Letheringsett Again - What A Day Of Surprises!!

What a day of surprises!  This morning it was raining, wind blowing, whitecaps on the waves of the North Sea.  My plan was to take the Coast-Tripper bus down to Wells-Next-Sea rather than stay stuck in my room at the B & B.  As I walked up the road the black clouds started to clear so I reverted to Plan B.  This was to travel to Letheringsett to find where Sarah Moore and her son, Matthew Moore lived in 1822 and 1851 respectively. My plan was to catch the 10:18 Monday Bank Holiday bus to Holt so I made sure I arrived 20 minutes early  I sat down on the bench at Ottendorf Green next to the station and started to study my History of Letheringsett in detail to decipher exactly where it was that Sarah Moore had lived in 1822. 

The Sheringham Salvation Army band piled out of their white van, set up their brass horns and began to play some of those Salvation Army favourites.  Listening to the music intently, I suddenly heard the roar of a bus taking off.  As you probably realize by now, it was Sunday - not Monday - and the Sunday 10:05 bus to Holt had just left without me.  All was not lost as the 10:30 train to Holt Station was nearby.  Plan B Version 2  was implemented. 

Arriving at Holt Station at 11:05, I went across the street to the bus stop hoping to catch the bus into Holt.  A couple informed me that they had just missed the 11:01 bus into Holt.  The next bus would be at 11:45.  We stayed at the stop an extra 10 minutes in case the bus was late in arriving but then walked the 1¼ miles into Holt.  I carried on down Letheringsett Hill and into the grounds of the King’s Head pub where I ordered a pint of cider and an English ham sandwich.

Sundays are very popular at the King’s Head as all the tables inside were reserved.  So I set up my laptop at a picnic table outside, connected to the Internet and began to review the 1851 census records for Matthew Moore, trying to more clearly pinpoint his residence and that of Sarah Moore’s.

I hadn’t been seated for 10 minutes when a stranger approached me.  “By any chance are you Canadian?” he asked.  “Yes” I replied.  I could no sooner express the thought going through my mind (“I know who you are!”) “By any chance are you Bob Moore?” he asked.  “You are Michael Whelan!!”  I replied.  And that is how Michael and I met for the first time after a surprise connection in September of 2008 and 20 months of e-mail correspondence.

In August of 2008, I had spent a few quick hours in Letheringsett trying to orient myself as to where the Moore family might have lived and where Stephen Moore's pit hole was.  By chance the church was open and another couple was in the process of signing the visitor's register as I entered.  So I signed my name and address with a notation about Stephen Moore's pit hole.  About two months later I received a letter from Michael saying that we must be related.  And so began 18 months of e-mail correspondence as we both researched our family roots.  

By way of explanation, Matthew Moore is our mutual great-great grandfather.  We had planned to meet at the Norfolk Archives office in Norwich next Tuesday.  Michael and Susan live in Kent about 30 miles south-west of London and were spending the mid-term break in Norwich.  They decided to take a  trip up to Letheringsett to look at the gravestones.  By chance, they happened to come into the King’s Head and, by chance, all the seats inside were reserved.  So they had to sit outside at a picnic table two over from mine.  With the Canadian flag dangling from the side of my computer bag, Michael decided to come over.    Otherwise, we wouldn’t have met until next Tuesday.  With hailstones now starting to fall, we moved inside to share a table with a young family where Michael and I chatted about our research attempts.

 Not to complicate things too much, our great-great-great grandfather, Stephen Moore, was killed by a chunk of clay in November of 1804 leaving a widow and 6 children.  This had not been a good year for the family.  Thirteen-year old Sarah had died in July of 1803 and a second daughter named Sarah was born in December 1803.  I could find baptismal records for all the children except the eldest, Jeremiah, when researching the Letheringsett Parish Records at the Norfolk Archives last Thursday.  

Being on-line at the King’s Head wi-fi, Michael directed me to the Free-bmd website which has a database of all parish records.  I did a quick search for Jeremiah Moore on the Letheringsett parish records.  No results.  I remembered that there were references to nearby Thornage parish in other records so I changed the search criteria to Thornage parish.  Bingo!! Up popped results for Jeremiah.

Now that I know the parish, I can get copies of the actual baptismal record and link marriage and death records for him. 

We then went across the street to St Andrew’s Church of England to look at the recent grave (1927) of John Moore.  While Michael and Susan looked at the gravestones, I went to the back of the graveyard and across the street to talk to the people I had met last Sunday.  I asked if I could see their copy of the history of Letheringsett as I thought a map of the houses might be in their book.  There was no map but their book had hand-written notes that would help me locate the residences I was interested in.  I asked if he could make me copies of two pages. 

He came back shortly with an old black-and-white  photo.  "Would you like a copy of this photo?”, he asked.  It was a copy of my great uncle, Robert Moore (son of my great-great grandfather Matthew Moore and brother of my great-grandfather, Edmund Moore), the coachman, perched up on his post on a fancy coach with Lady Cozens-Hardy and her grand-daughter, Ethel Colman.   I could see the manor where the photo was taken sometime in the late 1800s as I looked outside the window towards "The Hall".   

Talk about hitting pay dirt!!

About this time, Michael came looking for me as they had to get back to Norwich.  I made arrangements to go back another day to talk to these folks about the history of Letheringsett.  We next drove down the back roads to Stephen Moore’s pit hole as they didn’t know its location.

They then drove me back to NNR’s Holt station.  I watched 3 trains go by, talked to the live-steam modellers (I had to travel 3,000 miles to see a 15/16” scale 5” gauge Canadian National 0-8-0 !!??) And dropped in on the HO scale model railroaders.

I  hopped  the 4th train back to Sheringham, walked down Station Road to - where else -  The Lobster where I had some fish and chips, a couple of pints of cider, and wrote up today's blog.  . 

A productive day indeed!!  Tomorrow I might go back to Letheringsett.  We'll see.