You are here:
Dereham
Dereham maps
Historic maps of Dereham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Dereham maps
Dereham photos
We have no photos of Dereham, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
East Dereham| Scarning| Elsing| North Elmham
Dereham area books
Displaying 1 of 12 books about Dereham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Dereham
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Dereham.
Add your memory of Dereham
or of a photo of Dereham.
School Days
First school London Road Infants, a short time in Scotland and then the Church Infants, each school day walking from Theatre Street (two doors up from 'The Cherry Tree') through the market place and down Church Street. I moved on to the primary at the top of Theatre Street and eventually Crown Road. While at Theatre Street I would occasionally return to the bottom of Church Street to the 'rag and bone' yard with rabbit skins to supplement my pocket money.
I remember some 10 years later when I rode my motorbike from Theatre Street to the chemists at the top end of Church Street, made my purchase then walked out thinking of other things. It was when I got back to Bell Yard I realised my bike was still parked outside the chemist's. So much for being lazy.
My Hometown
I was born in 1928 at Woodhill, Gressenhall and moved to Dereham at the age of 6yrs and left when I married some 20 years later. It was a happy childhood in spite of the war years, in fact it added to the excitement of those years, dashing out to crashed planes, collecting shrapnel, army badges etc and of course the generous handouts from the American troops of chocolate, gum, cigs plus the grub when we went on to the bases at Shipdham and Wendling, bearing in mind that our food was rationed.
Then the Evacuees came to Dereham. I was one of the helpers that walked the children to their new homes.
This influx of children meant that the schools couldn't cope with all of us at once so we only did half days, one week of mornings and afternoons the next, we kids thought that was great as gave us more time to pursue our "war exploits".
We had two cinemas in town, I should say two in... Read more
Norfolk memories
The Wrong Bank.
I can remember an amusing incident when I was about 4 years old. We lived in the heart of the country, there was no such thing as TV, radio or telephone, not much at all in the way of communication with the outside world, so unlike children of today, I was pretty naive. But I had heard someone mention something about putting money in the bank. Why such a subject had been raised in our house I have no idea, as we were very poor, perhaps it was just wishful thinking Anyway, having heard about this banking I decided it seemed like a good thing to do, so I emptied Mother's purse, though I am certain there would have been very little in it, toddled off along the lane to what I probably thought was the ideal spot, dug a little hole and buried all Mum's wealth in the BANK. How was I to nnow there was more than one type of bank? I cannot actually remember the outcome but I... Read more
Sunday School
I can remember when I was 10 years old, walking down this road with another boy of the same age, his name was Arthur Bean and we were from the children's home on the Norwich road, the home was called Garfield House. I believe it is still there. We were both very happy on this particular Sunday afternoon, as we were allowed to be out by ourselves for the first time. After leaving Sunday School it took us what seemed like for ever to get home, but we had a wonderful time. Oh and by the way, we were punished for being late home. David Leeder.
SCARNING SCHOOL
At the age of 5yrs I started my education at Scarning School, I lived at Woodhill [see memory of Dereham] which meant about a 2 mile walk to school with my 10 yr old sister usually stopping to play in the stream at Podmore on the way. School dinners! There was no such thing, it was sandwiches which, regardless of weather, had to be eaten in the playground. I can still remember that the head mistress was Mrs Grand who lived in the house attached to the school. I was only at this school for about a year then moved to Dereham. Scarning is situated on the A47. On the approach from Dereham there used to be a steel railway bridge accross the road but has since gone.It was always known as Scarning Arch. I can still remember a silly little song we used to sing as kids: Young folk old folk everybody come Come and join our company and have a bit of fun Bring a bit of chewing gum and stick it on the... Read more
When I Was A Child
We lived in the hamlet of Saham Waite - about a 2 mile walk for my mother with the pram and 3 older kids every time she needed some shopping. My Granny worked as a cook/housekeeper for a nearby farm and I think we got the cottage as part of that deal. There were only 2 cottages and Baldrow's Farm in the hamlet. Neither cottage had electricity and Mum and Granny cooked on the range and we used candles and paraffin lamps for light. Us kids had the freedom of the land! We were out all day. There was a pond with coypus that we were warned not to go near, so of course we did and we were also warned not to eat the opium poppies in the field where the pond was - so of course we played shops with them - I don't remember actually eating them! I once found a sword in a ditch but during a quarrel with my brother, he took it and then... Read more
The Bawdeswell Plane Crash, The Willows And The Rectory.
Although I was just a little lad I can remember seeing the smoking debris of All Saints Church after the Mosquito crashed on it.
I was staying in "The Willows" which is opposite the church with my mum, my sisters, my cousins and my aunts, who were all evacuees from London. It was a miracle that the plane never hit the house.
Next to the Willows was a corrugated iron building and I remember that there were a lot of cars and lorries that seemed to be stored there. I remember how dark it was in The Willows but my mum told me later that it was because there was no electricity, just oil lamps. My mum bless her is still going strong at 96 years of age. Her name is Hannah, her sisters were Nellie and Kate, perhaps somebody in Bawdeswell will remember them. My cousins who stayed in Bawdeswell were Maureen Goddard, Bryan Donaghue, Kathleen Donaghue, Patricia Donaghue and my sisters Sheila and Veronica.
We... Read more
