In-Depth Report: Shernborne

In the Domesday Book, i.e. in 1086, there were 64 households in Shernborne. And it would seem (from later archaeological evidence) that there had already been an established settlement there, and agriculture, for quite some time. Archaeological investigations suggest that this site has been occupied since Mesolithic (8000 BC to 2700 BC or Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (late stone age) times. Ref Britannica.

For example, in the northeast of Shernborne, a stone macehead (from Mesolithic times) was found in a field; as well as 3 flint (Neolithic) axeheads.

And in a field to the east of the village, aerial photography identified three possible Bronze Age barrows, which are not visible on the ground today. Many Bronze Age (i.e. dating from 3300 BC to 1200 BC) objects have been unearthed in this parish, e.g. copper alloy axeheads, and copper alloy spearheads.

Early Iron Age (1200 BC to 600 BC) to Roman (55 BC to 409 AD) field boundaries have been identified, as well as a possible Roundhouse (same dates); and a Roman mosaic and a possible temple, both dating from 43 AD to 409 AD.

There have also been a few Iron Age finds, e.g. pottery fragments, some decorative binding, and also a mysterious object shaped like a moustache. (The use this object was put to is still unknown.) Also found here has been a hoard of 173 Iron-Age coins, made in France (I believe) in the 1st century BC.

In 1990, some metal detectorists also found here some Middle Saxon and Early Saxon (i.e. from the 5th to 11th centuries) artefacts, including brooches.

From the Roman era, finds include Roman coins, brooches, pottery fragments, tile fragments (found 1974), a bracelet, and a harness fitting. On the ground, you can see no evidence of Roman occupation, but aerial photography (1950’s and later) shows cropmarks and enclosures and ditches, and a possible Roman villa or religious site is visible.

There was also possibly a Saxon church in the parish, (as described in some 19th century documentary sources), but there is no trace of it today. However, there have been many Saxon finds here, (all unearthed in the north of the parish), including brooches, a highly decorated copper alloy strap end, pottery fragments, and a coin.

So by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, Shernborne was quite a well established settlement. After this, the Lord of the Manor at Shenborne (Edwyn I believe), was thrown out of his lands, so that William the Conqueror could reward his followers and family with land and estates. Shernborne was then divided into several parcels of land (“tenures”) and Lordships.

The Domesday Book (1086) details the settlement at Shernborne at that time. There were 64 households, so at that point in history, this tiny parish was in the largest 20% of all settlements recorded in the Domesday Book!

There were 5 landowners there in 1086:

In the 13th century, the Sharnborne family were still prominent in the area. Sir Adam de Sharnborne was knighted for his actions in the Holy Land under Richard 1 in the Crusades, and his son Andrew also went to the Holy Land, and died in 1249 and is buried inside Shernborne church, in front of the altar.

I was interested to find out if Shernborne residents were badly affected by the Black Death, as over 57,000 people died of the plague in Norfolk in 1349, and Kings Lynn was turned into a ghost town by it, losing half of the population. Two thirds of the population of Great Yarmouth died and other Norfolk coastal towns were badly affected, but I can find no mention of Shernborne specifically, apart from finding a vague mention somewhere that a member of the Sharnborne family died from the plague and was buried in front of the south door of the old church.

Sir Thomas de Shernborne died circa 1458, leaving his son John Sharnborne as his heir. John married Anne, co-heiress of Joan and John Curzon of Billingford, and he died in 1487.

Their descendants farmed here until the 17th century after the death of Francis Shernborne, the last of this family to own the manor and lands, and to bear the name of Shernbourn. The Manor was then sold to a London merchant, who in 1654 gave the lordship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (Shernborne Hall and the farm now occupy the site.)

