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                    <text>Let's Celebrate!
A selection of images from Reepham Archive showing
various occasions when the town celebrated a special
event, not exclusively connected to royalty.
The series begins with Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
in 1887.
Other royal connections have included a visit by Queen
Mary in 1945, and a very early record in 1865 of a visit by
Edward Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria's son, who
became King Edward VII in 1901.
Compiled by Reepham Archive May 2022

RA/JDA/2022

�Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee

RA/JDA/2022

1887

�Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

1897

The morning broke with every prospect of a lovely day.
Services were held at the Wesleyan Chapel and also at the Hackford &amp;
Whitwell churches. A detachment of the E Company Norfolk Volunteer
Rifles, under Captain Collyer, fired a feu de joie in the Market Place.
Feu de joie :- Soldiers are lined up &amp; fire blank rounds into the air sequentially in rapid
succession, producing a "rat-tat-tat" effect.

By the kindness of Mr. J. J. Bishop of Kerdiston House, Reepham school
children were provided with a hot dinner &amp; tea. About 2 p.m., the Hackford
&amp; Whitwell school children with their teachers assembled in the market &amp;
sang some special hymns. Later there were sports on Mr. Brownsell's lawn
followed by a substantial tea.
Norfolk News 26 June 1897

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham's Velvet Ale

1865

In 1865 the Prince and Princess of Wales – the future King Edward VII &amp; Queen
Alexandra - made a visit to Gunton Park, the country home of Lord Suffield.
Returning to Sandringham the carriages were stopped, in order to change the horses at
the King's Arms Hotel in Reepham.

Whilst the horses were being changed, Lord Suffield
introduced Mr. Bircham to the Prince of Wales. His
Royal Highness was presented with a tankard of the
'Velvet Ale', for which Reepham has so long been
celebrated.
The Prince so much approved of the ale that he
expressed a wish to have more of it forwarded to
Sandringham.

RA/JDA/2022

�Come to Tea !
1935

An invitation to tea in the Sun Hotel Extension
Room to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of
George V &amp; Queen Mary in 1935.

RA/JDA/2022

�George V &amp; Queen Mary

Silver Jubilee

1935

George Cocking &amp; his wife outside his
shop in the Market Place.
(now Bay Tree Interiors)
RA/JDA/2022

�th

Coronation of George VI

May 12 1937

RA/JDA/2022

�Queen Mary visits Reepham

1945

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Shopping Week

1950

A few days of festivities to lighten the mood in 1950 when most things were still
on ration &amp; queues were a way of life.
RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Shopping Week

1950

Festivities included decorated forms of
every kind of transport beginning with a
grand parade through the town.

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Shopping Week

1950

Part of the grand parade passing Gibbs shop
RA/JDA/2022

�Coronation Day

1953
Allen's Coaches made two buses
available to transport people into
Reepham.
One was for Brandiston &amp; Booton,
the second for Kerdiston, Pettywell &amp;
Whitwell.
The first pick-up in Kerdiston was at
Mr. Wagg's Corner.

RA/JDA/2022

�Coronation Day Events

Coronation Day itself began with a service In
St. Mary's.
Rain did its best to spoil the day's celebrations
and events were frequently interrupted by
rain.
At 2 o'clock Stimpson's Piece was the setting
for a fancy dress parade followed by an
afternoon of sports events,
A children's tea at the Sun Hall was in two
sittings with children asked to bring their own
spoon!
RA/JDA/2022

1953

�Cover &amp; Picture from Children's Souvenir Book 1953

RA/JDA/2022

�Cover &amp; Portrait from Official Programme

RA/JDA/2022

1953

�Coronation Souvenirs

1953

RA/JDA/2022

�Strawberry Fayre

1975

A Royal British Legion event with the
promise of an appearance by
Lady Godiva, a stage coach hold-up
&amp; a tussle between Roundheads &amp;
Cavaliers.

RA/JDA/2022

�Queen Elizabeth II

Silver Jubilee 1977

Station Stores
decorated with
bunting, flags &amp;
souvenirs.

(now The Cutting
Station)
RA/JDA/2022

�Ben Stimpson meets the Queen
at the Norfolk Show

RA/JDA/2022

1986

�Reepham Gala

1991

Nancy Taylor
&amp;
Billy the Clown
RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Gala
In the rain!
1992

Pram Race

1990
RA/JDA/2022

�Charter Day
1998
The Lord of the Manor of
Hackford, Sir John de
Vaux, obtained a charter
to hold a weekly market
and annual fair in the fifth
year of Edward I, 1276-7,
making Reepham one of
the oldest market towns in
Norfolk.
RA/JDA/2022

�The Millennium banner being rescued by
the Fire Brigade!

RA/JDA/2022

�Queen's Diamond Jubilee

2012
3 June 2012
Bring &amp; Share Lunch
in the Town Hall
4 June 2012
Traditional Village Fete
at Stimpson's Piece
4 June 2012
Barbecue &amp; Bar
at the Scout Field
Lighting of the Beacon

RA/JDA/2022
RA/JDA/2022

�Modern celebrations
Reepham continues to find occasions to gather and celebrate :• Festival of Light in December
• Food Festival
• Summer Music Festival
• Classic Car &amp; Bike Festival
Now in 2022, as well as numerous events to celebrate the
Platinum Jubilee, the food &amp; the music festivals are back!

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Classic Cars &amp; Bikes Show

RA/JDA/2022

�Festival of Light

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Music Festival Returns in August 2022

RA/JDA/2022

�Reepham Food Festival returns in May 2022

RA/JDA/2022

�Let's Celebrate Compiled by Reepham Archive
RA/JDA/2022

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                <text>"Let's Celebrate!"&#13;
A presentation to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.&#13;
Selection of items from Reepham Archive describing various celebrations not solely connected to royalty. Many photographs appear as separate items on the website. A display was set up in the Bircham Centre during Jubilee Week and was supplemented with a Powerpoint type slide show.</text>
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WWI Display Boards

GB/REE/2203281600

��</text>
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                <text>8 pale blue boards 84 x 69 cms&#13;
plus a set of A4 copies </text>
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                <text>Extra large black storage box marked:- &#13;
Reepham Archive Exhibition 2014 WWI.</text>
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                <text>Exhibition collated by C. Peakome for the Reepham Archive commemorating the start of the First World War.&#13;
All the material came from the records held by the Bircham Centre and the Reepham Society.&#13;
Most of these are independently recorded on the Reepham Archive website in the WWI Collection.</text>
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July 2015

�����</text>
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                <text>"Making, Selling &amp; Servng in Reepham - Images from our Past"&#13;
&#13;
Reepham Archive, Reepham Society &amp; Gressenhall Museum combined to present an exhibition in the Bircham Centre on Sat. 18th July 2015.&#13;
The exhibition included, as well as a display of photographs &amp; documents, a large number of objects which were originally kept in the Memorabilia Room of Reepham Archive, a selection of saddlers &amp; harness makers tools and a collection of items found in Motts Pharmacy when it was based in what is now the Norfolk Farm Shop/Delicatessen.&#13;
Also presented were copies of advertisements from a Reepham Guide, probably dating from the 1920s, showing the wide variety of shops &amp; traders in the town.&#13;
Photographs of the exhibition were taken by John Tym &amp; a few are shown here.</text>
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                    <text>Soldiers in the Town

In the Market Pace

On Church Plain

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Cavalry arriving in Reepham
Passing Gibbs shop

.....then on through the Market Place

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Army Cyclists on parade in the Market Place

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Entertainment in the Market Place

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Reepham Town Hall transformed into a hospital ward

This item appeared in the Thetford &amp; Watton Times on 5 December 1914
transcribed on following page

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�REEPHAM
WOUNDED SOLDIERS - The Parish Hall is now occupied by wounded soldiers.
Under Dr. E. V. Perry's supervision, it has been transformed into an excellent hospital. The large room of the hall
has been comfortably fitted up as a hospital ward, containing at present twelve beds. The small room at the back
of the ward has been furnished as a sitting-room for convalescent soldiers, while the ante-room has been
comfortably fitted up as a nurses' sitting-room, and the whole is warmed by means of a hot water installation.
The Boy Scouts' Club-room, placed at the convenience of the local hospital authorities by the Scoutmaster, Mr.
Sam Bircham, affords an excellent kitchen, being close to the hospital. This has been fitted up with cooking
stoves and all culinary requisites. Thus equipped, the institution is complete with lavatories and bathroom.
Two trained nurses have been engaged, who will be assisted by nurses attached to the Eynsford Red Cross
Society. Miss S. Kendrew, who has been appointed matron, will be assisted by Miss Daisy Bruce.
Lady Grace Barry, as president of the Eynsford detachment of the Red Cross Society, and the Rev. W. A. Partridge,
who has undertaken the hon. secretary-ship, have rendered valuable assistance.
Dr. E. V. Perry has been appointed the resident medical attendant.
The patients are conveyed from Norwich in motor cars lent by local gentlemen.
The first batch of wounded arrived on Thursday, 26th inst.
[Sarah Kendrew was the daughter of John Kendrew who had purchased The Ollands in the 1880s.
Daisy Bruce was the sister of Agnes (Nan) Bruce. Agnes had married Samuel Bircham's son Francis in 1903.]

