Number 55 - New Year 2014

Wells Local History GroupNewsletter

Many thanks to all those of you who took the trouble to write and show your appreciation of the new newsletter format and give us encouragement as your new editorial team. Whilst on that subject, we have to offer apologies to Peter Elphick and Guy Warren for their efforts in producing the newsletters for several years, culminating in the bumper edition Number 53. The apology is due because the acknowledgement is a little late. This was only due to our difficulties in keeping several plates spinning in the air at the same time, something that they managed successfully, and we still have to learn.

Our lead article this time is on the cinemas of Wells, and perhaps this is an appropriate time to remember that history not only concerns people and events of centuries past, but is being constantly formed and added to. Whilst many of our readers will have visited the premises mentioned, I am sure that far more have not, either because they were living elsewhere before closure took place, or because they are one of our younger members. Mike Welland has produced the majority of the article, but has been assisted by Maureen Dye, Bob Brownjohn, and others. The photograph on the cover shows the Regal Cinema soon after closure in 1975.

In the last newsletter the possibility of setting up an archive room in the Sackhouse was mentioned. This is looking unlikely at present as the preliminary rental costs published make a room beyond our current economic means. However, the refurbishment of the main Maltings building has moved a step further, in that the Heritage Lottery Fund has approved a “stage 2 grant” enabling full plans and costings to be undertaken, with a view to submitting a major grant application next year. We have been promised free space for an archive room in this building as it will be one of the requirements of any grant.

Maureen Dye has been busy on a project to produce discs of our extensive photographic collection. The first of these should be available by the time you read this. KL

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CINEMAS OF WELLS NEXT THE SEA

Most of our readers will know of the Regal and Park cinemas in Wells. How many also know of the Electric Palace or The Central Cinema which were the predecessors?

The first cinema, the Electric Palace, was situated on the ground floor of Oddfellows Hall in Clubbs Lane, but there is some confusion over the date of its opening. A gentleman who has studied the history of Norfolk cinemas wrote that screenings commenced in 1914, being run by four local businessmen calling themselves the Wells next the Sea Cinema Syndicate. I have been unable to substantiate that date or information at the time of writing, and the first record I have seen is an entry in the town trade directory of 1929 which reads Electric Palace Cinema (open Thurs. and Sat.), Clubbs Lane. The previous directory of 1925 made no mention of a cinema so the actual opening date remains unknown. This was not a cinema as we know it, but a twice weekly activity in the Oddfellows Hall, similar to the way that Screen next the Sea is shown in the Granary Theatre today.

Since its construction in 1885, at a reported cost of £1200, the ground floor of the Oddfellows Hall became the entertainment and meeting centre of the town, to a large extent replacing the Assembly Rooms at the rear of the Globe Hotel. The upper floor of the building was utilized for the business of the Lodge and its members.

The pianist for the silent movies was Mrs. Seeley of Wells, still well remembered in the town. Some years later her niece, later Mrs. Olive Miners wrote a very evocative poem about her Aunt's playing entitled The Odd Fellows Hall. It began with the lines:

Silent Movies in the TwentiesA crowded Hall in Wells, and memoriesOf jolly Thursday nights in MayWhen we as children came to stay.

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The benches soon began to fill,The boys sat on the window-sill.A row or two of comfy seatsAnd sometimes there were special treats.The lights flashed on, the reel was done.

Several verses continued in a similar vein until the poem closed with reference to the playing of God save the King at the end.

In early 1932 the management of the cinema, still named the Electric Palace, was taken over by Mr. Cyric Claxton. Apparently the venue was renamed The Central Cinema, probably after the opening of its rival, the Park, at the west end of Mill Road. I have not seen confirmation of this name in my research.

Mr. Claxton must have realised the limitations of accommodation in the Oddfellows Hall, and he decided to open another more suitable establishment. The running of the Central Cinema was taken over by Mr. Sydney Warren, still showing only silent movies. There was no electricity supply to the cinema in the early years, and power for the projector was supplied by a static generator placed outside the building. The belt drive from the generator frequently came adrift resulting in films suddenly stopping in mid reel.

In 1937 the cinema, renamed the Regal was taken over by a chain known as East Coast Cinemas Ltd who continued to operate the cinema until its closure. The new sound system had began to appear at that time in the form of discs similar to gramophone records and the problem the projectionist experienced at the Regal was synchronising the sounds they contained to the film images being shown on screen. The following plan shows the extension built on to the rear of the Oddfellows Hall just before the war. It was built of single bricks with an asbestos roof supported by iron columns. Carpeted steps took viewers from the foyer into the auditorium where the screen was placed on a raised stage on the east wall.

