the seventeenth century is expressed through a painting of the 1660s and ’70s from their collection, known as the Paston Treasure, which is displayed at Norwich Castle Museum, and portrays part of their magnificent collection. The painting is unique in the history of British collecting as a depiction of a schatzkammer, or ‘cabinet of wonders’. It was commissioned by Sir Robert Paston (1631–83); a prominent supporter of King Charles II. It depicts things from Europe, Asia, Africa and America; encompassing the known world of the mid-seventeenth century. Their diversity embraces Chinese porcelain, an African parrot and monkey, and Indian tortoiseshell, while the New World is represented by tobacco from Virginia. A young slave, himself a contemporary status symbol, is the earliest known portrait of an African in Norfolk. The picture is a reminder not only of contemporary aristocratic tastes but of a developing knowledge of the world in Norfolk 350 years ago.

Norfolk’s links with North America are further revealed through the story of Pocahontas (c.1596–1617); a native American whose personal life became associated with the early colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The popular story of her life tells how she saved that of Englishman John Smith in 1607. She later converted to Christianity and married tobacco planter John Rolfe. Moving to England, the couple lived at their homes at Heacham Hall in north-west Norfolk, as well as London.

Back closer to Britain, events on the European mainland during this turbulent period resulted in the displacement of peoples, with families from abroad arriving in Norfolk and introducing new cultural influences. The Strangers themselves were Protestant refugees from the Spanish Netherlands. Other refugees arrived from France, where religious intolerance had surfaced in the 1680s. French Protestant families, known as the Huguenots, were forced to flee to England. Many of these refugees who settled in Norwich were skilled silk workers and readily integrated into the economic life of the city.

THE ARTS AND SCIENCE

The range of arts, together with progressive thinking and writing, were well served during the Tudor and Stuart years. In particular, contacts with the wider world provided a source of inspiration and ideas. The influences of Dutch and French incomers can be seen in the architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These new communities influenced local life in many ways. The Dutch even brought canaries with them, which to this day provide the adopted name of Norwich City Football Club.

The decades after 1500 had given rise to a scientific revolution, personified by the renowned thinker and academic Sir Thomas Browne (1605–82) who moved to Norwich in 1637. His diverse interests spanned the fields of science, medicine, religion, the natural world, history and antiquarianism. As a writer, his initial literary work, Religio Medici, was both provocative and influential. It was translated into a range of European languages.

A little known but important early history relating to the east of the county was written at this time by Henry Manship (b. 1555), who was a local schoolmaster and member of the town council. His Booke of the Foundacion and Antiquitye of Great Yarmouthe was meticulously researched from documents held not only locally but also at the Tower of London. His work remains an important historical source for the period between 1611 and 1619 in Norfolk.

The richness of the county’s church rood screens was mentioned in the previous chapter. Norfolk and Suffolk are the main counties in England in which so many screens have survived the Reformation. Parts of over 200 wooden examples remain in Norfolk, although many of these have been damaged. For example, the exceptionally fine fifteenth-century panel paintings at All Saints’ church, Catfield, remain largely intact but the faces of the saints and kings have been scratched and defaced.