Category: Norfolk Annals

King Edward VI died, aged just 15. A vicious succession battle soon began.

A desperate battle was fought on the Suffolk coast. Landguard Fort, south of Felixstowe, was attacked by the formidable forces of the Dutch Republic.

The city of Norwich opened its gates to Geoffrey Lister’s rebels. This all happened during what is now known as the ‘Peasants’ Revolt’.

Whig Prime Minister Earl Grey’s bid to widen the parliamentary franchise to the middle classes had been fought tooth and nail in the Commons and the Lords.

Renowned as the last English warrior to successfully oppose William the Conqueror and his Norman soldiers, Hereward the Wake’s tale is seeped in legend.

With Britain at war with Napoleonic France, invasion fears were growing. By the spring of 1805 the country was braced.

The railways arrived in Norfolk. Thousands of people assembled at Thorpe Station, Norwich, to witness the departure of the first train at 10.30.

Smuggling was a constant problem along the east coast. Taxes on goods such as spirits and tobacco were hugely resented, and smugglers often had popular support.

Norwich was rocked by ‘The Great Blowe’. This city dust-up had its roots in growing discontent in the wake of the civil war.

Notorious highway Dick Turpin was hanged in York. These days we think of Turpin as a romantic figure, but in fact he was a violent and cruel individual.