Revelations from old Parish Magazines
The story behind the book:Rosemary and Tony wanted to reproduce selected articles from the original magazines to share interesting information about the early 1900s. By doing so it is hoped to preserve a slice of history hidden in old parish magazines before they deteriorate and disappear forever. By writing this book they hope to achieve this objective and at the same time raise money for charity.
The earliest magazine was printed in January 1908 when several villages launched a joint monthly issue. The last one is for 1933. Sadly, copies for 1911-1917 are missing, but the Rev. Canon Stuart Nairn of The Nar Valley Group Benefice came to the rescue. He offered the facility to copy his magazines for the missing period. This was great news as it was important to include the First World War years to demonstrate the effect it had on the nation.
Some parishes appear more frequently than others, because their parson wrote more interesting accounts.
When a major event occurred, such as the death of the King or the outbreak of war, all parsons wrote about them and referred to local connections. For obvious reasons it was not practical to use them all, only a representative selection.
Although the magazines relate to rural life in over twenty Norfolk parishes, there were times when high prices, unrest and strikes became major issues. These would have affected virtually everyone in the country.
The original magazines were slightly larger than this book and the cost of one old penny was maintained for some time by income from adverts. Several of these have been reproduced, as have a number of old photographs that people have kindly contributed.
Due to age, most of the original magazine pages are discoloured and the print has faded. It has taken hundreds of hours using O.C.R. software and retyping to produce good quality text. We hope you will agree that it was all worth while.
ALL PROFIT FROM THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL BE SHARED BETWEEN THE PARISHES WHOSE PARSONS WROTE THE ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
Our Rev.elations book has been reviewed on BBC Radio 2 Aled Jones programme and The Lady magazine. Both reviewers applauded the book and to summarise, said it was a good read. The Church of England Newspaper wrote, "...the remarkable collection of magazines offering insight not just into the peculiarities of church life, but the way society as a whole behaved...from 1908-1933."
Additional Information and Links
The articles in the book were written by the Clergy responsible for the following villages:
Anmer - Ashwicken - Castle Acre - Castle Rising and Roydon - Congham - Flitcham - Grimston-
Gayton Thorpe and East Walton - Hillington - Little Massingham - Narborough and Narford -
North and South Wootton - North Runcton, Setch, and Hardwick - South Acre - West Acre - West
Winch - Wolferton and Babingley.
Wolferton Station was used by the Royal Family when they travelled in the Royal Train when en route to and from Sandrinham. Our book contains a photograph of my great uncle the Rev Rice R.N. taken by The Queen Alexandra in 1919.
When writing the book we had considerable help from David Turner who is a member of the Narborough History Group and Narborough Airfield Research Group. David has written a fascinating book about the 1st World War Airfield at Narborough.
The Castle Rising History Group contributed information and a photograph for the book.
Some of the articles contained in the Rev.elations from old Parish Magazines refer to the Anmer Reading Room opened and paid for by King Edward VII now the Anmer Social Club. Old photos from the village appear in our book. The church of St Mary, Anmer is in the village of Anmer on the Sandringham Estate close to the Norfolk coast. It dates back to the 14th Century.
Photos and articles from the villages of Roydon, Congham & Grimston feature in our Revelations book.
Great Massingham has been described as one of Norfolk's most attractive villages. An impressive village green, and several large ponds dominate the village. Little Massingham has provided many stories for the book one being: "it was customary for the parish clerk, when chiming the three bells, to grasp one rope with each hand his foot in a loop in the third rope his other leg upon a tomb"
Our co-publisher is The Larks Press specialise in Norfolk books and ours is only one of a good selection.
For more enjoyable reading, explore the many titles written by author Mary Mackie, who lives near Sandringham, Norfolk.
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