This second image of the parish hall was published in the British Farmers Red Cross Fund booklet published about 1917.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Veteran car with local connection still on the road
The Reepham Life 2018 Calendar for February showed recovering wounded soldiers from the First World War outside
Reepham Town Hall, then known as Hackford Parish Hall.

Although we could not identify any of the soldiers, we found out some interesting information
about the car in the foreground, AH222.
Due to the persistence of Reepham Archive volunteer Ann Middlemas we found that this car was
still in existence and was well looked after. It has competed in the London to Brighton Veteran Car
Run in more than 50 occasions since 1936.

The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run was first organised in 1896 to celebrate the Red Flag Repeal. In that year
the speed limit was increased from 4 mph on open roads and from 2 mph in towns to 14 mph.
To qualify for entry in the modern run, cars need to be have been built no later than 1905.
In the top photograph you can see the pannier baskets, still in evidence in the modern picture.
AH222 is a Peugeot Type 49 which left the Peugeot works in 1902.
The current owner tells us that it still has its original engine, wooden chassis and body – amazing for a car of its age
and it was capable of speeds up to 25 mph.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Outside Harrods in 2018

2019

At the start of the Veteran Car Run 2024

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Nurses

Evelyn Gibbs
Mabel Dewing

Evelyn Gibbs

Mabel Dewing

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Mabel Neale Dewing 1890-1974

Mabel was the younger daughter of Martin Luther Dewing
and his wife Annie.
A framed photograph in Reepham Archive is annotated
“Blanche Dewing” and has always been believed to be
accurately named.
British Red Cross records from WWI reveal that it was Mabel
Dewing, not her older sister Blanche, who worked at
Reepham VAD Hospital from January 1915, soon after the
first patients arrived to recuperate, until April 1919.
An article in the Downham Market Gazette in October 1917
listed all the hospital staff who had 'rendered valuable
service'.
This explains the 'Mentioned' entry at the bottom of Mabel's
Red Cross record.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Mabel Neale Dewing 1890-1974

3

By the time of the census in 1921 Mabel was a assistant matron at Homerton Training College, Cambridgeshire. Five years
later, on New Year's Eve Mabel was on board the Mantua, a P &amp; O ship sailing for Hong Kong. Her home address is given as
Brighton, Sussex. In Hong Kong she worked at the Diocesan Girls' School in Kowloon.

In 1928 the following notice appeared in the London &amp; China Express. Mabel had married the Rev. Charles Brodie Shann.
Charles had already spent time working for the Church Missionary Society, travelling extensively, and also, in the 1930s, taking
posts in Yorkshire. They returned to Hong Kong in 1945 where Charles was Archdeacon of Victoria.

In 1947 Charles and Mabel returned to England again, first living in Yorkshire then finally taking up residence in Salisbury
when Charles was appointed as Vicar of Farley with Pitton.

This news appeared in the Western Gazette in September 1947.

Charles died in Salisbury in 1960.

Mabel's life ended in a nursing home in Sheringham in 1974.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Mabel Neale Dewing 1890-1974

2

Below is Mabel's admission record when she started at St. Mary's School on Norwich Road in 1895.
Her older sister, Blanche is entered a few rows above.

Entry from the National School Admission Registers &amp; Log-Books1890
In 1911 Mabel was living with her parents in Reepham Moor and helping her father in his grocery shop.

England &amp; Wales Census 1911
Her father Martin Dewing ran a grocery shop in Reepham Moor.
The photograph shows the row of cottages in Reepham Moor with
adverts for Robin Starch and Zebra Grate Polish.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Blanche Dewing 1886 - 1950
In 1911 Blanche was registered as a school teacher boarding in the household of postman Robert Leeds in St. Nicholas Street,
Dereham.

Ten years later she was living in Shalford, near Guildford in Surrey, teaching at Gosden House School, Bramley. The building
had been bought in 1919 with money bequested by Lord Wandsworth to provide education for orphans “with an agricultural
background” and opened as Gosden House School in November 1920 with a roll of 17 children.

Blanche was still a teacher at Gosden House in 1939, living in Kerry Cottage.

Blanche's last recorded address from about 1947 was in Brighton, where she may have retired. Later, presumably needing
care she became a resident at a nursing home in Salisbury, near where her sister Mabel was living.

from The Surrey Advertiser

from Probate Records
RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Love in the air at WWI hospital

Frank and Ethel Leiper, pictured probably in 1918 to celebrate their marriage
Previously, the Reepham Archive had no records of any of the soldiers who came to Reepham to recover
from their wounds during the First World War. There are several photographs that record 30 or more faces, but no
names.
In 2022 we were intrigued and pleased to receive an enquiry: “Did we have any records about Frank Leiper and Ethel
Keeley who met in Reepham during World War I?” This was soon followed with further details and photographs.
We learnt that Ethel died young, only 36, but her daughter, now 98, wanted to learn more about her parents. This set
the Archive volunteers on a flurry of research to find out more.
Their grandson, who sent the initial enquiry, visited Reepham the summer of 2023 and spent time walking around the
town, visiting Hackford House, the gardens, the Market Place, the town hall and the churches that his grandparents
would have known more than 100 years ago.
We found that Ethel Keeley was listed in the information given with a photograph of all the VAD (Voluntary Aid
Detachment) hospital staff taken in the gardens of Hackford House (the present-day Bircham Centre, Market Place,
Reepham). Sadly, she is named as the night sister and must have been off-duty when the photograph was taken as none
of the nurses look like her.
RA/WW1/JDA/2024
Red Cross records confirm that Ethel was indeed engaged as a night sister from October 1916 until June 1918 in Reepham VAD Hospital.

On her record she is named as Mrs. Ethel Leiper. The stamped date of 31 May 1919 tells us when these record cards were finalised
ready for filing away and by that date Frank and Ethel were married.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Frank Leiper 1888-1960
Frank’s army records show he was enlisted with the Glasgow Pals Battalion in January 1915 and sent overseas.
He was wounded twice, in 1916 and 1917, and it is not known after which incident he came to Reepham.
Serving in the 17th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry, with the rank of sergeant, Frank was awarded the Distinguished
Conduct Medal in 1917, and demobilised and transferred to the Army Reserve in 1919.
We could not find a face to match Frank in any of our photographs but we did discover that they married in
Edinburgh in 1918 and that Ethel gave her occupation as certificated nurse at the Red Cross Hospital, Reepham, Norfolk.
Frank’s occupation is shown as a farmer but he is still recorded as a company sergeant major of the Highland Light Infantry.
Information above compiled by Ann Middlemas

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Ethel's first 'pink card' giving June 1915 as the starting date, probably
as a temporary nurse.
A Sheffield address is given with a later address in Warrington.
Ethel grew up in Sheffield. After their marriage Frank and Ethel lived in
Warrington where Ethel died in 1926 after having had three children.
Frank married a second time to Ethel's younger sister Minnie.
Frank was a credit draper - Items of drapery would have been bought
on credit from the drapery shop and he was responsible for collecting
the weekly payments.

Frank and Ethel's Marriage Record in January 1918

Medal Citation &amp; Card for the Distinguished Conduct Medal

1914-15 Star was awarded for service in France or
Flanders between 23 November 1914 and 31 December
1915
Victory Medal was awarded for service between 5
August 1914 and 11 November 1918. It was issued to
individuals who received the 1914 and 1914-15 Stars and
to most individuals who were issued the British War
Medal.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Extract from the Sparham Deanery &amp; District Magazine

November 1915

�Residents of Hackford House
In 1891 Hackford House was occupied by John Redman Spencer, his wife Harriet and his two daughters Fanny and Florence.
John was a farmer who had farmed at Hall Farm, Guestwick for 22 years and also at Mill Farm, Great Witchingham for 5 years.
All the stock and related implements from Great Witchingham were put up for auction in the autumn of 1889. Harriet died in
1908 and was buried in Hackford Cemetery and John died the following year. By 1911 Fanny and Florence were living together
in Norwich.
In 1910 the Eastern Daily Press published details of the sale of a house in Hackford,
described as in the occupation of the Misses Spencer.
HACKFORD-BY-REEPHAM
Within 10 minutes' walk of Great Eastern
Railway station and 11/2 miles from Whitwell
Station, and 12 miles from Norwich.
A substantially built
FAMILY RESIDENCE
facing the Market Place of Reepham, with small
and secluded Garden, Lawn, Shrubbery, and
Vinery, Stabling for 6 horses, Motor and Carriage
Houses, Barn, Fowls' House.
The house is very conveniently situated,
commodious, with large lofty bedrooms, and in
good, tenantable repair.
In the occupation of the Misses' Spencer.
Early possession can be arranged.
Auction on Saturday, September 10th
Royal Hotel Norwich
In the Norfolk News of November 1910 Samuel Bircham chaired a meeting proposing the the formation of a Boy Scout Troop
in Reepham. He had recently bought Hackford House and intended to make part of it into a Boy Scouts' club room. Samuel
had already engaged an Assistant Scoutmaster ready to begin at the end of the month, and he asked for the town of Reepham
to find 15 shillings a week for a Scout Master.

