Since early 2020, Forncett History Group has published regular short articles in the village magazine, the Forncett Flyer. These articles have now been collected here on our new blog - Forncett History Notes. This new initiative offers the opportunity for these articles, and other news from the Group, to be read more widely and also provides a forum for us to publish short articles which don't fit easily elsewhere within the structure of the website. Please share this new page with anyone who you feel might be interested. If you would like to be added to our email distribution list please Contact Us and then you will receive an alert when any new article appears.
It was not unusual for affluent Victorian ladies to pursue serious hobbies like music or fine art especially painting. Some years ago we were fortunate to be contacted by a family whose ancestor, Evie (Evelyn) Jessop, reflected just such an interest. The result was the donation of several watercolours to our archive, including landscapes painted...
It was not at all uncommon for emigrants from the UK to name places in their new country after their place of origin. Consequently, there is a Norwich in New York state and one in Connecticut. In a similar way New Forncett was the name given to land settled by William Alborough in Natal, South Africa in around 1858....
Most Forncett residents will confidently state that they live either in Forncett St Mary or in Forncett St Peter but, as the following story demonstrates, it is possible to live in both parishes at the same time! When the boundary line between the two parishes was drawn it ran right through the middle of Street Farmhouse on Low Road,...
For our September meeting the History Group was fortunate to have a very local speaker. As many Forncett residents will know, Terry Hickman-Smith is a retired architect and for most of his career he has had an abiding interest in historic buildings. Some years ago he acted as overseeing architect for the St Edmund's refurbishment project here in...
Today Forncett Manor is the name given to what was originally the Rectory built in 1848 for the then new rector of Forncett St. Mary, Revd. Dr. John Colenso. However, the original Forncett Manor House was built at least 600 years earlier on a completely different site, and we know quite a lot about it, owing to...
In 1903, the daughter of William Grieve Wilson, a former rector of Forncett St Peter, wrote that the residents of Forncett "looked upon dwellers in the next county as aliens and foreigners". So, it's not hard to imagine what they might have made of a young American woman from a wealthy family in Connecticut, who visited the village...
To celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee an afternoon Community Event was held at Forncett Village Hall on Saturday 4th June and many of the local groups had stands to promote their activities.
At the recent meeting of the Forncett History Group (Wednesday 18th May), David Kirk from Wreningham Heritage Group gave an illustrated talk entitled "Making the Admiralty Telegraph line less fuzzy - A journey over places and times".
As we look forward to celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee next month, it's interesting to look back at how previous Jubilees have been celebrated in the village. Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee on 22 June 1897 and the people of Forncett St Mary celebrated the event in style, as reported in the Norfolk News.
Whilst Easter is always an important time in the church calendar, the Easter of 1870 was a particularly important one in the history of St. Mary's church. Over the years the church had fallen into a very dilapidated state and the then vicar, Rev. John Edward Cooper, decided that a major renovation was required.