Downham Market History

(W Wayman , 1890. Mr Howes , no 23 . First Sergant and Line Marker ) .

“Copy of the Articles of Enrolment, and the Rules and Regulations of the Downham Cavalry, composed of Gentlemen and Yeomen in the Hundred and Half of Clackclose, in the county of Norfolk . Downham , Printed by Robert Thorogood, jun.

Articles of Enrolment .

We whose Names are subscribed unto the Enrolment , in pursuance of an Act of Parliament for the encouragement and disciplining of such Corps or Companies of Men as shall voluntarily enrol themselves for the defence of their Town and Coasts, or for the general defence of the Kingdom , to form a Corps or Cavalry , to be called the Downham Cavalry , do voluntarily enrol ourselves for the internal defence and Security of the Kingdom, on the following conditions :-

.WAR MEMORIAL IN ST EDMUND’S DOWNHAM MARKET

WAR MEMORIAL DOWNHAM MARKET

DOWNHAM’S FALLEN HEROES OF THE GREAT WAR

ASHBY , ARTHUR JOHN . Born 1883 Rugby : in 1911 lodging with Mrs Elizabeth Canham in Bexwell Road ; builders clerk . Enlisted Downham , Machine Gun Corps . Killed in action in an air-raid on the base depot at Etaples . 20th May 1918 . Aged 34 . Buried Etaples Military Cemetery . Awarded British War and Victory medals . Married Ethel L ? living in Chelmsford 1920.

### 300 YEARS OF CARING

The Poor House to High Haven

St Mark’s Gospel chapter 14 verse 7 in the King James version has " For ye have the poor with you always , and whensoever ye will ye may do them good . "

For as long as the church of St Edmund has stood on the hill in Downham Market , there will have been a poor house alongside , maintained by the church and for the benefit of the poorest people of Downham .

copyright Eastern Daily Press : Images of Norfolk 1995.

The Great Ouse Flood Protection Scheme was a massive undertaking . The river rises in Northamptonshire and runs 165 miles out to King’s Lynn.

The first of the very bad flooding in living memory came in 1947 following the thaw of a record breakingly cold winter when snow and ice persisted for months . The second and more damaging with extensive loss of life both here and in the Netherlands was in 1953.

At the end , on that hot August Saturday , on Norwich Castle hill , there was a delay. A rumour of a reprieve " and the execution not taking place until half past one , gave strength to that rumour . " But no urgent galloping horse, no urgent running man brought a reprieve . The due process of the law continued inexorably . A cynic might believe that a public hanging as late as half past one on a summer Saturday afternoon would guarantee to attract a bigger public audience , the better to educate them in the ways of the law versus the law breaker . Castle Hill was crowded with the curious and the ghoulish and the thrill seekers .

TOP NEWS

ENGLISH HERITAGE HAVE LISTED AND SAVED THE SIGNAL BOX AT DOWNHAM AS OF JULY 2013.

As early as 1824 , the dawn of the railway era, a prospectus of the Norfolk and Suffolk Rail Road company was being circulated in the newspapers of the day , in themselves a new form of communication . The railway would take the line from London to Norwich and then divide east to Yarmouth and west to King’s Lynn.

No doubt in the depths of the National Archives and in sources in the Norfolk Record Office like the Quarter Sessions , as yet un indexed, there would be more about crime and punishment in Downham and district . These are just a few of the problems which beset the authorities in the first half of the 19th C.

First is an increasingly acrimonious exchange of letters between the first Chief Constable of Norfolk Colonel Oakes, and the ever vigilant Rev E Howman of Bexwell .

Summary of the will of Henry Saffrey PROB 11/583

In the name of God , Amen. I Henry Saffery of Downham Market , gent , being indisposed in body but of sound and disposing mind memory and understanding praise be God for the same . Item I give and devise to my very loving brother Richard Saffery , gent and my dear friend Roger Pratt of Riston , esq, all my dwelling houses , malthouses , stables, outhouses , yards , gardens, orchards, and appurtenances and also all my other freehold and copyhold messuages lands and tenements and hereditaments whatsoever situate lying and being in Downham Market or in any other town or towns which were my father in law’s Thomas Crick , gent , deceased, so long and until my son Thomas shall attain his full age of 24 years , to receive and take all the rents issues and profits toward payment of my debts and legacies . Item I give to my son Thomas Saffrey , when he attains the age of 24 all that dwelling house malthouses etc herein before given and devised to my brother Richard and Roger Pratt , to his heirs for ever failing such heirs then the said messuages etc to my son Henry Saffrey and the heirs of his body and failing such heirs to my dau Frances Saffrey . I give and bequeath to my brother Richard and Roger Pratt , all my messuages freehold copyhold etc in Downham Market , Wimbotsham , Stow , Bexwell , Upwell, Welney , Maney , Hilgay , Southery , not before given and devised In trust that 3 months after my decease , bargain sell and dispose of the same and all my household stuff goods linen plate bills bonds ready money chattels , cattle , and to pay and discharge all of the mortgage or mortgages etc and to put out to interest £1,000 and to apply the interest for the education maintenance and putting out apprentice my said son Henry Saffrey and to pay the capital sum of £1,000 to my said son Henry when he attain 24 years .and any overplus to the education and maintenance of my daughter Frances when she attain 21 years and pay £600 to her . Item I give to my said son Thomas £30 and forty shillings to be distributed to the poor of Downham Market by the churchwardens and overseers at their discretion . I appoint my brother Richard Saffrey and Roger Pratt , my executors of this my last will and testament and give to each of them 20 guineas for their trouble . Dated 27th Dec 1721 . In the presence of John Butler , Margaret Tiffin, Bartholomew Johnson . Proved at London 19th Feb 1721/2 by the oaths of Richard Saffrey and Roger Pratt .