Metfield
Metfield maps (2 available)
Map of Norfolk
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Metfield books (5 available)
Metfield memories
Read and share memories of Metfield and Norfolk inspired by Frith photos
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Norfolk memories
Childhood
I grew up at Turkey Hall in Cratfield but Laxfield was more of my village. I worked at Sparrows grocery store and my parents, Terry & Joan Ward bought my first "new" bike from the store pictured here. I remember getting it for passing the 11+ exam and spent hours riding around Laxfield and Cratfield - occasionally stopping to by a Mars Bar at the bike shop. I lived in the area from 1966 to 1986 and have to say I have nothing but fond memories - it almost seems as if life stood still in that quaint village for 20 years. I often find myself doing Google searches to re-connect with pictures of that era of ...read more here
A memory of Laxfield contributed by Rebecca Ward
Many pleasant evenings
The low house was run by a lovely couple named Paul and Janet Parsons. The had a son Zach (Zacky Bongo) and a daughter, Tabitha. What a pleasant atmosphere they always maintained. Friends like the Parsons are rare and sadly I do not know where they are now. We were only a stones throw away in St. Mary's cottage. The only seperation from the pub was a very small garden and an equally small garage. I hope all is well with my long lost friends from Laxfield.
A memory of Laxfield contributed by John Ziv
low house
lived here in the 'low house' for a couple of years with my parents; eddie and anna macleod, in fact i feel my heart still lives here. the sunday hunts, kippers on a friday, local folk groups around the settle, big, thrashy, noisy 'cool' bands in the stable/shed. the beer festivals, the adnams ale and me and my family welcoming everyone into our home, the Kings Head.
xxx
A memory of Laxfield contributed by kirstie macleod
The Thoroughfare.
My great auntie and uncle (The Ransbys) lived at the Bungalow in the Thoroughfare,can anyone remember them ?
I'd be interested to know.
Thankyou
Rod
A memory of Halesworth contributed by Rod Gooderham
Extracts From Metfield & Norfolk books
St Mary’s, one of the largest
in Suffolk, is not a typical
Suffolk wool church, and has
an elegant lead spire. Inside is
the 600-year-old Angelus Bell,
one of the oldest in the country,
which is inscribed ‘Ave Maria
Gracia Plena Dominus Tecum’.
Perhaps the man who made the
bell had other things on his mind
when it came to putting in the
inscription, as he forgot to invert
the words laterally in the mould,
and they appear backwards on
the finished article!
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".
A 20th-century means of pro-
ducing power shares the banks
of the Orwell with vessels which
harness one of the oldest forms
of power. With shallow mudflats
along the banks of the tidal
Orwell estuary, moored sailing
boats end up on their keels twice
a day.
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".
We are looking east along Tavern
Street from Cornhill. On the left
is the red brick and stone Lloyds
Bank building, with its fretted
skyline, while to the right is the
neo-classical Post Office, built
in 1881.
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".
Wolsey fell from grace when he failed to support Henry VIII’s wish to
marry Anne Boleyn, and it was never completed. The brick gateway,
with its barely discernible royal cipher, is all that remains.
Just a few years later, Christchurch Mansion was built on the site of
the 12th century priory of the Holy Trinity. This Tudor country house
is now a museum, and its adjoining art gallery houses a fine collection
of paintings by Constable and Gainsborough. It is interesting to recall
that this marvellous house almost became a housing estate in the
late 19th century. The Cobbold brewing family bought the building
and then presented it to the town, thus enabling us still to enjoy this
monument to gracious living.
Tavern Street contains the Great White Horse Hotel, which, despite
its Georgian facade, is a timber-framed building dating back to the
16th century. Famous visitors have included Dickens (who wrote about
it in ‘Pickwick Papers’), George II in 1736, Louis XVIII of France in
1807, and Lord Nelson in 1800. Opposite the hotel stands a group of
buildings which appear to be Tudor, but are in fact reproductions, built
in the 1930s when such imitations were in vogue. Today, despite the
presence of the two major ports of Harwich and Felixstowe only ten
miles away at the mouth of the Orwell, Ipswich remains an important
industrial and commercial centre.
An extract from from"Ispwich Pocket Album".
The old part of the town is mainly late Victorian, although it expanded rapidly after World War II as an overspill for London.
An extract from from"Suffolk Photographic Memories".