The Victoria history of the county of Norfolk, England

The Victoria history of the county of Norfolk, England (Volume I)

The Advertisement of the Victoria History sets forth the scheme under which the History of Norfolk is projected. Only a small part of the whole undertaking there detailed finds a place in this volume, and it will therefore suffice to refer here only to the subject matter now presented to the reader.

The principle underlying the plan of the Victoria History is that of co-operation between local students of history and archeology and those who possess expert knowledge in certain periods of history or departments of archaeological research. The contributors to this volume have cheerfully acquiesced in these conditions, and it is hoped that by the method adopted greater accuracy has been obtained^ than could otherwise have been secured.

The investigations which have been made in the course of compiling the natural history of Norfolk have brought to light the want of special studies from which the county suffers in various departments.

The tastes and inclinations of students of local natural history lie mostly in certain directions, and the less popular orders in Botany and Entomology have received comparatively little attention. Much difficulty has therefore been experienced in obtaining representative lists for some of these orders. While the imperfections to which this work must plead guilty are to be deplored, it is possible that the energies of local naturalists may be directed thereby to those departments of the flora and fauna which require further study.

It has been reluctantly decided that the Domesday Survey of Norfolk cannot be dealt with on the same lines as those adopted for other counties. Its abnormal length is but one of the difficulties; more serious are those which arise from the unsatisfactory state of the text and from the obscurity of its, formulae, even when the text is sound. Any translation would in fact be almost unintelligible. Those who are most competent to judge are of opinion that the time for dealing with this most difficult record is not yet ripe, and its contents are at present so imperfectly known that Professor Maitland has to speak in his Domesday Book and Beyond, of that period, as yet in the future, when the Domesday of East Anglia has been fully explored.' Its evidence, however, will of course be used for ascertaining the ownership of the manors in 1086, and it is hoped that if his other engagements permit, Mr. Round may be able to contribute, in another volume, something on the special features of interest that it possesses.

 

Table of Contents

Dedication... V
The Advisory Council of the Victoria History... VII
General Advertisement... VII
The Norfolk County Committee... XIII
Contents... XV
List of Illustrations... XVII
Preface... XIX
Natural History
Zoology
Early Man... 253
Romano-British Remains... 279
Anglo-Saxon Remains... 325

 

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The Victoria history of the county of Norfolk, England (Volume II)

The editor has, with much regret, to announce that since the publication of the first volume of the Victoria County History of Norfolk, Mr, Walter Rye, owing to failing eyesight and other causes, has been obliged to relinquish the editorship of Volumes III, IV, V, and VI of the Victoria County History of Norfolk. Mr. Rye has, however, placed at the disposal of the editor the material he had collected for his work. In consequence of certain alterations necessitated in the scheme for the article on the Political History of the county prepared by Mr, Rye, which for the same reasons had to be made by other hands, Mr. Rye thought it would be better that the article should not be wholly attributed to him.

It was with much regret also the editor learnt from Canon Jessopp that in consequence of ill-health he had been compelled to relinquish the greater part of the article on the Ecclesiastical History of the county which he had undertaken.

The editor wishes to express his gratitude to the Rev. William Hudson, M.A., F.S.A., for much advice and assistance, and particularly for reading the proofs of several of the articles; and also to Mr. J. Horace Round, M.A., LL.D., for revising the proofs of the article on the Introduction to Domesday. He is likewise indebted to Mr. G.E. Fox, Hon. M.A., F.S.A., for the use of his drawings of ancient paintings for reproduction; to Mr. W.T. Bensly, LL.D., F.S.A., and Mr. L. Bolingbroke, for assistance and advice ; Mr. E.M. Beloe, jun.. Rev. Francis Lane, the British Archaeological Association and others for illustrations.

 

Table of Contents

Dedication... V
Contents... IX
List of Illustrations... XIII
Editorial Note... XV
Table of Abbreviations... XVII
Introduction to the Norfolk Domesday... 1
Translation of Norfolk Domesday... 39
The Danegeld in Norfold... 204
Ecclesiastical History... 213
Religious Homes... 315
Political History... 467
Mediaeval Painting... 529
Early Christian Art... 555

 

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A hasty glance at the description of almost any manor in Norfolk will show how nearly these instructions correspond with the information which we find recorded. The typical entry in Domesday Book tells what tenant-in-chief owns such a manor, who held it in King Edward's time (i.e. 'on the day on which King Edward was alive and dead'), the name of the undertenant (if any) in 1086, and all the other particulars enumerated above. We do, however, mark certain discrepancies. Instead of hides we hear of carucates or ploughlands, as we do also in Suffolk, and in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leicestershire. We do not as in the five latter counties hear anything of bovates. Our carucates are divided into halves, but the smaller fractions are usually expressed in acres, though in one case, at Merton,^ we hear of a virgate, and feel doubtful whether to render it as a quarter-carucate or as a quarter-acre, a rood.