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The first programme after the th

re-opening on December 61937, the film shown entitledO-KAY FOR SOUND, starringNervo & Knox, Flanagan &Allen, and Naughton & Gold.Films screened later in thatmonth were to feature BingCrosby, Sandy Powell, andJack Hulbert and other wellknow names of those times.Prices of admission were 2/-1/6d,, 1/3d, 1/-, 9d, and 6d.Why there were so many different prices is difficult tounderstand. The matinee forchildren was priced at 3d.

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Cyric Claxton had purchased a warehouse in Mill Road after leaving the Electric Palace Cinema in 1931. He converted the building into a cinema showing silent movies, opening it as the Park Cinema soon afterwards. In the 1933 trade directory the entry for the cinema read Park Cinema (The) C. A. Claxton mangr. Mill Road.

Unfortunately no photographs seem to exist for the Park Cinema, unlike the Regal. Christine Hiskey wrote a piece for newsletter 39 in 2008 detailing a film show given at the Park in May 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of George V. This article included information that the seating plan showed ten rows of between 13 and 19 seats totaling 167

The Regal cinema had a greater capacity when it re-opened, around 400, and that, together with the Park's distance from the town centre may have contributed to the Park's decline. It has also been said that the owner was not prepared to invest the money involved in purchasing equipment for the screening of sound movies. Whatever the reasons the Park cinema closed its doors for the last time in 1948. It remained empty for some years until taken over by the Wells Urban District Council for office accommodation. It was vacated in 1974, and later used as business premises for a few years.

The Regal Cinema continued to provide entertainment after the war. Filmgoers remember the fumes and heat created by the carbon arc projectors used at that time. To try and remedy the problem a new window was inserted in the upper room. This in turn proved inadequate and holes were then created in the false ceiling to disperse the fumes. These remedies had the effect of destroying the beautiful and ornate ceiling of the original Oddfellows Hall.

Maureen Dye remembers many of her childhood visits to the cinema to watch films such as “Bambi” and “Cinderella”. Each Saturday morning there was a Children's Club which screened films such as the Lone Ranger, Lassie and the Three Stooges. Children had a card which

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was stamped each week with a reward such as a free ice cream when the card was full. One of the features of these children's shows was the mayhem that erupted from the boys if there was any kissing shown in a performance!

In later years screenings at the Regal were normally from Tuesday to Saturday with one performance commencing at 6.50pm. There was also a performance on Sunday at 6.30pm. The films featured normally ran for two days with a different feature on a Sunday. It is difficult to date available posters by year as they only showed the day and date of each month. Looking at a sample month's events one immediately observes that they were virtually all X , adult only features, especially

ston a Sunday where on November 21 the two films were “Sexy Gang” and “Hot Nights in Frankfurt”., not, I think, a programme for Screen next the Sea! This poster must have been late in the cinema's life as one of the films featured Helen Mirren in “Age of Consent”. In the whole month there was only one film with a U certificate as suitable for children.

With the advent of television and other entertainment, attendance at cinemas declined in the 1970s. Added to the drop in audiences there was a problem with corrosion of the iron pillars supporting the roof of the auditorium, and the cinema finally closed in 1975. In common with other closed cinemas this one became a bingo hall for a few years before the auditorium was demolished leaving only the brick built original structure remaining.

In the early 1980s what remained of the original splendid and ornate Oddfellows Hall was converted into flats, with houses being built on the vacant land previously occupied by the auditorium

Mike Welland

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WLHG BOOKS

The following books, published by the group, are currently in print and are available from Nita Spencer. The first price is the price to the general public, the second price the concessionary price to members. Members who live out of town may buy the books post and packing free, in exchange for the fact that they are generally unable to visit the talks.

Nita Spencer: 30a Theatre Road, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1DJ Cheques payable to Wells Local History Group

A Sketchbook with notesPurchas, Scott, Welland, 2004 £2.00 (£3.00 by post) £1.50

The Wells Murder of 1817Mike Welland, 2005 £3.50 (by post £5.00) £2.00

Shipbuilding at Wells in the 18th & 19th CenturiesMichael Stammers, 2011 £10.00 (£13.00 by post) £8.00

The History of the Inns & Public Houses of WellsMichael Welland, 2012 £10.00 (£13.00 by post) £8.00

Sam Peel - A Man Who Did DifferentSusan Wild, 2013 £12.00 (£15.00 by post) £8.00

Town WalkSouth Route This is the first of four revisions of the old “walks books”

Brian Scott, Hew Purchas £2.00 (£3.00 by post) £1.50

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Visit of Dutch Children to Wells