In response to this article in the Norfolk News
Samuel wrote a letter which appeared in the
Eastern Daily Press a few days later, emphasising
that it was the offer of the use of a room for the
scouts rather than a 'home'.
"I do not propose a 'Home', but a kind of clubroom, where the boys may meet, play games, and
receive instruction, which may lead them to pass
tests in various qualifications, handicrafts, etc.,
such as are likely to be of value to them in their
future careers."
He adds that a portion of the house will provide a
residence for the Assistant Scoutmaster.
Finally he gives his address as the Old Brewery
House.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�This photograph shows the Hackford Troop of scouts posed outside Hackford House in 1911 and
includes Samuel Bircham himself. The notice states that the club room is open daily from 4 p.m. to 8 p.pm.

The 1911 census of England and Wales took place on 2nd April. The residents occupying eight rooms are Jemima Bruce and
her daughter Margaret. She is 58 years old and Margaret is 35.
They have very different birth places. Jemima gives her birthplace as Port Glasgow, Renfrew, Scotland, and Margaret was born
in Ramsey on the Isle of Man. They have one living-in female servant, Mary Douglas from Cawston, and Jemima states that she
has Private Means.
The crossed out numbers also reveal that Jemima has been, or would have been married for 36 years and that she has had 4
children, with three still living.
How have this mother and daughter ended up in Reepham, living in an imposing house, with garden and stabling?
Where were they in 1901?
RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�The Bruce Family
Both Alexander Bruce and his wife Jemima (nee King) originally came from Scotland, Alexander's family from Banff and
Jemima's from Port Glasgow. By 1871 Jemima's family was resident on the Isle of Man. Alexander and Jemima were married
in Douglas in 1874 and had three daughters, Margaret (known as Daisy), Agnes(known as Nan), and Dorothy.
In the 1901 England &amp; Wales Census we find Jemima Bruce, widow, as a visitor at 20 Campbell Road in Boscombe, near
Bournemouth in Hampshire. The residents here are single sisters Sophia and Charlotte Robinson. They are both in their fifties
and are financially independent. Charlotte's birthplace is given as Douglas, Isle of Man. Also with Jemima is her daughter
Dorothy, 5 years old, born Douglas, Isle of Man. Jemima has recorded that she is living on her own means and was born in
Scotland.

So, where are Margaret and Agnes in 1901?

Margaret Campbell Bruce age 25 and Agnes Catherine Bruce age 22, both born in the Isle of Man, (both wrongly entered as
daughters to Thomas Attoe) are living on their own means in Reepham Market Place with a living-in servant Winifred Cornall
age 17, from Bintry. As they are next door to Ford's the baker it can be assumed that Margaret and Agnes are staying in the
Old Brewery House.
Tracing the family group, i.e. Jemima Bruce and her three daughters, back to Onchan on the Isle of Man, gives us a few more
clues. The 1891 census shows a family headed by Alexander Bruce with wife Jemima, and daughters Margaret and Agnes.
There is a visitor Emily Wilson, from the Isle of Man and two live-in servants. The youngest daughter, Dorothy was not born
until 1895.

But what brought this family to Norfolk and what was the connection with Reepham?

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Alexander Bruce had worked in Scotland for the City of Glasgow Bank before taking up a post on the Isle of Man at the Bank
of Mona, a branch of the Glasgow bank. In the 1880s he became the manager of Dumbell's Bank. Mismanagement of loans
and investments led to the failure of the bank and a financial crisis for the Isle of Man during 1899/1900. Many leading
financiers on the island were made bankrupt, including Alexander.
Dumbell's Bank Failure
Death of Mr. Alexander Bruce
Mr. Alexander Bruce, Justice of the Peace, late chairman of the Isle of Man Tramways,
and manager of Dumbell's Banking Company Limited, died at two o'clock on Saturday
after a long and painful illness at his residence in the island.
The deceased was the head of many important Manx enterprises. The remarkable
development of electric traction in the island is chiefly due to him, and he took a leading
part in public loans for the Manx Government and the Douglas Corporation previous to
the lamentable failure of Dumbell's Bank, which has carried a crop of disasters in its
train. The prosecution instituted against him along with other officials in connection with
Dumbell's Bank, was recently abandoned in consequence of the hopeless state of his
health.
from the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 21 July 1900
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Reepham Connection
Researching Francis Richard Samuel Bircham (1881-1941), the son of Samuel Bircham, the following information was found.
After attending Aysgarth School in Yorkshire, Francis went to Eton College where he took 'extras' like Electricity and Physics.
He spent a short time at Freiburg University in Germany and during college holidays (1895-97) he worked at the Nine Elms
Locomotive Works.
In 1838 the London and Southampton Railway Company opened its terminus at Nine Elms. The line was extended to
Waterloo in 1848 and Nine Elms became the site of a goods yard and locomotive works. The site was responsible for the
repair &amp; construction of steam locomotives.
Francis's grandfather, Francis Thomas Bircham (1810-1883) was the original solicitor to the London and Southampton Railway
Company, which later became the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and Francis's father Samuel Bircham took the
position until his retirement in 1910.
Francis was a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and his CV has the following entry :-

During his time on the Isle of Man Francis would doubtless have met Alexander Bruce and his family.
After the years of financial troubles and ill-health Alexander's widow Jemima and her daughters may have been offered a
place of sanctuary by Francis's father Samuel. There must have been a social and a romantic connection since, in 1903, Francis
married Agnes Catherine Sinclair Bruce in Reepham.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Bruce Family Portraits

Alexander Bruce

Jemima Bruce

Margaret Campbell Bruce

Margaret Campbell Bruce &amp; Agnes Catherine Sinclair Bruce

In 1903 Agnes married Samuel Bircham's son
Francis.
By 1911 Mrs. Jemima Bruce was living in
Hackford House with her daughter Margaret.
Agnes is with her husband in Hampshire, but
returned to Reepham to live in the Old Brewery
House until her death in 1969. Agnes was always
called Nan, or Mrs. Nan Bircham. Her daughter
Ann continued living in Reepham. Ann died in
2006 and is buried in Salle churchyard.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Wallace King

Wallace King was a well-known furniture store based in Norwich. By 1914 a branch had opened in Reepham, using rooms in
Hackford House and buildings on Back Street which are now the takeaway and The Granary.
During the First World War these buildings were used as a kitchen/utility for the hospital.
Wallace King finally closed the Reepham branch in 1919.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�Images showing advertising boards fixed to the front of Hackford House and
a door which presumably gave access to a showroom/office on the ground floor.

The boards are advertising furniture, bedding, upholstery, picture frames, bedsteads, linoleum, carpets etc.

Cropped from a postcard view towards the Market Place from Dereham Road.

RA/WW1/JDA/2024

�</text>
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                    <text>Links etc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOaMbTRxWY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySaswgWFy0c

• Network name - BTHub6-N7JN
• Password - AedhGNw6MkwM

�Reepham Caring
for the Wounded
in WW1
Do you know the role
Reepham played?

�The Bircham
Centre

��The Bircham Centre – known as Hackford House
DURING THE GREAT WAR
Of 1914-19 this building was established and maintained
as a hospital for British sick and wounded.

The Army Council, in the name of the Nation thank those
who have rendered to it this valuable and patriotic
assistance in the hour of its emergency and they desire
also to express their deep appreciation of the wholehearted attention which the staff of this hospital gave to
the patients who were under their care.
The war has once again called upon the devotion and
self-sacrifice of British men and women and the Nation
will remember with pride and gratitude their willing and
inestimable service.

�The Bircham
Centre’s role
• Storeroom
• Kitchen (could have been in
outhouse buildings (now
Chinese Takeaway)…
• Recreation
• Garden area for outdoor time
• Veranda was built alongside
the garden wall

�The Bircham Centre

��The Bircham Centre

���The
Town Hall

��Just an aside about that car…
• The Archive have traced it
• 1905 Peugeot
• Completed the London to
Brighton run over 50
times
• Still in running order

��The staff…
• Commandant
• Medical Officer
• Nursing staff:
•
•
•
•

Sister in Charge
18 Red Cross Nurses
Nurse for Massage Treatment
14 Members of the Men’s
Detachment of the Eynsford
Division of the Red Cross Society

�The WW1 Nurse
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOaMbTRxWY

��The patients…
• First patients arrived 26
November 1914
• By December 2015, 127
patients had been received
• 20 beds
• Sent to Reepham from Norfolk
&amp; Norwich, Lakenham Military,
Norfolk War and Colchester
Hospitals
• Could originally have come
from anywhere in the UK.

�The Wounded Serviceman
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySaswgWFy0c

�How the Hospital was funded
• Money raised largely by donations to the Red Cross
• Public Appeal by Queen Victoria at the outbreak of war:
• “As president of the British Red Cross Society I appeal for your help…
Much money will be needed and many gifts if we are to faithfully
discharge our trust and be able to say when all is over that we have done
all we could do for the comfort and relief of our sick and wounded. The
heart of the great British nation will surely and generously go out to those
who are so gallantly upholding the cause of their country.”

