Photo Group and History Tour meet at Merton, 28thth July, 2pm at Church

The next photo group meeting will meet at Merton Church Wed 28th July at 2pm. The history guide for the afternoon will be Helen Riley, who has been researching the history of the parish in for several years. It will be a very interesting afternoon. Hope to see several of you there.

View Merton Church in a larger map

Engraving of Merton Church in 1825
and Merton Hall in the 1860s

The 1910 Book 'The Land of Babes in the Wood' by Rev Charles Kent is now freely available on the Web

The Land of the "Babes in the Woods" or The Breckland of Norfolk

This book was written by Rev. Charles Kent, M.A of Merton in Norfolk and published in 1910,he drew heavily apron the papers and notes of his predecessor Rev. George Crabbe of Merton that had been left at the church and rectory. It is one of the few books that has covered the Wayland area in any depth.  You will find a wonderful range of topics such as superstitions, highwaymen and local traditions. There are chapters on Watton, Merton, Thompson, Stow Bedon, Breccles, Tottington, Carbrooke, Caston, Griston and Scoulton.
                                                                                                        The 'Capturing Our Wayland Heritage' project is working to make out of print reference books, such as this, easily accessible to researchers. The text is searchable and the whole book can be downloaded as a PDF from Google Docs once there click on the file button (top left) and a drop down menu will give the option to download. The book, from Sue White's collection, was scanned, edited and the PDF prepared by Gary Pearce.

Evening Sunshine at Merton Park , Wayland, Norfolk

A short film shot in the beautiful early evening sunshine at Merton.

Digitising the Griston Parish Records

On 22^nd Oct.  members of the Griston Community Archive Group, and Capturing Our Wayland Heritage project, spent the day at the Norfolk Record Office making a digital photographic record of the Parish Registers. The Griston Parochial Church Council gave their approved for the copying of the documents. On the day assistance on photographic recording techniques was available from the COWH project’s heritage officer. The team of five photographed the seven registers dating back to 1654, as part of a joint agreement with Record Office to make them more accessible to the public.  The Record Office waved the normal photographic fee in return for having a copy of the digital record being made by the group.  The digitised registers will be made  available as PDF files on CD at a reasonable cost to raise money for the Griston Church Fund.

There are plans to have recording days on the Thompson and Merton Parish Records, once permission is granted, and the conservators have checked the documents to make sure they are in a good enough condition to be photographed. If there are any other parish groups in the project area that would like assistance in arranging and coping their records please get in touch with the project officer Sue White.

Midsummer Merton

A perfect midsummer afternoon
was enjoyed by those that attended the Merton Church Open Day. The view from the churchyard of the hall and mere must be one of the most beautiful in Norfolk.

Merton Church Open Day

The next event the 'Capturing Our Wayland History' stand will be is at the Merton Church Open Day on 21st June (midsummer's day) from 12 noon to 5pm. Come and discover some of the church's fascinating history and see a slide display of images of Merton in the past by Tony Brooks. Try your hand at Brass Rubbing. Light lunches and teas available. It is a very beautiful round towered church in a wonderful location within Merton Park.

Waylands Summer Fairs & Fetes

The Fete and Fair Season is in full swing, following the Horn Fair at Hockham, the project had a stand at the History Fair at Gressenhall, where the Scoulton History Group put on a display of their research.

The project gazebo and I have travelled to the fates at Caston, Ovington and Watton carnival over the last two weeks. The project has had a very warm and friendly welcome every where it has been. A great amount of interest has been shown in the project, which is reflected in the number people that have signed up to take part in 'Capturing Our Wayland Heritage'.