In 1945 these Dutch children arrived in Wells for a two month stay. They had experienced very harsh times during the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1940 to 1945. They had endured the Rotterdam blitz in 1940 when the entire historic city centre was destroyed, killing 900 civilians and leaving 30,000 people homeless. However, worse was to follow. A year or so before Germany surrendered they became very short of food and the people of Rotterdam in particular were starving. They scavenged where they could in dustbins and on fields. Also, as a reprisal for a Dutch rail strike to help the allies, there was a German embargo on all food transport. Added to this there was a severe winter in 1944-45 and the canals froze over. The retreating German soldiers destroyed bridges and deliberately flooded fields. They took any food and even bikes with them. It became known as the Dutch famine or Hongerwinter.

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The newspaper cutting mentions “lasting friendship”. This certainly occurred between two of the boys; Geoffrey Youngman of Wells and Leen Wendrich of Rotterdam. They and their families visited each other numerous times over the decades. In 2013 Leen's daughter Sacha visited Wells. Following is Leen's reply on receiving a copy of the newspaper cutting.

Hello PeterThanks for the fine memories in the newspaper cutting. As regards the photo of the Dutch children it shows the night that we arrived by train in Wells. At that moment we did not know which of the present “fathers and mothers” would be who’s.On the photo you can see Mrs Finch and the foster parents of the Dutch girl Alie. I have forgotten the name but Mr Finch worked for him and he had a workshop on the Quay as far as I

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remember. - Time Flies.Greetings from Leen

Maureen Dye

It was Mr & Mrs Grange who adopted Alie (both on the left of the ndphoto). Leen is 2 row third from the left with his brother Jak in front of

him. Jak was treated for TB in Wells Hospital. The children's temporary foster mothers were Mesdames Sarsby, Weston, Cadamy, Adcock, Williams, Richardson, Francis and Dora Reynolds.

THE FEDERATION OF NORFOLK HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL

SOCIETIESWLHG has been a member of the above group for some years. For a small annual fee we publicise our meetings amongst other local groups and receive information on the programmes that are put on by our neighbours. There are thirty-one members in all in the Federation, spread throughout Norfolk. Our nearest neighbours are at Binham, Blakeney, and Walsingham. For details of their programmes see:

Binham Local History Group:www.binhampriory.org/BLHG.html

Blakeney Area Historical Society:www.history-blakeney-area.org.uk

Walsingham and District History Society:doesn't have a website at present but their programme (along with all the other member groups) can be found on the main federation website at:

www.poppyland.co.uk/federation

Just in case you are not aware of it, our own presence on the web will be found at the following:

www.wellsnextthesea.info/Wellsinformation/History.html

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The Loss of the SS Heathfield

Ships have always travelled in large numbers for various purposes through the North Sea. These days, they have the benefit of marine radio, radar, wireless weather forecasts and reports, Global Positioning System (GPS), depth sounders, Automatic Identification System (AIS) and a host of other electronic aids, plus the experience of the crew. A hundred years ago the last item is all they had.

The Heathfield was a steel screw steamship 283 feet long, built at West Hartlepool in 1887 and operated by the Eastern Navigation Company of Glasgow, where she was based. At the subsequent enquiry it was stated that she was classified as being 100 A1 on the Lloyds Register, which meant that she was regarded as being fully fit for every purpose including insurance, having had an extensive survey carried out in the summer of 1909. The master, as well as the first and second mates, had certificates of competency. It was further stated that she carried twenty-four lifebelts and five lifebuoys and that her two lifeboats and one jolly boat could between them carry twenty-three people. With a crew of twenty-two this made her theoretically safer than most vessels, including in retrospect, the Titanic.

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thAt 6.30am on the morning of 12 October 1910 she left Blyth with a cargo of coal, bound for Savona in Italy. The weather was hazy with a strong breeze blowing from the north-east. During the day they made good time, although it was noted that the wind and sea swell were

thincreasing. In the early hours of the 13 they spotted the Outer Dowsing Light Vessel at about 4.00am, at which time the master took over from the second mate who had been on watch since midnight. They changed over again at 8.30am and the master gave instructions to continue steering south-eastwards by the compass and to post a lookout to look for the Haisborough Light Vessel. The mate said at the enquiry that he had not been given the current position of the ship, and at this point the weather was still hazy but the wind had increased to a strong gale. The master left the bridge and went to the chart room.

