More About the Norfolk Hundreds

I have just had a really interesting email from Philippa Smith at Carrow House Museum concerning the sampler we featured on 16 September. Philippa writes: I was interested in the Norfolk Hundreds map sampler up for auction and you may remember the one in Pamela Clabburn's book (image above). It is unusual as it is stitched by a Pupil teacher. Pam asked me to do further research and - with the help of a map expert friend - we found that the map was taken from 'A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom' published London 1808. The Norfolk map by Cooper shows the initials of the Hundreds, the numbers being from the index of the Hundred names.

What has always perplexed us are the strange tripod objects, which are not on the Cooper map. It could be that they are Cresset beacons which were often placed on the top of highest building - a church tower - and lit to signal the approach of invasion such as the Spanish Armada, the Jacobite uprisings, or celebration such as VE Day 1945. Apparently Monken Hadley church near Barnet still has its cressett in place. Perhaps someone has more information and can help?