Our Society was delighted to welcome Old Catton resident Christina Brailsford to our March meeting.
Christina is a local young lady with wide-ranging expererience in the research and interpretation of local history. She gave us a presentation on “The History of Norwich”. It was light hearted informative, lively, interactive and very engaging. She involved us by asking them to handle interesting historical artefacts bringing her presentation to life. Christina certainly shared her passion for history with us all.
The presentation traced the story of Norwich from pre Roman times to present day. There were lots of interesting facts explained to us:-
- Norwich was very prominent in Roman times, a town was built with heating and sewers, there was authorative leadership, and newspapers were produced.
- The Normans built the Castle on a man-made mound and then they moved the market from Tombland to the present site so they could monitor the daily market activities from the Castle.
- Maddermarket got its name from the madder plant that grew there. The plant produced a red dye which was very lucrative to the weaving industry.
- The canary was brought to Norwich by the Flemish weavers, the birds used to sit by the weavers as they worked. Our football team “Norwich City” has adopted the canary as its mascot.
We are inviting Christina to do a “Christmas Traditions” presentation at our 2016 Mulled Wine Evening (1st December2016).
Margaret White