At 9.30am, with the visibility still low and the wind still increasing the ship struck the northern edge of the Sheringham Shoal and stranded. The second mate immediately ordered the engines to be reversed but they were stuck fast. The master returned to the bridge and took charge. He must have realised the serious nature of their situation,

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because the first thing he did was to order the starboard lifeboat to be swung out and lowered. As it was being lowered, he ordered the second mate and the boatswain to get into it. This they did, and lay alongside the ship with the boat still secured to it. They had difficulty keeping the boat clear of the ship, and keeping it free of water. At about 10.30, with the weather worsening and with all attempts to free the ship failing, the master ordered the boat to cast off and for the two men to attempt to reach the shore for help. As they left, they could see the crew lined up on the rail, wearing the lifebelts which by this time had been issued to them.

With great difficulty the two men reached Cley beach at about 1.30pm, and made their way to the nearby coastguard station. The steamer's difficulties had first been spotted by the coastguard at Sheringham at 11.30am. He had spoken by telephone to his colleagues at Cromer, Weybourne, and Blakeney, and the three lifeboats at Cromer, Sheringham and Blakeney had been informed. At that time the coastguards at Weybourne and Cromer both agreed that they could see the steamer, and at Weybourne they believed that they could also see two flags flying which they assumed were they international “N” and “C” flags meaning “I am in distress”. The Sheringham crew gathered at their station at noon, and the coxswain assessed the situation. The sea was breaking heavily on the beach and he believed that it would be almost impossible to launch.

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Whilst he was considering what to do, word came from the coastguard that the ship could no longer be seen, and he therefore decided not to risk the lives of his crew. The Cromer coxswain came to the same conclusion; he said that the seas were the worst that he had seen in nine years. At Blakeney the crew were undertaking their quarterly inspection, and the decision was taken to launch into the relatively calm waters of Blakeney Pit. However, on reaching the bar, and hearing that the steamer could no longer be seen, the coxswain there also decided not to risk the lives of his men in the tumultuous open sea. The inspector at the enquiry afterwards said that he believed that the correct decision had been made by the various coxswains, and he was sure that they would have made the attempt to get off if there had been any chance of saving lives. During the afternoon the empty portside lifeboat was washed ashore empty, but, apart from her masts, the Heathfield was not seen again.

thFive days later, on the 18 of October the bodies of eight of the crew were given a funeral which is unlikely to have been more elaborate if the men had been local.

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The coffins were taken from the mortuary and laid out on trestles in front of the old lifeboat house (the present Harbour Office). Each coffin was draped in a Union Jack and presumably a few words were spoken before a procession, led by the local coastguards, left the Quay and made its way with the coffins to St Nicholas Church. After the service, the coffins were placed side-by-side in a large grave on the Polka Burial Ground, next to the memorial for the coastguards who had died twelve years earlier. The men buried that day were:

Alfred Huxham, 46 donkeymanH Lee, 59 ship's cook found at WarhamHugh Lockhead, 38 carpenter & seamanPatrick McHugh, 47 first engineerJames Sinclair, 47 able seamanR J Sloan, 21 stewardCharles Young, 21 ordinary seaman found at Burnham OveryPlus one unidentified found at Blakeney

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thTwo days later on the 20 of October, three more bodies were added to the grave:Colin Connor, 24 third engineerJohn Paton, 17 stewardM M Priest, 22 seaman found at WeybourneThere were twenty crew left on the ship and eleven of them are buried in Wells. This was probably because most of the bodies were washed up here, although the inquest was also held in Wells. There is evidence to suggest that three other members of the crew are buried elsewhere in Norfolk, which means that six, plus the “unknown seaman” in Wells were unaccounted for. The mass grave is neatly lined with stone kerbing, with the names of the ship and the individual seamen engraved around the edge. Although worn by time, the grave can still be seen today.

Keith Leesmith

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THE BECK ROW CRASH

Stirling N.6067 (XV Squadron) had only been delivered to RAF Wyton thon 6 February 1942; the mission on the night of 25/26 February was

to be its first and last. thThe aircraft took off from RAF Wyton at 23.32 on the night of the 25

February with six crew and an observer on board, to join with other bombers for a raid on the Kiel Canal. However N.6067 was unable to locate the primary target so they switched their attentions to their secondary, the island of SYLT near the German/Danish border. This island had become part of the Germans northern defences and a total of 4 airfields were built there during WW2. As expected the air defences were very robust, with numerous AA battery's protecting the island. Such was the intensity of the flak that they had to take evasive action; this resulted in them not being certain of their position as they headed for home. It would appear that the crew weren't immediately aware of damage to the bomber and they were also uncertain as to their position, they weren't sure if they were over the sea or even enemy territory.