• By the end of the war, £21,885,035 had been raised
• £20,058,355 spent on hospitals, medicine, clothing, grants and
care for the sick and wounded.

�The British Farmers Red Cross Fund
• Aimed to raise
£500,000
• Funds for
many aspects
of the War
Effort
• Agricultural
Sales
• Raised a total
of £1,024,808
19s 2d.

�Red Cross Pearl Appeal
• Ladies were asked to donate pearls to
raise funds
• Donors from all over the world sent
contributions
• Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra, Princess
Mary and Princess Victoria all gave pearls
• Single pearls were donated in memory of
lost family members
• 3,597 pearls were donated
• Raised over £84,000 at the sale in 1918

Image: British Red Cross
Museum and Archives

�Running a hospital in WW1
• Lots of different roles…
• Listed in https://vad.redcross.org.uk/

�VAD = Voluntary Aid Detachment
• Organised by the Red Cross
• Mostly Voluntary Roles
• Covered both medical and domestic
roles
• Duty of those not serving on the front
line…

�Let’s look again… Who do we have here…?

�Commandant: Lady Grace Barry

�Medical Officer in Charge: Dr Edward Perry

�Nurse: Evelyn Gibbs

�The Gibbs Family
• Gibbs Ironmongers
• Traded for over 200
years
• Finally closed in
1967

�Edward Gibbs Senior

�Edward Gibbs Jnr

�Edward Gibb Jnr
• The cap and shoulder badges
suggest he went on to join the
Army Ordnance Corps
• He was awarded the British and
Victory Medals, indicating that
he served overseas after 1916
• His Service Record didn’t survive
the blitz

�Nurse: Mabel (or Blanche?) Dewing

�Nurse: Ethel Leiper

Did she follow her wounded
sweetheart to Reepham?

�Sara Kendrew

�Nan Bircham

�Nurses: Sisters-in-Charge, Sisters, Night
Sisters, Masseuses

�Orderlies, Cooks, Washing Up…

�And some interesting descriptions…

�Reepham VAD Hospital: Red Cross Staff and
Volunteers during WW1
Commandant

2

Cook

4

Quartermaster

3

Odd Man

2

Medical Officer in Charge

1

Secretary and Orderly

1

Sister in Charge

2

Scrubbing

3

Sister

4

Charwoman - scrubbing

1

Night Sister

3

Daily Help

1

Nurse

37

Kitchen Help

4

Masseuse

3

Other

4

Orderly (one night a week)

15

Helper - Washing Up

4

General Help - Kitchen Work

1

95

�Some familiar local surnames…
Collison
Mee
Gurney
Peck
Eglington
Secker

Hawes
Eke
Frankland
Stimpson
Blyth
Perowne
– and many more

�Could someone in your family be in our
photos?

�Reepham Archive
• Valuable source of
local records and
images
• Can you add to the
story of Reepham
in WW1?

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                <text>Talk given by Brenda Gostling &amp; presentation by Janet Archer using materials &amp; resources from Reepham Archive as well as online information from the British Red Cross website. The presentation slides are shown here as the second item. The first slide gives links to two online videos, one of a VAD nurse, the second of a recuperating soldier being helped to dress. On display were photographs of Reepham Town Hall as a hospital ward, recuperating soldiers with nursing staff and military activity in the Market Place. Also included were biographical details for some of the nurses &amp; soldiers, the owner &amp; residents of Hackford House, &amp; the names of volunteers from the town who helped to run the hospital. </text>
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                    <text>Early Days
These images have been cropped from a set of original stereographs. Two images were mounted side by side and
viewed through a stereoscope with two eye pieces and a holder placed in front of the lenses creating an illusion of
3D. They gained popularity after the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition. These examples may date from the 1870s but
may be earlier as Johnson Cripps the chemist was already in residence by 1861 in what is commonly known as the
Bank Building.

Example of an original card, ready to be viewed

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Henry Edward Hawes (1863-1957)

In this photograph published in a local newspaper in 1955 Harry Hawes is pictured on the right pointing at the
sun dial with his stick. With him are Mr. R. Harmer and Mr. W. Freeston on the left, and Mr. Joe Piercy, Mr. and
Mrs. J. Higton and Mr. E. Barrett on the right. Harry was then 92 and a few years earlier he had written down
copious memories of Reepham in exercise books.
Harry Hawes died in 1957 age 94. His widow allowed the Rev. Paul Kelly to transcribe Harry's handwritten notes
and they were published in the parish magazine in instalments between Sept 1978 &amp; Jan 1980. The title was
"A True Story" and describes the houses, their occupiers and businesses in Reepham Market Place. A further
version is entitled "Past News" which begins with details of Reepham Moor and continues into the Market Place.
For each building he first gives the name of the current tenant, i.e. in the 1950s, before going on to his own
childhood recollections of previous residents in the 1870s and sometimes later. Short extracts from Harry's
writings were used as the basis for the Reepham Society publication "Harry Hawes' Walk".
Harry's descriptions and reminiscences from the 1870s help us to place people and families in particular
buildings and, together with other sources, e.g. censuses, commercial directories, electoral rolls, parish registers
assist in putting lives and events into chronological order, making the timeline of Reepham more
comprehensible.
An example of Harry's longhand script :-

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Marjorie Gibbs 1899-1992
Marjorie was the youngest child of Edward and Emma Gibbs. Her memories of her childhood have provided
us with valuable information about the people of Reepham, the shops and trades carried on in the Market
Place in the years immediately before, during and after the First World War.

Edward &amp; Emma Gibbs with
their three children,
Edward , known as Ned,
Marjorie in the centre and
Evelyn on the right.

Marjorie's father Edward ran an Ironmonger and seed business from the premises now occupied by
Reepham Antiques and Parson's Estate Agents. The Gibbs business in Reepham began in 1888 and closed
on December 31st 1967. In 1920 Edward Gibbs took his son Edward into the business and Marjorie herself
became a partner in 1955.

Edward and Emma
Gibbs with daughters
Evelyn and Marjorie late 1920s

By 1939 Edward and Emma with the two daughters Evelyn an Marjorie were living
at The Laurels on Dereham Road. This house was sometimes called Veranda House
and had been built by Thomas Lincoln, a relation of Harry Hawes. Marjorie was
still living in The Laurels at the time of her death in 1992.
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Wesley Piercy (1917-2014)
The Piercy family can be traced back in Reepham to the first
part of the eighteenth century and Wesley was related to
several other Reepham families, e.g. Timbers, Kiddell..
Wesley had no wish to live anywhere else and apart from his
war service lived in Reepham all his life.
During the 1970’s a group of historians and archaeologists
interested in Reepham’s history, ran a number of Workers’
Educational Association courses in the town, led by lecturers
David Yaxley, Chris Barringer and Richard Joby.
Subsequently Wesley passed on his researches into the town’s history to local organisations, including the
Reepham Society. Some of those talks are included in "My Town", published by the Reepham Society in 2007.
Wesley was a lifelong Methodist and also wrote "The Story of Reepham Methodist Chapel", a comprehensive
history of the Methodist Chapel which stands on Station Road at the Kerdiston Road turning.
An account of Wesley's war experiences is included in the BBC2 People’s War Website under parts 1-4, A Baker at War.

Wesley started work at the Old Bakery in 1934; the proprietor then
being Mr. Albert Reeder and his son Walter. Neither father nor son had
been long in the baking trade. Mr. Reeder senior had been manager of
a shoe shop in Cromer and Walter had been a grocery assistant.
The most experienced person working there was Mr. Alfred Burrage, a
pensioner who worked part time to supplement his pension. He was
the son of a master baker and knew the baking trade thoroughly.
In the eighteenth century the bakery was run by the Scurll family who
figure in Woodforde’s "Diary of a Country Parson" The servant whom
the parson calls Briton – Brettingham Scurll - was the son of the baker.

Photograph taken when Wesley
was stationed in Alexandria
during World War II

Wesley's mother Lucy with her
younger sister Elsie

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Changes on the West Side of the Market Place

Before 1903
Hall the Saddlers &amp; George Fisher's Grocery &amp; Drapery
The flat front on the saddler's building became unsafe and was
replaced by the stepped roof we see today.

Above :Hall the Saddlers with its altered roof, railings &amp;
the cottage next door with a white picket fence.
Left :The cottage in the 1870s with its fence &amp; gate.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Late 1920s - Early 1930s
John Ebenezer Hall outside his shop.
The saddlers shop now has a central entrance. The
railings have been replaced with guard rails.
Although it is still named as a saddlers a notice
board on the left advertises resources for
motorised transport - Rigid Screens, Motor Hoods,
Celluloid Panels.
When John Hall retired he moved into the cottage
next door until he died in 1955.

Late 1920s - Early 1930s
View showing the projection on the right hand side of the 'Bank Building'
Harry Hawes writes about building this new door &amp; window to house a bank. It was a branch of Gurney's
until the merger in 1896. Barclay's eventually set up in the shop on the corner.

Gurneys Bank in the early 1920s

Barclays Bank in the 1930s
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Left :Barclays Bank in 1957. By 1991/2 the branch
had moved into the cottage but finally closed in
2000 and was replaced by a branch of HSBC.
Below :Two aerial views from the 1990s.
The first shows Barclays still in the corner
premises but the old 'bank projection' has been
removed.
The lower colour image shows that Barclays has
moved into the cottage premises.

