Reepham Benefice
We will remember them... We are appealing to our visitors to help us with recreating the forgotten history of the names of those recorded on our war memorials more>
The history of Reepham is a colourful tapestry of events that outshine some of the more populated areas of East Anglia. Research undertaken in the summer of 2008 has uncovered a great number of ‘forgotten’ events in Reepham’s history.
Salle can boast connections with one of the twenty-five barons who boldly stood up to King John in 1215 and demanded his signature on a then relatively unknown and obscure document: the Magna Carta! This document forms the basis of and constitutes the underlining structure of our legal system today; much of the liberties we enjoy were first established in this ground-breaking moment in English history – where the power of the King was no longer ‘absolute’.
A link exists between Reepham and Geoffrey Chaucer, the great Medieval English poet and writer of the well known collection of stories that make up The Canterbury Tales. According to the records, a daughter of an influential Reepham nobleman married Chaucer’s son.
In the early 14th century a ‘local lad done good’ held the prestigious office of Lord Mayor of London in the early part of the 1300s. If that wasn’t enough, this generous man from Reepham had so much money that he had debtors throughout England, including the King himself. In 1312, according to the archives held at the National Archives at Kew, London, Richer de Refham – the local lad done good – sent his ‘heavy gang’ (30 armed men on horseback) to tackle the King’s exchequer (Lapyn Roger) at Canterbury to demand repayment of the King’s ‘loan’. I cannot, in good conscience, publish here what was written in response to this by the poor servant of King Edward II (who petitioned his Sovereign to bring charges against this ‘ruffian’). It is perhaps a testament to de Refham’s influence and standing in society that the King dismissed this assault upon his Officer without charge or penalty. Such influence did men from Reepham once have over King’s!
With the onset of the dreaded Black Death in Reepham in 1603, wiping out a quarter of the population more than 50 years before it hit London, the roller coaster of historical events continue. With so much history uncovered, it’s difficult to know what to mention in passing comment.
In the coming weeks this page will be developed to include more details about Reepham’s history, including ‘Our Lady of Reepham’, a shrine of great significance in pre-reformation Norfolk.
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For hundreds of years the final burial place of Anne Boleyn has been in question. Based primarily on rumours, conjecture and a small amount of evidence which we have gathered here for your review, we have pieced together the evidence that have led countless generations of local people to believe the impossible: that Anne Boleyn is buried at Salle Church more>
Reepham Church stands on the spot where three parish churches met (2 of which are still standing), but why were three churches built on the same site? more>
There was a great deal of money about when it was built. At least four Lords of Manors, with newly acquired wealth from wool, had land within the parish more>