The pilot, S/L Wilson told the crew that if they wanted to take their chances, they had his permission to bale out. Only Sgt Noel Spalding took up the offer, the rest stayed aboard the aircraft. With no alternative now but to crash land they brought the Stirling down near Beck Farm Lodge, Beck Row, just a few hundred yards from the runway at RAF Mildenhall and safety. The aircraft's nose was pushed through a 'robust' garden wall belonging to a house on St John's Street, Beck Row

ndand 2 Lt Murray, an observer from the Royal Artillery, who was in the front turret, was fatally injured.

The rest of the crew survived the crash, which happened around 5.40am, and on landing some of the crew deployed the aircraft's dingy, in the belief that they may have been over water; at the time the area around Ely was badly flooded and this may have confused the crew as to their exact position. N.6067 was inspected the following morning

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and scrapped after 18½ hours flying time. Sgt Spalding landed safely near Feltwell, Norfolk.

Below is the account of Mrs Oranges of Feltwell, recalling her meeting with Spalding on the night of the crash, when he appeared at their door.

One dark night we were awakened by a knocking on our door and getting out of bed and going to the window I said "Hallo down there, is anything wrong?" and a voice replied

Yes, I've just bailed out of an aircraft, may I please come in and use your telephone?"

Presumably the light was enough for him to see the telephone post and wires. I said "Yes, I will come down immediately." My husband said, "now not so fast, it might be a German from an enemy 'plane, be careful" and he hurriedly followed me downstairs. On unlocking the door an airman staggered in with icicles hanging from his helmet and on the turned over woolly lined collar of his flying jacket. We asked if he was injured and he said

"I don't think so, just my leg is painful".

With that, he put his hand down his high boot (fur lined) and pulled out a long torch which was dented and bent through his fall and had been pressing into his leg. He then said,

"I was quite relieved to hear your voice because I wondered if we might have come down in Holland, however, I know I am near the sea",

"Indeed you are not", I said to which he replied,

"Well what was the large expanse of water which I floated over as I came down?"

Then I realized that he had floated down from the direction of Ely which at that time was flooded all around for many miles.

"Where am I then?" he asked and I said "Norfolk", "why!" he exclaimed that is where I live, my home is at Wells-next-the-Sea."

We made him some hot drink and gave him some food while my

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husband 'phoned up the Aerodrome to explain the situation. In the meantime I learned that he had landed somewhere near White Plot Farm, (Hythe Road direction) and had buried his parachute. We told him then that had he walked about ½ mile further to the right he would have walked straight to Feltwell Aerodrome. Eventually an R.A.F. tender arrived and took our Sergeant Spalding to the R.A.F. Station.

My first customer next morning was a smart Sgt in blue uniform asking for cigarettes.

"Don't you know me this morning?"

I hadn't recognised him out of his flying gear. He told me he had been to collect his parachute (if they came down in a foreign country they were ordered to hide their parachutes), and then he was going back to his station at RAF Wyton, and he was pleased to tell me that his mates had landed safely near Mildenhall.

Sgt Noel Spalding was killed later that year whilst serving with 7 Squadron. On the night of the Date 6/7 September 1942, 207 aircraft of 6 types launched a raid on the city of Duisburg. On arrival over the target they encountered cloud and haze and this prevented the bombers from concentrating the bombing. Despite this the raid was the most successful yet, with Duisburg reporting its heaviest raid to date, with 114 buildings destroyed and 316 badly damaged, 86 people were killed.

8 aircraft, made up of 5 Wellingtons, 2 Halifax's and 1 Stirling were lost. This represented a 3.9% loss on the raid.Sgt Spalding was an Air Gunner and part of the crew of the only Stirling shot down that night, aged 29; he is buried at Reichswald Cemetery, Germany and commemorated on the Wells next the Sea War Memorial.

Roger Leivers, Porch Museum, Godmanchester

The above account was sent to us in a (successful) attempt to trace the family of Sgt. Noel Spalding for a future exhibition KL

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Sgt. Noel Spalding is second from the left in the above photograph

Frank Southgate's last letter?

In June of this year we received an e-mail from Paula Harrington in Surrey. She had been sorting through some papers left by her grandmother some years before. Amongst these was a letter written to her grandmother from France during the First World War. The letter was written by Private Frank Southgate and a search on the internet had led her to WLHG via our book Wildfowling at Wells the world of Frank Southgate R.B.A. The book had been written in 2011 initially as a catalogue for an exhibition that we put on jointly with the Wells and District Wildfowlers' Club, but it also contains a great deal of information both on the paintings and life of Frank Southgate and on wildfowling, particularly in Wells. Frank was an accomplished artist and wildfowler in the period when Wells was a national centre for the sport just before the First World War.