The dormer on the cottage was removed sometime in the 1980s.
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�L. L. Skipper
Advertising carpets &amp; floor coverings

1980s

D. B. Attfield
Family Butcher offering bulk buying of meat for
your 'deep freeze'

The branch of HSBC opened in 2000

Left :- Scene after the ram-raid and theft of the ATM in
2012. It resulted in the branch closing for several months.
The HSBC in Reepham finally closed in October 2015.
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Some Reepham Shops in the 1920s

1

Harry Hawes says that In the 1870s a James Kirby ran the shop in
these premises. After a few months closure for re-fitting the new
tenant was Alfred Roy, father to the Roy brothers who set up Roys of
Wroxham. HIs tenancy was brief - Samuel Barnes was made bankrupt
in July 1871 and Alfred Roy moved across the Market Place to the
shop where Kings the optician is now. James Kirby continued in the
re-fitted shop and was still there in 1881.
n the 1950s a Mr. Carman had the shop. It later became "The
Chimes" which dealt in antiques and had a tea shop as well.

In the 1920s Harry Swoish had a barber shop in the end part of
Fisher's building. A haircut cost 6d for a man and 4d for a boy.
Harry had had a colourful life in the army, joining when he was
18. He served in Mesopotamia and India and later in the First
World War.
Marjorie Gibbs recalls :- "The last house facing east was the
barber’s, complete with gay striped pole. This was kept by Mr.
Arthur Fowle, a prominent member of the local branch
of the Plymouth Brethren. This business was later taken by Mr.
Harry Swoish who remained there for many years."
Arthur Fowle came from West Barsham. In 1901 he was living in
Bawdeswell with his parents and brother and working as a farm
labourer. By 1921 he had moved away from Reepham to
Harpenden, Herts, still with a hairdressing business.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�2
William Utting took over the premises from Richard
Watts Austin in the early 1920s, shown by these
receipts from 1921/2

Wesley Piercy :"Next a butchers shop which Mr. W. Utting
took over from Mr. Watts Austin about
1923. Mr. Utting bought his bullocks and
pigs at Reepham cattle market and with
other local butchers slaughtered them
himself in the slaughter house on Station
Road, opposite the Methodist Chapel. His
slaughter man was Mr. Albert Fowle."

Marjorie Gibbs :"Next came the butcher’s shop, kept by Mr. R.
W. Austin. He had a tenor voice and sang in the
choir and he was another tradesman who was a
member of the parish council."

Harry Hawes :"In the 1870s this shop was occupied by William Hannant who
carried on business as a corn chandler &amp; also sold coal by the
hundred weights (at 1/- per hundred weight)."
In modern times it was a fish shop run by Mr. Wright &amp; is now
Diane's Pantry.
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�John Symonds (1734?-1815)
John Symonds, clock and watchmaker is the earliest resident found of the cottage that is now Motts
Pharmacy. He was the clockmaker to the diarist Parson Woodforde who lived at Weston Longville from 1776
until his death in 1803 and who made numerous interesting entries regarding Symonds over a period of time
including, on the 31st August 1776:
"Mr Symonds at Reepham brought home my new clock today and
put the same up, for which I paid him £6.6.0. It is a very neat clock
and I like it very much." (See Norfolk and Norwich Clocks &amp; Clockmakers,
edited by Clifford &amp; Yvonne Bird for further information).

Parson Woodforde's Reepham Connections
Parson James Woodforde was resident in Weston Longville from
1774 until his death in 1803. He had several connections to
Reepham, notably his long case clock made by John Symonds.
Visits to Reepham were made for the 'Generals' which were regular
ecclesiastical meetings, consisting of a church service followed by
meals at the Kings Arms (host Mr. Bell).
Woodforde's servant Briton was a Brettingham Scurll from Reepham.
Brettingham had relatives who were bakers, notably his younger
sister Lydia, recorded as a baker &amp; flour seller in the premises on
Church Street once known as Echo Antiques and a Thomas Scurll on
Back Street.
Parson Woodforde also records family
dinners with the Priest family in Reepham.
Richard Priest was rector of Reepham
from 1757 until his death in 1799. Richard
and his brother Robert often exchanged
hospitality with Parson Woodforde.
www.parsonwoodforde.org.uk

Right :A Symonds oak long case clock
offered in a Fine Art Sale in
July 2015 at Bearnes Hampton &amp;
Littlewood salerooms in Exeter,
Devon.

The face of a Symonds long case
clock showing the maker's name.
Found on a Spanish website.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�James Shreeve Woolmer (1789-1879)
The second clockmaker in the Market Place cottage is James Shreeve Woolmer who was also an auctioneer
and spent most of his life in Reepham, Norfolk. He was born in Yarmouth in 1789, married Marianne Hunt,
fathered 9 children, and passed away on 17th November 1879.

In 1814 John Symonds retired from business
&amp; handed over his trade to James Woolmer.

Courtesy of Holt Antique Furniture

Norfolk Chronicle 8 January 1814

James Woolmer was well regarded in the
town and in 1869 a special party was
given to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Norfolk News 20 March 1869

In November 1879 when
James died, a muffled peal of
bells was a reminder that he
had been a bell ringer for
many years
Norwich Mercury 22 November 1879

A memory from Harry Hawes:"Mr. Woolmer wore a tall hat and black frock coat. Every night at about four
o'clock you could see him on his way to the church to wind up the clock. One of
the weights was made of iron the other was made of lead. Each was suspended on
15 or 16 feet of rope. They each worked up and down a long box. One day the
ratchet of one of the weights got out of repair. The crank knocked the poor old
man and hurt him.
My mother with my help did the clock winding for a few months.
I remember seeing one of the brass weights the date 1760."

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�We have been provided with images of James Woolmer and his wife Marianne by Nick Gribble of Norfolk, a
direct descendant of the clock maker himself .
The first image shows the couple in about 1875 and may have been taken to celebrate their 60th wedding
anniversary. The second at the gate of their Market Place property in Reepham, Norfolk in about 1878.

Beautiful example of a Woolmer long case clock
Courtesy of Rose Barnes
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Robert Barber (1824-1913)

Downham Market Gazette 3 May 1913

Marjorie Gibbs recalls :"Next to the bank was Mr. Robert Barber, a watchmaker, a Crimean veteran, and a man
to be revered since he had been in “furrin’ parts”. He was a gentle, quiet man having a
white beard almost to his waist. My first recollection in connection with him is of a string
of watches hung across the centre of the sash window and of being taken to the house to
see his war medals and old shako."
"Advice to Young Men" from Robert Barber's interview for the Diss Express in 1913

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Old Bakery

This image shows the Old Bakery in the early 1900s before the Brewery House's frontage was extended.
William J Ford's name can be seen as well as an advert for Hovis.
In the 1840s and 1850s James Davidson was the baker &amp; confectioner occupying the bakery house with his
wife and daughter and employing two more bakers.
By 1871, and continuing into the 1890s, Alexander Ormiston, baker, confectioner and Wesleyan preacher,
was resident in the bakery house and James Davidson had retired to the adjoining house.

Harry Hawes remembers the Ormiston family in the 1870s :Now came the premises of Messrs. Ford this was tenanted by Mr. Ormiston, Baker
and Confectioner. .........On Sunday mornings at 10.45 all the family could be seen
going to church, Mr. Ormiston with tall silk hat and kid gloves, Mrs. Ormiston with
her claret coloured silk dress. (She had some lovely curls.)
Before 1894 William John Ford and his first wife Ellen with three children moved from Hampshire into Reepham. A
fourth child, Gladys, was baptised in Hackford Parish in November 1894. Sadly Ellen died two years later but William
was married again in 1897 to Eliza Holt and they had five more children. The youngest child was Walter Ford (19051980) who eventually took over the bakery business.
Marjorie Gibbs 1900-1920

Wesley Piercy 1920s-30s

Mrs. Clitheroe, an elderly lady with a lace cap worn
at an angle, lived in the next house.
Her granddaughter lived there also and was a friend
of my sister.
Miss Shingles followed Mrs. Clitheroe, a lady very
fond of children, often entertaining some of them
for tea.
Miss Kezia Scotton followed on. She was a popular
Red Cross nurse at the local war hospital during the
War.

The next house was occupied by Mrs. Knights and her
son Jack and later by Mr. and Mrs. Dick Ford.

Adjoining was the bakery owned by Mr. Ford. He
was twice married and had a large family. His bread
was renowned far and wide as the best bread in the
district, with a real home‐made texture.

Ford’s bakery was next. Mrs. Ford senior was a native
but Mr. Ford, I believe, came from Somerset. On
Wednesdays (Market day) they did teas. The Fords
were often delivering late at night after people were
in bed.
The bread was sometimes left in peculiar places. Dick
and Walter Ford were both bell ringers at
St. Michael’s.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Old Bakery

Walter Ford with his brother Richard and sister Elsie outside the bakery (1940s?)

from Walter's obituary in the parish magazine in 1980
Walter was a bell ringer for sixty years and tower captain from 1944 after William Wasey's death.

