North Walsham a town with Anglo-Saxon roots and its association with notable people such as Agatha Christie, Nelson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is steeped in history. The town grew out of Norfolk’s booming wool trade, its products being sold in the low countries and beyond. Later the railway boom reached the town, eventually it was able to boast two train stations and was the junction for five lines that took people and goods all over Norfolk.
Back in 1600, a furious fire burnt a large part of the town to the ground. The fire sparked into life on the morning of the 25th June 1600 in the home of a man name of ‘Dowle’, described as a ‘lewd and poor person’. The fire swept through the town destroying over one hundred and eighteen houses, shops houses and the beloved Market Cross, including all its stalls. The local church, although scorched survived providing temporary shelter for the homeless residents of the town. The original market cross dated to 1550 during the reign of Edward VI and was built by Bishop Thirlby of Norwich. It was rebuilt by Bishop Redman in 1602 to a quite quirky and unusual design with a one-handed clock. It looks like this did not satisfy the locals as a minute hand was added the following year. The Market Place still provides a place where local traders can sell their produce, but once the livestock, meats, and of course the wool and famous cloths were sold to traders from Europe.
You can still explore the old town, many of the narrower shops in the Market Place still occupy their medieval plots, lumped in multiples of seven feet, all huddled tightly against the churchyard. The Shambles was the name given to the historic meat market, mostly lost in the great fire, but remembered today in buildings known as The Butchery. During the thirteenth century the town was granted a Royal Charter of Henry III for the right to hold a weekly market. The Market Rental Book of 1391 states that the cross fixed the site of the market as being a place where buyers and sellers could lawfully congregate. Why not catch the train to North Walsham and exercise the right to congregate around this old cross?