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It was known that although older than most volunteers, Frank had joined the Sportsman's Battalion and gone off to “do his bit” in the trenches of northern France. It was further known that in early 1916, during a lull in the fighting he and his colleagues had been given some time off away from the front line. During this short break a messenger arrived to tell the men that they were needed back at the front and that they had to hurry back. Frank ran back with his younger comrades but on the way he collapsed with a suspected heart attack and died. He was 42.The letter which is reproduced here is unfinished, and was dated three days before Frank's death. It is circumstantial, but tempting to think that it may have been the last thing that he wrote, and that the call back to the front was the reason for the abrupt ending. We assume that it must have been passed back to his widow Ethel in Wells, with other effects, on his death, and that she in turn passed it to the intended recipient. The story is now taken up by Paula Harrington:

I have had the letter for m a n y y e a r s h a v i n g inherited it in a bag of photographs, letters and other items from my grandmother Florence (Mick) Weth; she was very sentimental so I can understand why she would have kept the letter all those years amongst other items of importance. I remember first finding the letter and understanding the significance of the date and the description of “the din & racket of the trenches...” and especially the note added,

stpresumably by my grandmother, “Death came Feb 21 ”. It seemed obvious to me that it was not a love letter so I had always assumed that

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brother of a friend or neighbour.

I had often thought about the letter, especially around Armistice Day and wondered where his name was being read out and, after attending the service in our village church with my son in 2012, I decided to do some research. My son Chris is doing GCSE history which includes

th20 Century conflict so we thought we would see what we could find out, armed with Frank's name, rank and number. The more I found out the more astonished I became and determined to find out even more. I was so pleased to be able to buy the book Wildfowling at Wells, especially as it contains a photograph of Frank. I would very much like to discover how my grandmother came to know, and to be corresponding with Frank.

My Grandmother Florence Weth was 19 when Frank died and was living with her parents Ernest and Louisa Weth and older sister Constance (Connie) in Hornchurch. My Gt. Grandfather worked for Messrs French & Jupp, Maltsters in Bishopsgate; I understand the family moved out of London to Hornchurch during the 1914/18 war possibly because my Gt. Gt. Grandfather was German, having been born in Bavaria in about 1833 and, of course, the family name was German in origin and there was a lot of suspicion surrounding families with perceived German connections although by the outbreak of war my Gt. Gt. Grandfather was dead. I believe that my Gt. Grandmother Louisa Weth ran a sweetshop in Hornchurch and that her younger daughter (my grandmother Mick) helped her is this how they met Frank? I believe that my Gt. Grandfather Ernest Weth was interested in art as I have prints of a couple of pictures he painted so they may have struck up a conversation?

I obtained a copy of The Gamekeeper's Boy about the life of Pat Cringle who was a friend of Frank's who joined up into the Sportsman's Battalion with him. In his book he describes going to a training camp

rdnear Romford which may have been Hare Hall Camp the 23 Battalion certainly trained there so this may be the camp Pat refers to. If this is the case, is it reasonable to suppose that at some point during his stay at the camp Frank visited the sweetshop and struck up a conversation with the owner and her daughter? I think the co-incidence of my Gt.

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Grandparent's proximity to the camp is too great to ignore; I know that later in the war the site became a military hospital for wounded New Zealand soldiers and that my Gt. Aunt, Connie, became engaged to one of them who sadly returned to the front and was killed in action. It is

;amazing that the unfinished letter eventually found its way to Mick was it sent on by Ethel when she received his belongings from France?

My Grandmother died in 1973 and although she told me many stories, particularly of her experiences in WW2, she never told me about Frank . I had also asked my late father but he did not recognise the name Southgate either, as I had wondered if Mick had kept in touch with his widow Ethel. My grandmother was a prolific letter writer and I can well imagine that she would have enthusiastically embraced the call to write to “our boys” in France to boost morale and I can understand why she would have been unable to part with an unfinished letter which found its way to her from the battlefields of France. My father's cousin, has done a lot of family research and knew about the proximity of Hare Hall Camp to the family home in Hornchurch and was able to tell me about the wounded New Zealander but he had never heard of Frank Southgate either.I would welcome any information or theories any of your members may be able to contribute to my little mystery, particularly anything that would explain how he knew 19 year old Mick Weth. I will once again say a prayer for Frank on Armistice Day but, for the first time, I will know where he is commemorated on a memorial and where in the country his name is being read out. At the time of WW1 my Grandmother did not have any connections with East Anglia however after WW2 she moved to Suffolk with her husband and two sons. Both sons married and settled in East Anglia; my mother was from an old Suffolk family and I was born in Ipswich. Although my parents moved about as far West as they could when I was a child I have always loved the big skies of East Anglia and have visited Norfolk and Wells several times in recent years next time I am in Wells I will visit the War Memorial and pay my respects to Frank.

