| Mattishall
Village Sign .... |
Transcript
by
Iris Coe
For more information there is a leaflet written by
Iris Coe
which is available from All Saints Church |
| The
village sign is situated on Church plain ... |
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Erected in 1984,
the sign was designed by David Summers who is a practising
architect who used to live in Mattishall. The artist was David
Holgate who lives and works in the Norwich area.
The Mattishall Society commissioned the work and a large proportion
of the cost was raised by a local resident, Frank C. Jerome,
(affectionately known as J.J.) who collected unwanted furniture
and other items which he auctioned. "J.J." died before the
sign became a reality. Each of the four panels on the sign
is headed with a different spelling of the village name. |
| © Ray Taylor |
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| MATESHALA
is the spelling found in the Domesday Book of 1086. This
panel depicts a hoard of Roman coins found during excavations
for a new housing development in 1968. They were in a pot
which had obviously been buried. There was 1100 coins which
are now in the Castle Museum in Norwich. As yet no evidence
of Roman occupation has been discovered in Mattishall. |
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MATESHAL
appears on documents in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the
British Museum and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Mattishall has had connections with the latter since 1370.
Edmund Gonville endowed Gonville Hall with the income from
the Great Tithes of Mattishall Church and with the Advowson
(the right to appoint the vicar). In 1575 the Coats of Arms
of Caius and Gonville were combined to form the Arms of the
present college and these appear on the second panel. Also
represented on this panel is the period when Mattishall had
a large number of wool dealers who bought from the west of
the county and sold through Norwich market. At least the law
abiding ones did, but a number of these brokers actually bypassed
Norwich, selling direct to clothiers in Suffolk, a practice
which often landed them in the Norwich court where heavy fines
were imposed. They were known by the uncomplimentary title
of "Mattishall wool Broggers". |
| MATSALL
is engraved on the silver chalice dated 1567, which belongs
to All Saints' Church. The cleric shown on the third panel
is Matthew Parker, the first Archbishop appointed by Elizabeth
I. He was born in Norwich in 1504 and became a frequent visitor
to Mattishall where his friends the Harlestones had an estate.
His wife, Margaret Harlestone, was born in Mattishall and
natives of the village believe that the house behind the butcher's
shop was the Harlestone family home. It is not known exactly
what the house looked like in Margaret's day, but it has been
reproduced on the panel showing how it would have appeared
when refaced around 1700. Unfortunately, no portrait of Margaret
has survived. Matthew's likeness was taken from a copy of
his portrait which hangs in and was loaned by Lambeth Palace. |
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MATTISHALL,
the present day spelling, completes the quartet. This fourth
panel shows a Dobbs Brothers' tumbril painted in their particular
colours. The Dobbs family lived and worked in Mattishall for
well over 100 years, manufacturing tumbrils, carts and harrows.
Through orders gained during the Norfolk Agricultural Show,
the work of Dobbs Brothers became well known and their reputation
spread to Suffolk and other parts of East Anglia. The last
tumbril was sold in 1950. A number of reconditioned Dobbs
carts are to be found around the country, kept as show pieces. |
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