In the Snow 1947

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Old Bakery

In 1969 Winnie Rogers and her husband John arrived in The Old Bakery and embarked on serious alterations.

Below : The flour store before alterations began.

Above : One of the huge ovens in the yard. The much smaller
muffin oven was inside the working part of the house.

Shop entrance

Stabling for two horses
Shed on right demolished - replaced by garden

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Post Office

Left :- The Blue House

Above :- Bevan House

The Blue House, Market Place
Harry Hawes :- This was occupied by Miss Sands, a middle aged lady, she kept the Post Office and she kept two
clerks, Miss Eliza Rudd (D. Chapman's Aunt), and John Hill. There was no entering the Post Office. There was a small
door in the wall between the door and the window. Customers gave a tap on the small door and waited outside to
be waited on. Amelia Sands lived in this house with her father Alexander Sands, relieving officer and registrar for
the town.
By 1881 Amelia Sands had retired. Her clerk Eliza Rudd moved into Bevan House on Dereham Road with her
parents and family and set up the post office there. The house had previously been occupied by a cabinet maker
Father Frederick Rudd died in 1883 and the
daughter Eliza Rudd died in 1884. At some
date before 1901 Eliza's sister Lydia took
over the postmistress role. By 1891 Lydia
had become the postmistress with siblings
Herbert and Emma assisting in the 'Iona
House' premises.
In 1893 Emma married Frederick Kendall
Chapman, uncle to Donald Kendall
Chapman.
Lydia died in 1909 and this image from 1912
shows the new postmaster Herbert Rudd, in
the boater, with his postmen and messenger
boy Donald Kendall Chapman. In 1915
Donald later became the postmaster
assisted by his sisters Olive and Hilary.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Post Office 2
This advert from a 1920s guide shows how Donald has
expanded the business from simply being a post office.
In 1921 he is named as a sub-postmaster with his sisters
as assistants. His parents are also living there.
He is advertising Stark's Seeds, a library, printing,
typewriting, developing and processing rolls of film.
( Amateur Photographers' D &amp; P work)

By this time the frontage has been painted
white. The signs are still the same : Reepham
Post Office, Telegraph Office, Savings Bank And
Money Order Office.
After Donald retired as sub-postmaster in 1946
he and his sister continued to run the shop for
many more years. They both died in 1959.
Images below show changes in the shop front

Meloncaulie Rose the greengrocer, with a very
smart roof.
© pam fray

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Post Office 3

Above :The post office in 1954, run by Miss
Bushell and her mother. A close-up of
the George VI letter box. The box to
the right was a stamp dispenser.

Below :The post office in 1969. The
cottage next door was once home
to a watchmaker, William Bishop.
Harry Hawes remembers it as a
barber shop. The door to the
cottage is now a window.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Post Office 4
The current post office is contained on the very
corner of Johnson's shop. It used to be a lock-up
shop used for many years by tailors.
Harry Hawes :"The tailor's shop was run by Thomas Bircham
with several workman W. A. Pask was one of
them." (Thomas lived with Hannah, his wife, in
the pharmacy on Norwich Road).

Marjorie Gibbs :"The corner shop was a tailors and outfitters kept by
George Alfred Juby, who did a fair business. Mr. Juby
was a violinist and assisted in the local string band. He
emigrated and the business was taken over by Mr. A. V.
King."

Wesley Piercy :"The corner shop, now the Post Office, was occupied by
A V King, tailor. Mr. King was a son of a former landlord
of the King’s Arms, his wife a daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Cornall, the last master and mistress of St. Mary’s
school. Mr. King died quite young and Mrs. King carried
on the business as an outfitters."
When Albert Valentine KIng was a tailor in these
premises the family lived in Church Hill House. Albert
was a son of William King, licensee of the King's Arms
from 1900 to 1913, and previously of The Greyhound
on Back Street.
In 1911 Albert was learning his trade as a tailor's
cutter in Huddersfield.
In 1912 he married Katherine, daughter of Richard
Cornall, schoolmaster at St. Mary's school on Norwich
Road.
In 1939 his widow Katherine King was still running the
draper's and outfitters shop with her son William. The
business was later taken over by Henry Pratt.
Two examples of letter/post boxes
Left-: George VIth box outside Reepham Post Officestill in place
Right :- Victorian letter box in the wall at Pettywell

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�The Post Office 5
Henry Maurice Pratt carried on his tailoring business
in what is now Reepham's Post Office.
Like Albert King Henry Pratt lived in Church Hill
House.
It had been a tailor's for some years and was
advertised as "The Little Shop with the Big Stock".
The lady in the photograph is Amy Hall who worked
in the shop for many years.

And finally! Johnson's shop 'dressed' for an episode of Poirot in the 1990s.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Roys of Wroxham
Alfred Roy (1838-1915) was trading in Reepham at least by 1868 and came from Burnham Westgate where
his father William was at various times a joiner, builder, grocer and broker. In the 1871 census he is occupying
the premises that we currently know, in 2021, as the deli and farm shop. By the next census Alfred has moved
across the Market Place to Hewkes House, trading as a grocer and draper. Alfred was a joiner for his father
and eventually retired to Aylsham. The now famous store known as Roys of Wroxham was established in 1899
by his sons Alfred and Arnold who were both born in Reepham in the 1870s.
Alfred Roy 1838-1915

Alfred Edward Roy 1873-1951

Arnold William Roy 1875-1953

An interview with Arnold Roy appeared in September 1935 in the weekly magazine Tit-bits and describes his
activities as a boy in Reepham.
“My father was the village carpenter in the small market town of Reepham. The only education I ever had
was at a National school – twopence a week. At 14 I went round the villages hawking oranges with a donkey
and a barrow. I got that donkey for nothing. A farmer challenged me to catch it. It was difficult to capture as it
would only come to him. He said that if I did so it was mine. In 20 minutes, after much enticement with corn,
considerable exertion, and many cuts and abrasions, it was! I named it William and within a week William
was harnessed to my improvised barrow and doing good business. “Ever on the alert for extra coppers, I
found work for William in winter. By converting an orange box into a sleigh I was able to give the children of
the village a ride round the marketplace for a halfpenny a time.
“Then I went to a Norwich drapery firm at £15 a year, ran errands and swept the floor. But at the age of 16 I
felt the call of the gold-paved streets of the metropolis, went to London, worked for a shilling a day as a
warehouse boy and supplemented my meagre income with coppers earned by holding horses’ heads and
opening cab doors for customers. Many times I tramped the streets without a penny in my pocket.
“I remember standing outside a big Oxford Street store. And telling myself: ‘Some day I’m going to have a
shop like that!’ So I started keeping account of everything I spent, entering such items in a pocket book as
‘Bun, 1 penny’. I knew I had to start by being thrifty if I wanted to succeed.”
At 18 he returned to Norfolk and with his brother opened a small general shop in Coltishall. One thing Arnold
had resolved in London was that he would practise entirely new methods. He took the shop to the customers,
first with his donkey cart then with a swagger horse and van. Success in the business led to a second shop in
Dereham and a further shop in Wroxham in 1899 which became the business we now know as Roys of
Wroxham, the world's largest village

JDA/Aug2021
edited from items prepared for the RS Exhibition in 2003

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Thomas Grounds Hart, Samuel King Barnes &amp; Alfred Roy
This image, taken before 1871, is the earliest
copy we have of this view of Reepham
Market Place. The sign says "Hart" and
refers to Thomas Grounds Hart, grocer &amp;
draper. After Thomas's death in 1868
Elizabeth, his wife, moved away leaving her
son Samuel King Barnes to run the business.

Harry Hawes :- "The shop now occupied by Hardiments was occupied by Mr. Hart. I slightly remember him.
Then come Charles (Samuel) Barnes. He had two apprentices. They lodged with my grandmother Hawes.
Charles (Samuel) Barnes had high ideas. He soon got himself into the Bankruptcy Court. A large Marquee was
erected in the market place and all his goods and shackles were sold by auction. This gave Mr. A. Roy a
chance to move out of Carmans shop into the one recently occupied by Charles (Samuel) Barnes. The oldest
Miss Roy opened up a school for girls. The entrance to the same was by the side door facing the post office. "

Alfred Roy, father to the Roy brothers who set up Roys of Wroxham. Samuel Barnes was made bankrupt in July
1871 and Alfred Roy moved across the Market Place to the shop where Kings the optician is now.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Harry Charles Peck
By 1891 Harry Charles Peck was running a grocery &amp; drapery business on the premises, with the help of his brother
and sister. Ten years later he was making a success, judging by the number of assistants :- two milliners, two draper's
assistants and one grocer's assistant.
This image was taken in 1914. Newsboards report the disappearance of Gustav Hamel in May 1914. Hamel was a
famous pioneering aviator and was flying from Paris to Hendon when his plane disappeared over the Channel after
leaving Boulogne. Shop windows display drapery on the left and groceries on the right.

