Archive and Castle, 4 March 2015

         We enjoyed a slow morning and then were off to the town of Norwich.  We had sunshine all day and enjoyed the drive through farming country and little villages here and there.  Norwich is a busy city with lots of roads, apartments, homes, and buildings.  Dad was forever turning from one small road onto another.   We were very happy to have the sat nav, or we would not have made it.

        

 We arrived at the Archive Centre, parked, and made our way to the building and inside.  Our purpose was to view records of the Bird and Fuller families in the 1700’s.  We found plenty to view via microfilm and microfiche.  

We were excited to find the marriage record of Thomas Bird to Sarah Bartram, of the Parish of Sharringham.  They were married in November 1755.  

Thomas Bird is about a third of the way down on this page, being baptized, June 1, 1730,  as the illegitimate son of Thomas Bird and Elizabeth Simson.  This Thomas is the one in the above marriage record.  Wow!  That is a long time ago and to think we have been in Sheringham!  The town must be older than dirt!

We continued to find records of the Birds and Fullers, almost page after page.  Dad took photos of the pages and can save them to the people in FamilyTree.

The time passed quickly and before we knew it, we had been there over three hours.  We gathered up our stuff and walked to the car to find a place to eat and then visit the castle.  We asked a lady on the way for directions and she was most helpful.  She said she would come with us but work called.

We arrived just as directed to Norwich Castle.  The mall right next door had a food court and we enjoyed a meal a Burger King.  We were all famished as it was now after 3 p.m.  All the brain power used up our energy.

         We got to the castle an hour before it closed, so the entry fee was reduced to £2 from £7.95.  We had a walk around, viewed the displays, and I found a magnet in the gift shop.  The castle was fascinating as it is well taken care of and maintained.

         The castle is a medieval royal fortification founded in the aftermath of the Normandy conquest of England.  William the Conqueror (1066-1087), ordered it's construction. 

A photo op with the lizard.

Inside the castle, you enter in on the second floor which has a balcony all the way around.  It is nicely done and gives you the feeling of elegance.  On the floor below are displays and artifacts from different periods of the castle's life.

The floor the balcony is on used to be the second floor of the original castle.  That was where the king ate and entertained his guests.  The castle has been burned and gutted and now has been restored in an effort to tell its story.

The basement has displays of when the castle was used as a prison.  It was very well done and gave one the feeling of how life existed during that period of time.  We also saw the well used to provide water for the castle so in case of a siege, they would still have water.

             The castle closed at 4:30 p.m., and we were on the road home about 5 p.m. and arrived after 6 p.m.  It was a maze getting out of town and the sat nav wasn’t working so we used the phone and it took us a different way once we were out of town.  We were on winding narrow farm lanes that were reduced to only wide enough for one car.  There was other traffic here and there and we had to slow and pull off on a wide spot for one to pass.   It was a fun trip though, with pheasants, rabbits, birds, the scenery and watching the sun set like a bright orange ball into the earth.  It reminded us of what we have back home in Arizona on occasion.