Point of interest: In 1592, a gentleman of Shernborne with the wonderful name of “Lancelot Smalepeace” died, and his probate inventory can be found at the Norfolk Record Office. I haven’t managed as yet to find out anything more about this individual.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, life was tough in Norfolk. In 1767, with the Enclosures Act, the lands and pasture ground, half year enclosures, common fields, and common or heath ground, in the parish were divided, and only 14 acres of Shernborne land was allotted for the use of the poor of the parish, for fuel or allotments. So families in Shernborne who may have made a living from a smallholding, or from “strip farming”, with the Enclosures Act they found life suddenly changing. The poor lost their rights to gather wood to burn, or to graze a cow or other livestock on land that had previously been available to them to use.

In 1796, two-thirds of the land in Norfolk was used for arable farming, most of which was owned by wealthy landowners, and the general population had no choice but to work as agricultural labourers or servants for the landowners. Shernborne was no exception.

Local people were often only paid for actual days worked (for example, at harvest time), so it became more and more difficult for the ordinary people of the parish to survive. Indeed, I have found some of my own ancestors in the workhouse.

On the subject of the poor of the parish, after 1834, Shernborne became part of the Docking Union, with the local workhouse being at Docking.
From the late 18th century, there was a “rural exodus”, with people all across the country leaving their homes in the countryside to find work in the growing towns (or to go overseas). Poor wages, and access to land for grazing livestock etc being denied to them or greatly limited, led country folk to look for a better life elsewhere. I don’t believe that Shernborne farm labourers would have been any different.

I am also carrying out a “Pitcher” One-Name study, and am in the process of identifying where the Shernborne , (and Ingoldisthorpe and Docking), Pitcher’s moved to.

For example: In the 1901 census, Charles Pitcher and his family had left Shernborne for Leicester; Jarvis Pitcher and family had moved to London.
In the 1911 census, I identified that Robert Pitcher and his family moved from Shernborne to Grimsby, presumably because of the fishing industry. Philip Pitcher, born 1866 in Shernborne, had moved to Sheffield and was working in steel manufacturing.

I have also found some of my younger female (Norfolk) Pitcher ancestors in service in larger towns or cities, having been sent away to work as servants, often at only 15 years of age. The families desperately needed some form of income from them.

Returning to the archaeology of the Shernborne area, between 1790 and 1800, the mosaic pavement was found here, which, on further investigation in the 20th century, was identified as being part of a Roman villa (from aerial photographs).

The War Years: I can find no records of bombs landing in Shernborne, even though many bombs fell on nearby Kings Lynn. But there was a lot of activity in the general area, with approximately 50,000 U.S. Air Force personnel on 18 air bases in Norfolk. There was a heavy bomber base at Shipdham, and RAF Docking was just down the road. So Shernborne would have seen many planes flying across as Norfolk was at the forefront of Britain’s aerial militia.

And the Roll of Honour for Shernborne is heartbreaking. There is a brass plaque in the church dedicated to two young “Pitcher” brothers from Shernborne. I had found out their story whilst carrying out research for my family tree and it was wonderful to actually see the plaque in situ and to be able to take the photograph below. It’s hanging on the wall next to the font. These two young men, Robert and Charles, had left their families in Shernborne to join the 15th Norfolk regiment and to fight for their country. Tragically, Robert and Charles both died on the same day at the Battle of Gaza on the 19th April 1917. Charles is commemorated on the Jerusalem memorial in Israel. Robert is buried in the Gaza war cemetery, Israel. (I’m not sure if Charles is also buried there.)

There is also a brass plaque by the lectern in the church, dedicated to Frank Lewis, born in Shernborne, who enlisted in the 9th Battalion Rifle Brigade and died, aged 33, on the 26th March 1917, and is buried in France. © Roll-of-Honour.com

(Point of interest: In the 1950’s, at the start of the Cold War, Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Posts (ROC Posts) were built all around East Anglia, and one of these was built two miles up the road from Shernborne at Dersingham. They were underground structures with a deep access shaft, a monitoring room, toilet, and their purpose was to monitor the nuclear threat/ fallout etc. and they were operated by volunteers until 1991 when they were closed down; but some, like the one at Dersingham, are well preserved and maintained and open to the public on certain days.)