I've needed to take a bit of a break from everything online lately, but I have continued research tasks and have enjoyed selling physical printed copies of the Norma Explores magazine (Norfolk Supplement) at my shop, which hopefully means sharing the project with new people. ⬇️

Little Bear wanted to see an alien 👽 in Rendlesham Forest.

Come and join me over on Substack 🖤 Today, our very own Little Bear 🧸 has shared his visit to Forheringhay Castle. substack.com/@normaexplor...

Norma Explores | Substack

Visiting the hidden corners of East Anglia and its neighbouring counties to discover graveyard tales, military history, and macabre local legends. Home of the Epitaph: East Anglia podcast.

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New substack post! Plus a bonus post for subscribers added today. open.substack.com/pub/normaexp...

The Foulsham Beerhouse Incident

A Fatal Act of Bullying in a Norfolk Village

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New post on Substack today: open.substack.com/pub/normaexp...

Thursford Dovecote // Norfolk

A survey of Norfolk Dovecotes - 1978

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Day 26 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'figure' Sadly, this headstone is so badly worn its impossible to make out who lies here. Only the figure remains standing proud of the surface... 📍Holy Trinity, Marham, Norfolk

Day 25 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'graveside ornament' I wanted to share this wonderful thing I found earlier this year. Every war grave has been marked with a Tommy silhouette, even the ones without a headstone. It really highlighted just how many WW1 & WW2 casualties lay here ⬇️⬇️

Day 24 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'unique animal'. Ive taken a bit of a liberty and chosen a reptile 🐢 But I couldn't not share this wonderful tortoise. 📍St John the Baptist, Aylmerton, Norfolk

Day 23 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'cross' It was Christmas Eve when I visited the grave of Fanny Adams. It was also Christmas Eve in 1867 when her murderer was hanged for his crime. Her cross was decorated with tinsel and toys had been left for her. Cont ⬇️⬇️

Day 22 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'landscape ' The tiny church of Kirkmaiden, perched on the cliffs on the South West cost of Scotland. Probably one of the prettiest places to be laid to rest 😍 I have shared below a short about one of the burials there ⬇️

Day 21 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'bronze'. An unexpected find in a Somerset cemetery. The grave belongs to Lt Col John Marshall Field MBE. 📍East Coker cemetery, Somerset 📷⬇️

Day 20 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Wreath' This lovely fruity Wreath is up on the wall inside the parish church and remembers Edward Bunting Loynes - church warden for 54 years. 📍St Nicholas, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

Day 19 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Social Group'. I dont know anything about this grave marker, but I like it. 📍All Saints, Faringdon, Oxfordshire

Why do so many medieval church doors have iron studs on their exterior face? 1/7 📷 - All Images of South Door at St Mary's, Derwen, Denbighshire

There are rows and rows of Guinea Graves at Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds. If a poor family could find a guinea (21 shillings) they could have a shared grave with an inscription of up to 36 letters. It was half price for under 7's. /1 #31daysofgraves

Day 18 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'mistake' A smugglers headstone today to Robert Debney and William Cooper, who died in an unfortunate accident on 22 June 1778. The mistake is that the headstone notes the men as being 28 and 18 respectively, but parish records show Debney was 30. 🧵⬇️⬇️

Day 17 #31DaysOfGraves is 'relocated' I've chosen a very old one today. Two Roman coffins, discovered in 1815, which now sit outside of the Norris Museum in St Ives (Huntingdonshire)

Our Epitaph: East Anglia podcast relaunched today! Episode one available on Spotify, YouTube, Substack, and probably some places Ive never heard of! open.spotify.com/episode/5rGH...

Epitaph : East Anglia // Episode One - Peasenhall, Suffolk

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Day 16 of #31DaysOfGraves - Obelisk "REMOVED in the midst of his USEFULNESS. READER be ye also ready" A cheery warning about the fleeting nature of life on Alexander Cowper's obelisk monument in Wigtown Kirkyard in Dumfries and Galloway.

Day 16 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'obelisk' The plaque reads 'Sacred to the memory if Henry Nicholas Ground ME of East Howle Colliery. Who died 11th March 1881, aged 31. Erected as a tribute of respect to his memory by the workmen and friends.' 📍Found in St Lukes, Ferryhill, Co. Durham.

Day 15 #31DaysOfGraves is 'damaged'. I've chosen this ceramic headstone, one of many in this style in the cemetery. It belongs to Pvt Joseph Gale of the Royal Sussex Regiment. He died in Eastbourne Hospital on March 30th 1916, aged just 24. A casualty of the Great War. 📍South Hetton, Co Durham

Day 14 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'inside' Not an intentional interior viewing of this collapsed vault, photographed last year. 📍St Thomas a Becket, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire.

Day 13 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'skeleton' Today, we are at the grave of George Hopper. The tomb has some fantastic carvings, but beware! It is said that if you see Death's scythe move, you will follow George to the other side! ☠️ 📍 St Mary's, Barnard Castle, County Durham.

Day 12 #31DaysOfGraves is Notable Women. I'm sharing one of my favourite effigies.The reclining figure of Rose Claxton, who died in 1601, aged just 23. 📌 St George's Church, Rollesby ▪︎ Norfolk

Its day 11 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is military. This was always going to be a difficult one. I primarily record military graves and have almost 10,000 photographed. Their stories are all worth telling, so I decided to select one for aesthetics. Cont.... ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Y'know what I dont have pictures of? Urns, apparently. Its day 10 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is Urn. After going through about 7000 photos, I came to realise its something I dont photograph 🙈 So please enjoy possibly the only image I have that comes close ⚱️ 📍Cottenham Dissenters Cemetery

Day 9 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'hand'. I've borrowed an image from my side-quest, The Jeevar Archive, today. The grave is that of Mary Richards. According to local legend she died at the altar, just moments after the wedding ring was placed on her hand as she was being married. 🧵⬇️

Day 8 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Glass' Here at St Nicholas' Church, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, the beautiful stained glass window is reflected in the memorial to a son of the town lost in the First World War. Alfred Gordon Calthrop 2nd Lt 11th Bttn Royal Fusiliers. KIA near Ypres.

Dovecote Barnack, Huntingdonshire - I dont know exactly where this was or if it is still standing... so if anyone local can enlighten me, I'd be most grateful!! It worldvgave been photographed between 1974 and 1978, I think!

Day 7 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Angel' I've actually chosen three, all from 📍 All Saints, St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Ive added a close up of the last one, as he's less than angelic looking these days....