Marjorie Gibbs :Round the corner on the square and facing west was another grocery and drapery store, kept by Mr.
and Mrs. Peck. He was a cheery but rather pompous, round little man with pale sandy, curly hair but
very good in helping with parochial affairs. It was his boast that he had the first pianola in the district,
and I remember him remarking to my father on the occasion of his birthday that he was “half a
century old today”. Mrs. Peck managed the drapery side and would go to the warehouse (London, I
think) to buy for her customers. A note would come for my mother that the hats for “best” wear for her
daughters were now in for selection. Mrs. Peck also catered for the teas for the cricket team on
Saturday afternoons
The crowd have gathered to listen to the army band during WWI.

The name Peck's is painted on every
space between the upstairs windows
RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Percy Hilton

Wesley Piercy :This shop had earlier been occupied by Mr. H. Peck who was followed by Reeve and then Sidney Stangroom.
About 1923 Mr. Percy Hilton took it. This was another good business, employing two or three assistants
besides Mr. and Mrs. Hilton. Mr. Arthur Sydney Hardiment was an assistant with Mr. Hilton and took over the
business when the Hiltons moved away.
Percy and his brother Bertie were both grocers. The family came from
Swanton Morley where they had a bakery and a milling business. The
brothers bought the Reepham property in 1923 and Percy managed the
Reepham business, while Bertie ran a grocery in Fakenham from at
least 1911.
In 1921 Arthur Sydney Hardiment was already working in the shop as a
grocer's assistant to Sidney Stangroom and remained working for Percy
Hilton. Percy sold his share of the business to Bertie in 1933. Arthur
continued to run the shop and in 1948 finally bought the property.

Percival John Hilton
with his wife &amp; son

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�A. S. Hardiment

Arthur Hardiment (nephew of Arthur Sidney Hardiment) recalls :-

Arthur worked there for 30 years, staying to help the Booths
for a time until they bought the shop from his uncle.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Booth's

Part of a grocery bill from Booth's with the Mace
trademark.
In 1966 Arthur Hardiment sold the shop and fittings to the
Booths who ran the shop until 1973 when It was sold to the
Jones. In 1976 the shop was bought by George Johnson.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

�Johnson's &amp; the Police Station

Left :- Johnson's shop after closure
Below :- The property as Reepham's Police Station

Johnson's shop dressed for The Tragedy of Marsdon Manor ; a Poirot episode filmed in 1991.

RA/JDA/Nov2025

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                    <text>A Tour of the
Market Place
Through Time
The butcher, the baker and the
candle maker…

�Market Town
Since 1277
• Originally markets were
held in the Churchyard
• Bishop wanted them
out!
• Charter granted to Sir
John De Vaux, the Lord
of the Manor of
Hackford, by Edward I
• Annual Fair
• Weekly Market

�Annual Fair
• Held on the eve, day
and morrow of Saint
Peter and Paul Day
• 29th June
• Originally was stock
fair – cattle, sheep,
horses, etc
• Later became a
funfair

�Funfair
Recollections
• Roundabouts, Coconut
Shies, Shooting Galleries
and Rock Sales
• All the vans drawn up side
by side on the King’s Arms
Plain facing the road
• Came to a close at 11pm
when “God Save the King”
was played

�Weekly Market Day
• Originally on a Saturday
• Wednesdays from at least the 1880s
• Animals and produce until Irelands
Sale Yard established in 1877
• Sainsbury’s van bought eggs from
locals
• Busy day for our Market Place
pubs…

�The Sun
• Originally thatched
• Occupied the whole of
the range down to
Townsend Corner
• Stables across the road
later converted to
function room
• Also had large maltings
on the corner of Back
Street and School Road

�The Sun
• During the 1920s the Landlord
was Fred Watson
• In WW1, Fred’s wife, Ellen, was
known to the troops stationed
here as “Ma”

• Fred’s son Clifford and his wife
Violet took over from him in
1922.
• Ran the pub until Violet’s death
in 1964

�1950: Reepham Shopping Week

�Reepham Shopping Week June 1950…
Organised by the Chamber of Trade &amp; Commerce
• Tuesday: Grand Eve of
Opening Dance
• Reepham Band Hall
• Gerald Amies &amp; His
Orchestra
• Miss Reepham crowned in
the interval (winner was
Daphne Barrow)

• Thursday: mammoth whist
drive

• Wednesday: market day
• Morning: Market
• Afternoon: Grand Parade of
horses and vehicles plus
gathering of the North
Norfolk Harriers
• Evening: Massed Bands of
Fakenham, Cawston and
Reepham, then Open Air
Dance in the market place

• Friday: knock out bowls
competition and darts
contest

�Who owns the Market Place?
• Lord of the Manor of
Hackford from 1277 until
1930
• Mrs Kate Eglington was
the last Lord
• Sold the manorial rights to
the Rural District Council,
to be managed by the
Parish Council
• Now owned by Reepham
Town Council

�Surface of the Market Place
• Originally just
rough gravel
• County Council
added a tarmac
surface in 1900s
• Signalled the end
of funfairs
• Much resistance
from Samuel
Bircham and
others

�The Great Fire of
Reepham
• 18 April 1543
• Destroyed most of
the Market Place
Buildings
• Also destroyed All
Saints Church (but
the tower didn’t fall
down until the 1790s)

�17th Century Map
• 100 or so years after the Great
Fire
• Few buildings in the market place
• Back Street was the original
thoroughfare through town
• Chimneys shown in red – possible
liability for “Hearth Tax”?

• Church roofs shown in green
• Market Cross building? Just an
indication that it’s a market place
or was there actually a building?

�Today’s buildings
mostly date from
the Georgian and
Victorian eras
(1700s and 1800s)

�Swing Riots 1830/31
• Harsh Winter 1830 then poor
harvest 1831 led to reduced
wages
• Widespread rioting protesting
about low agricultural wages, loss
of common land and use of
threshing machines
• Threatening letters sent by
“Captain Swing” to rich farmers,
magistrates and clergymen

�Even in
Reepham…
• Meeting in the King’s Arms
of magistrates, clergy and
landowners to swear in
special constables
• Crowd of labourers
gathered outside
• Rev Collyer spoke to them
from a window
• Apparently they dispersed
peacefully…

�The King’s Arms
• 16th/17th Century Beginnings,
perhaps partially demolished
and rebuilt in 18th Century as
Posting Inn
• Wall in Pudding Pie Alley may
be a remnant of earlier
building

�The King’s Arms
• Had a veranda out the
front in late 19th Century
• Small bar from corner
door until 1980s
• Eynsford Petty Sessions
held there

�King’s Arms Hotel
• Hotel for Travelling
Salesmen/Visitors
• Club Room above adjoining
shop
• Weekly Dancing Classes and
Annual Dance
• Still in use in the 1970s for
Parties and Discos

�Tithe Map 1844
• Red buildings
indicate residential
use
• Layout is pretty
similar to today…

Kings Arms
Sun Inn

Bircham Centre
Bank House

Reepham Brewery

�Changing Vistas
• Curious frontage
to what is now
Robertsons
Butchers

�But by early 1900s, the roofline had
changed…
• Halls Saddlers occupied the building from
1890s
• Plans for change drawn up in early 1900s
• John Hall passed the business to his son,
Bertie Hall
• Later became Attfield Butchers, before
Mr Attfield passed the business to his
former assistant, Brian Robertson.

�Changing
Vistas/2
• In 1905, smooth rendered
front to what is now
Diane’s Pantry
• Austin Family Butcher
Shop…
• At least 2 generations of
Austins
• Also no dormer windows at
this stage

�Another view…

�Changing
Vistas/2
• By 1920s, the “out-shut”
is tiled…
• Still a butcher’s shop with
Uttings Butchers in 1921.
• Later became a fish shop;
Diane’s Pantry first run by
Diane Turner in 1980s

�The range of buildings now…

�Great Houses:
Hackford House
•
•
•
•

Hackford Parish Vicarage
Oldest part is Jacobean (1600s)
Became private house
Samuel Bircham bought it in
1910 from Misses Spencer
• It was occupied by the Bruce
family – Agnes Bruce married
Samuel’s only son, Francis
Richard Samuel Bircham
• The wedding was held in
marquees in the Market Place

�The Bircham
Centre
• In 1919 Samuel Bircham
donated part of it to
Reepham as memorial to
the fallen from WW1
• Left the remaining building
to the town in his will
when he died in 1923 in
exchange for an annuity for
Agnes
• We could do a whole
presentation about this…

�Great Houses:
Brewery House
• The Brewery Owner’s
house
• Originally a
Conservatory on the
right of the house
• Brewery site sold in
1878/9

�The Brewery House/Dial House
• By WW1, conservatory
replaced with extension
• Samuel Bircham spent his time
between here and London
• Stayed in the Bircham family
until 1899
• Converted into a hotel in 1970s
• Norman and Mary Raynes were
the first to run it
• Many changes over the years…

�The Big 3…
• People who have chronicled their
time in Reepham
• They’ve provided a priceless record
• Reepham Society formed early
1980s
• Precursor to Reepham Archive…

�The Big 3: Harry Hawes
•
•
•
•

Henry Edward Hawes…
Born in a cottage on Church Hill in 1863
Carpenter and Builder
Lived in Veranda House (Dereham Road)
and ran business in Sun Maltings

