Local heritage

Learning more local history
The speaker at Old Buckenham WI’s February meeting was Cliff Amos from the Attleborough Heritage Group. He told members about the formation of the group in February 2005 with the aid of an ‘Awards for All’ grant of £8,800. This had enabled the group to set up the centre at Cliff’s home in Station Road, Attleborough, which was formerly the Station Hotel. Since its formation, the group has amassed a large collection of photographs, mainly from family albums belonging to local residents and these provide a public resource for research in family history and local history.
The group undertook a survey of Attleborough churchyard, which was a painstaking task, especially in removing the ivy which had covered the tombstones. All this information is stored on their computer and this has also proved very helpful to people researching their ancestors. The group hopes to complete a survey of other churchyards in the town.
Cliff then showed photographs of Old Buckenham, including Old Buckenham Hall before the fire in 1952, Mr William Booty (a local farmer) at work, the old Post Office situated at one time in Rod Alley Row, the pub which is now ‘The Gamekeeper’ and the former Baptist Chapel. Cliff explained that old picture postcards from some of the well-known printers often display a serial number which does help to identify the date.
He then went on to talk about Attleborough. The railway came to the town in 1845 when the present station was complete. At that time it came under the auspices of the Brandon and Norwich Railway Company and eventually the line became the Great Eastern Railway. He showed photographs of the turkeys arriving at the Station for onward transmission to London. There was an enormous turkey sale at the Surrogate Street market every Michaelmas.
No talk about Attleborough could be complete without reference to Gaymers Cider factory, complete in 1896. It was bombed by enemy aircraft in December 1940 and re-built in 1948. Members saw photographs of the old Wesleyan Chapel, the old Police Station and the very grand Attleborough Rectory which had been taken over by the Army during the two World Wars and since demolished to make way for Holly Court.
Cliff also showed photographs of Church Street and told some anecdotes about the old International Stores, the façade of which is much the same today. He included something of the history of the old Corn Hall, complete in 1860 and much used by local farmers. This eventually became the old Town Hall, then during WWI it became the Red Cross Hospital and 636 patients passed through the hospital during the period 1914-1917. After its use as a military hospital it became the “picture house” showing silent movies before it became a full time cinema. Cliff also stated that at one time there were no less than 23 pubs in Attleborough!
This was a fascinating talk for the WI members, especially as some of them remembered Attleborough as it was during the earlier part of the 20th century, and those members who had only lived locally for a short time were interested to hear something of its history.