Paula HarringtonAny information or further theories on this (or any other story) would be welcome. Ed.

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Archaeological Evaluation at Festival Amusements

(AKA Gray's Arcade) The Quay,

We know that Wells has been extensively populated for over a thousand years. Two hundred years ago, in terms of population, the town was one of the largest settlements in Norfolk. As today, Norwich, King's Lynn, and Great Yarmouth were considerably larger, but unlike today, Dereham with fewer than 10% more people was the only other place that surpassed Wells. For various reasons, the town has always occupied a small footprint and therefore very few spots in the central core have remained empty for long. Over the centuries many sites have a history of almost one building piled on top of its predecessor with the current manifestation perhaps hiding several previous incarnations underneath. Until relatively recently speedy reuse of the land was of more importance than any historical investigations, and hence today no site in central Wells is likely to be redeveloped without an archaeological investigation being a condition of any planning consent.

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So it was with the Festival Amusements site, which suffered a fire in January 2005 and several years of negotiation, before finally being sold in 2011. In late 2011 archaeologists moved on to the site, and the following is reproduced with the kind permission of Novus Homes Limited, the site's new owner.It would be nice to reveal an exciting find something Roman, or Saxon perhaps, because evidence from some of the few other local sites explored certainly seems to show that Wells had been inhabited during those periods. Unfortunately, nothing turned up which could not have been expected from the position of the site. The earliest finds were cobbled and brick surfaces dating to the medieval period. There was certainly continuous use of the site from that time on, with evidence of a pathway on a different alignment to the current one, suggesting, the archaeologists say, that it was laid down before the quayside was remodelled in late medieval times. At one time, at least

thpart of the area seemed to be a yard associated with the 16 century merchant's house which still exists to the south, now known as Crugmeer. In later centuries the area probably contained warehousing, particularly coal storage from the deposits found. As this is being written, the replacement building for the Festival Amusements site, intended to be retail units and flats, is nearing completion. The future usage of this location ref lects the changing requirements of a site which we can now confirm has been occupied for around a thousand years at least.

Keith Leesmith

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Feilden and the American Civil War:

Further detail

It has not been unusual for foreign nationals to be attracted to fight on one side or the other in civil wars, encouraged by a variety of motivations. It was true in the Spanish Civil War, and is currently the case in Syria for example. It was certainly true in the American Civil War of 1861-1864. One third of those fighting on the Unionist side were recorded as being foreign born. These foreigners were a mixture of longer term immigrants, especially those leaving Ireland after the 1848 Potato Famine, and those specifically attracted to the cause and the opportunities presented by either the North (Unionist) or the South (Confederate) sides in the conflict. Henry Wemyss Feilden, later resident in Wells between 1880 and 1902, signed up to fight in the South.As Keith Leesmith outlined in the WHLG Newsletter No 54 of Autumn 2013, H.W. Feilden was the second son of a baronet, one of seven children. Sir William Henry Fielden Bt was a prosperous mill owner in Blackburn in Lancashire. His son was educated at Cheltenham College

ndand then joined the Black Watch, the 42 Royal Highlanders, at the age of 18, serving in India and then China. Like one of his brothers he intended initially to be a career soldier. However, in 1860 he sold his British Army commission and turned to a possible career in business, but in the event, the conflict across the Atlantic was offering more immediate prospects of fame and fortune.There was money to be made from investing in or participating in blockade running, to export bales of cotton out of Southern US ports while evading the blockading Northern war ships. The price of cotton had risen sharply with the onset of the civil war, to the consternation of both mill owners and politicians in Great Britain. The Southern States were the dominant source of supply of raw cotton to what was then a booming Lancashire cotton spinning and textile industry, something of which the Feilden family would have been very much aware. Young

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Feilden crossed to New York in 1862 and made his way south to South Carolina, to the city of Charleston, then one of the premier cotton export ports. Once there he became convinced by the justice of the Southern cause for independence and decided to join up in the Confederate army. On a visit in February 1863 north to Richmond, the Confederate capital in Virginia, he met the famous General 'Stonewall' Jackson and made a favourable impression while hoping for a posting there. However he was assigned to a position under another famous southern general, Pierre G.T. Beauregard, to serve in the defence of Charleston as a staff officer, Assistant Adjutant General.

