The Ham Nomads

26 Oct 2014. <GB-ENG> Oxborough, & Lynford, Thetford, & Thetford, Norf —

Today we decided to visit Oxburgh Hall. This is a moated manor, the home of the Bedingfelds from when it was built in 1482 by Sir Edmund Bedingfeld until it was sold by Sir Edmund Paston-Bedingfeld in 1951. At this auction it was almost knocked down to a timber merchant from the area who meant to fell all the mature trees on the property and to raze the Hall to the ground. Sybil, lady Bedingfeld, with her husband's niece Violet Hartcup and Violet's daughter Frances raised the money and bought Oxburgh back, to give it to the National Trust in 1952, on condition that they had rights of residence in part of the hall for life — they had raised the money by selling their own homes! The last survivor, Frances Greathead, now in her nineties and living in South Africa comes back to Oxburgh every summer.

The story of Oxburgh is an incredible story of how a Catholic family could retain its possessions throughout the persecutions of Elizabeth and later rulers of England. With few exceptions, they found that their royal patronage was withdrawn. Until 1791 it was illegal to practice Catholicism, and schools and universities were closed to catholics, so many of the Bedingfords were educated abroad. They resorted to having a priest hole (off the King's Room) — we had a fine time climbing into it, and out again (not an easy task!). The Bedingfords simply kept a low profile until 1829, when the Catholic Emancipation Act lifted all the restrictions.

The Marian Panel

There are some magnificent embroidered hangings that adorned a four-poster bed that came to Oxburgh in 1761 on the marriage of Mary Browne, of Cowdray Park (where they came from), to Sir Richard Bedingford. They remained on the bed until 1973. At the sale of Oxburgh in 1951, they were purchased by the National Art Collections Fund, and only then was their provenance realised ... the 'Marian Panel' was embroidered by Mary, Queen of Scots, and the other two by Bess of Hardwick — remember these two from Hardwick Hall? As such, they are priceless treasures!

We then went round to the family chapel, the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception and St Margaret. As a building, it is interesting, but nothing to write home about. But inside is this incredible altarpiece, comprised of three distinct elements — uppermost, a retable (framed altar shelf) made in Antwerp between 1520-30, whose carvings depict scenes from the Passion and whose painted wings (by Pieter Croeke van Aelst, 1502-50) show mores scenes from the Passion and from the life of St James of Compostela, and on the outside the four fathers of the Church; beneath this, a semi-octagonal sacrament tabernacle, with scenes of the life of St Catherine; below this, an altar table depicting The Mocking of Christ, The Deposition, and The Flagellation ... not the kind of thing you expect to find in a humble family chapel!

After this, we walked the gardens a little, before leaving for Grime's Graves. This is the most famous group of neolithic flint mines in England, in Norfolk's Breckland. These mines were worked between 2600 and 2200BC. The whole landscape has a lunar feel as the backfilling of each pit as it was worked out has subsided leaving the whole area pockmarked with craters. Although a number of the pits have been excavated by archaeologists, only pit 1 is available for us poor tourists to go down. The deep shaft mining only lasted about 300-500 years here, and there would only have been one or two mines active in any year, so it was by no means on an industrial scale. Why deep shaft mining? Well, there are apparently three distinct levels of flint in this deposit, but the best quality black flint comes from the third layer, later known as floorstone, that lies between 6 and 15 metres below the surface. Pit 1, the one we descended, is 9 metres deep, and you go down by a steep ladder — a lot better than the notched tree-trunk the original miners would have used! Flint is very common round East Anglia, and we have seen it used as building material all over the place, mainly as flint nodules embedded in a matrix of concrete or mortar.

After wandering this site, we went to a picnic area called Layford Stag, only a couple of miles away. This was one of the most luxurious places we have stopped off in, well off the road, flat, quiet, and only a few dog-walkers to contend with!

Distance driven — today, 47 miles ( 75 km ); to date, 9,238 miles ( 14,867 km )