• “Harry Hawes Walk” – handwritten in
notebooks
• Transcribed and annotated in 1949 by
Tony Ivins and extracts used in a booklet
by Kate Nightingale in 2003
• Died in 1957 aged 94

1886 aged 23
1955 aged 92

�The Big 3: Marjorie Gibbs
• Born 1899
• Member of the Gibbs Family
who ran an Ironmongers
Shop
• Founder member of
Reepham Society
• Shared many stories about
her years in Reepham
• Died in 1992

�Gibbs Shop
• Ironmongers since 1767
• Owned by William George
around 1850 then S W &amp; W
Leeds in 1875
• Edward Gibbs bought it in
1888
• In 1890s, neighbouring shop
was added

�Gibbs Shop
• Open from 7.30 am to 7
pm and 9 pm on Saturdays
• Covered large space – lots
of different sections
• Business passed to son,
Edward Jnr, and daughter,
Marjorie (who never
married)
• Closed in 1967

�The Big 3: Wesley Piercy
• Born 1917 in Reepham and
lived here most of his life
• Served in WW2 including with
Desert Rats
• Joined Eastern Electricity
Board after the War
• On retirement, pursued
interest in history through OU
degree
• Wrote “My Town”

�Let’s take a
break…
Part 2 in 30 minutes
after your canapés
and wine!
See our displays at the
back and in the
chancel…

�The Market Place late 1800s and
early 1900s
• Information
mostly from our
Big 3
• No time to look at
every building in
detail!

�Grocers (and Drapers)
• Apparently 7 Grocers in Reepham
• 3 in the Market Place
• Most Grocers seemed to be Drapers as
well
• Let’s start where Kings Opticians are
now…
• In 1830s, Charles Gallant Hewke ran
“Pigots”
• Barnes and Hart family from 1840s to the
1870s
• Sold then as two separate shops/houses

�The Start of a
Norfolk Story
• Shop taken over by Alfred
Roy in 1880s
• Moved from the other side
of the Market Place
• Alfred is the father of Alfred
and Arnold who started Roys
of Wroxham
• Alfred had moved away from
Reepham by 1891

�H C Peck in
1890s

Hiltons in 1920s

Later it was Hardiments, then Booths, when it became a Mace shop, then Jones… In 1976 the shop
only was sold to the Johnsons and became a clothes/woolshop run by Mrs Johnson

�Fishers
• Where Norfolk Farm Shop
is now
• Nathanial Isaacs in 1851
• James Flint in 1861
• James Kirby in 1881
• Was where Alfred Roy
started
• Mr Fisher had taken over
by 1900
• He gave his name to
Fisher’s Alley
• Later The Chimes:
antiques, tea room, B&amp;B,
pharmacy…

�Riches House
• Grocery store – early
records show John
Grey as the shopkeeper
• Run by Mary Woods, a
widow, from around
1893

�Riches Stores
• Leonard Riches took
over in 1906, and was
succeeded by his son,
Ben
• Described as a HighClass Grocer
• Mr &amp; Mrs Harrison
took over in 1971

�Riches Stores
• Became the first
self-service shop in
Reepham (probably)
• Stephen Fry
mentions it in his
books
• Is the biscuit room
haunted?

�The Mystery Box
• Much speculation over the
years…
• Suggestion is could be a
blanket box for emergency
use
• Perhaps more likely to be a
box for shutters…

�Boot and Shoemakers
• George Cocking, Shoe &amp; Boot
Maker
• In Melton House (Bay Tree Interiors)

• Previously William Allen (1876)
who called it “The Golden Boot”
• Others in town at different times:
• John Boon for a while in the row of
cottages that is now the Post Office
• Tom Coe in the shop under the
King’s Arms clubroom

�The Candle Maker
• George St John
• Melton and Carlton House
before the shoemakers
• Gave his name to St John’s
Alley
• Front room and the room
above used for drying the
candles

�Tailors
• Albert Valentine King, Tailor – by 1921
• Corner of current Post Office
• Still run by his widow Katherine and son
William in 1939
• Followed by Henry M Pratt
• “The Little Shop with the Big Stock”
• Other Reepham tailors through the years
included William Pask on Townsend
Corner, Mr Hill beside Diane’s Pantry,
and James Hawes in Church Plain

�Reepham Post Office:
a 4-part story…
• Important for
Reepham’s status
• Has been in 4
different sites
over the years

�The Post Office: Part 1…
• In 1850s could be found in The
Blue House
• Amelia Sands was the
Postmistress
• Customers didn’t go inside
• Knocked on wooden hatch and
waited…
• Evidence inside and out today

�The Blue House
• Not always blue! Painted after
1950
• In around 1820, was called
Levuka House
• Named after a city in Fiji
• Seafarer who travelled there
was left money by an aunt
and bought it
• One previous occupant, Mrs
Hatley(?) lived there around
1949 but ground floor occupied
by a dentist
• Basement floor has access into
Back Street

�The Blue House
• Occupied by long term
Reepham residents June and
Russell Betts from around 1955
to 1985
• They hid a time capsule in a
corner at the base of a wall
• Included 3-page letter telling
what they knew about the
house and life in Reepham at
that time
• The current owner has put it
back to be found by future
generations
• Covenant: can’t sell sweets!

�The Post Office:
Part 2 and 3…
• Rudd family ran it in
early 1900s
• Moved to Bevan House
on Dereham Road for a
while
• Then back to the
Market Place into Iona
House
• This is the building that
is currently the Barber
on the Square…

�The Post Office: Part 3…
• D Kendall Chapman became
Postmaster – he was related to
the Rudds
• Also sold sweets, cards and gifts
• Involved in lots of things
•
•
•
•
•

Scouts
Parish Council
Pierrot Group
Sunday School
Publishing postcards

• He later gave up the post office
side but kept the shop

�The Telephone Came
to Reepham
• First telephone exchange was in
Ivy House
• Mrs Hester Wilton was in charge
• Later moved over the road to the
house now known as “The Old
Telephone Exchange”
• 8 Subscribers in 1915
• Rose to more than 50 in 1936

�The Post Office: Part 4
• Moved to its current
location in the years to
follow
• E Bushell in the 1950s
• Mr Brinded after that
• C D Jones in 1969
• Harry Hawes was born in
one of the cottages in this
row in 1863

�Bank House
• Built 1840s
• Originally a shop
between 2 houses –
door on each side
• Corner shop door – a
Reepham thing!
• Cripps Chemists in the
1870s
• Followed by Benjamin
Priest and Stoners

�Bank House
• Jewells Druggist and stationery in
1920s
• Edward and Sarah Jewell
• That’s Sarah going into the
shop…
• Also sold photographic goods
• Created series of postcards
“Jewell’s Series”
• Later moved to Ivy House

�Bank House – the
houses
• Gurneys Bank’s opened a Reepham
Branch in the house on the Market
Place side. Gurney’s merged into
Barclays in 1896
• Also a solicitor’s office, and a reading
room
• Caretaker lived in the basement and
slept on the top floor
• The other house, on the road to
Townsend Corner, was mostly
residential

�Bank House
• Barclays Bank had
moved into the corner
property by the 1930s
• 1st and 2nd Floor was
Bank Flat
• Barclays moved next
door in 1991
• Major changes by The
Original Cottage
Company in 2014

�The Bakery
• The Old Bakery next door to the
Dial House
• Previously two properties
• Bakery at the rear
• 1830s: run by James Davidson
• 1870s: run by Alexander
Ormiston

�Fords Bakery
• Fords from at least 1900s to 1960s
• William Ford moved here from
Devon
• Married twice – in total 6 children
• Business carried on by Walter and
Richard
• Children would get mini loaf with
the family’s bread delivery
• Meat Pies were legendary!
• Teas on Market Day

�Ford Family
• This Primary School photo
apparently includes the
younger Ford children
• But there’s some
confusion about who’s
who…
• Elsie married and moved
to Hampshire. She called
her home “Reepham
House”
• Walter apparently
became an excellent
bellringer!

�Clockmaking
• Did you know that clocks and
watches were made in
Reepham?
• John Symonds 1734-1815
• “Lived at the sign of the Dial”…
• Clockmaker to Parson
Woodforde
• Succeeded by James Shreeve
Woolmer in 1814
• Mr Woolmer wound the church
clock every evening

�The Cottage
• Messrs Symonds and Woolmer
were in the cottage next to
Bank House
• Also Robert Barber,
Watchmaker
• Later became Skippers Carpets
• Was Barclays Bank in 1991,
then HSBC in 2000
• Site of the famous Reepham
Ramraid in 2012
• Now Motts Pharmacy

�Time has swept
on…
“I do not count the
hours except for
the serene ones”
Or: I only count the
happy hours

�We’re all part of
Reepham’s story

How far back
can you go?

�Reepham Archive
• Valuable source of local
records and images
• Can you add to the story
of Reepham?
• Pop in on the first
Wednesday or Saturday
mornings of the month…

�</text>
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                <text>Reepham Market Place Through Time&#13;
Presentation given in November 2025 &amp; January 2026 focussing on a selection of shops &amp; buildings in Reepham Market Place. The first item shows the display sheets, the second is the slide show which was shown with commentary by Brenda Gostling.</text>
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