Feilden has been recorded as being 'handsome and personable', and was well received in Charleston society, joining in the general local belief that 'it would be over by Christmas'. In June 1863 an attractive woman came to his office seeking a military pass to visit her half brother. This was Julia McCord, noted as a 'Southern Belle', visiting Charleston from Greenville S.C. She was the daughter of the late judge and Congressman David James McCord, known as “Handsome Davy”, previously a powerful political figure in South Carolina in the eighteen thirties. Julia and Henry were immediately attracted to one another. This is known because their correspondence with each other over the next three years is held in an archive of the South Carolina Historical Society and has recently been edited into book form*. The 'dramatic love match', reflected in the correspondence, resulted in a marriage in Greenville in October 1864, a marriage that lasted 57 years, including of course the time the couple spent together as residents of West House in Wells.In 1865 the war started to turn against the South. In late 1864 the Yankee General William T. Sherman had started his famous march with an army of 100,000 men across Georgia, burning and laying waste on the way. (Many will remember the scenes of a burning Atlanta in the film 'Gone with the Wind'). However, having captured the port of Savannah south-west of Charleston, he turned north before he

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reached the city in order to avoid the difficult swampy terrain of the eastern area of South Carolina. Charleston in the meantime was attacked and bombarded from the sea by Unionist forces. Reflecting the situation in Charleston, with the numbers of fighting men reduced by battle wounds, disease and desertions, Feilden was sent on a mission to Florida to recruit additional men. This is recorded in the correspondence with Julia, and he returned at the end of 1864 to a very battered city, with many refugees from surrounding areas. Fort Sumter in the middle of the harbour estuary was a key target. The taking of this federal fort by secessionist southern forces in April 1861 had been a key trigger to the overall conflict.

In early 1865 the Southern Confederate Army decided to leave Charleston. The stores of cotton and the ships in the harbour were burned and, with Feilden, the Army left the city in February. Pressed by Northern troops, at the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina on March 20th Feilden was wounded in his arm and was unable to fight

thfurther. His war had ended. Shortly after on the 9 of April General Robert E. Lee, overall southern army commander, surrendered at Appomattox in Virginia, following the fall of Richmond on April 2nd to General Ulysses S. Grant.

Feilden was free to return to Greenville and Julia. His part of the southern army, under General Joe E. Johnson, had surrendered to Sherman. The young couple then tried to set up a business, in Orangebury S.C. This was not successful and they decided to come to England. Henry was re-instated in the British Army, serving as paymaster in the Royal Hussars. His subsequent considerable fame came as an Arctic explorer and naturalist, as Keith has described.

* W.Eric Emerson and Karen Stokes (eds), A Confederate Englishman: The Civil War Letters of Henry Weymss Feilden, University of South Carolina Press, 2013.

Peter Townroe

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Membership Renewal - last call!

Many thanks to all those who have renewed their membership. If you haven’t within a short time of receiving this newsletter, we will assume that you no longer wish to be a member and do not want to receive future newsletters. Membership fees remain the same for yet another year at £10 for individual membership and £15 for two people at the same address (they will share their newsletters!). People who are within reach of the Granary Theatre will save money on the talks with an annual membership, since the fees for attending talks remain at £1 for members and £2.50 for non-members. If you would like to renew your membership you may do so in one of the following ways:

Pay at the Granary Theatre whilst attending a talk.

Put a cheque with a note of your name and address into an envelope addressed to WLHG Membership Renewals, 31 Dogger Lane, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, NR23 1BE

Pay electronically straight to our bank account at Norwich & Peterborough Building Society: account Wells Local History Group: Sort Code 08-60-81: Account Number37602984 . In this case, we would appreciate it if you could e-mail the treasurer with a copy to the secretary advising us that you have done so:

Treasurer ophwells@yahoo.co.uk

Secretary keith@leesmith.co.uk

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TALKS PROGRAMME 2014

January - No meeting

5 February 7.30pm Charlotte CrawleyNineteenth century Norwich Painters

5 March 7.30pm David YarhamPrimitive Methodism in North Norfolk

2 April 7.30pm Neil StoreyNorfolk in World War II - a social history

7 May 7.00pm Annual General Meeting7.30pm Ian Groves

Deserted villages of Norfolk

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3 September 7.30pm TBANorfolk in the First World War

1 October 7.30pm Alun HowkinsThe 1923 Agricultural Labourer’s Strike

5 November 7.30pm Sally FestingTravelling Showmen of Norfolk

3 December 7.30pm Sally FrancisSaffron growing in North Norfolk

Printed by Norfolk Central Printers, 2a Maryland, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1LY - 01328 711220 - aa@ncprint.co.uk