Carbrooke Heritage News: July 2016

 

On 17^th June Tom Thurston presented a most informative talk on the History of the Heavy Horse in Carbrooke Village Hall. Thank you to everyone who supported us. We were able to donate almost £50 to Village Hall Funds.

The Heavy Horse was introduced into this country by the Normans, following their invasion of Britain. These original horses were probably most like the ‘Percheron’  breed, and at that time, were only used by the nobility and as animals of war. No doubt they were seen in Carbrooke, in use by the Carbrooke Knights. It wasn’t until the agricultural revolution that slowly began during the 1600’s and was at its height in the early 1800’s, that Horses were used in agriculture. Improved breeding, introduced the 4 types of heavy horse – Clydesdale, Shire Horse, Suffolk Punch and Percheron. Previously all farm work would have been carried out by man or oxen.

During the First World War, many horses were sent abroad to help with the war effort, and sadly many, if any, of them ever returned. (If you have seen the film War Horse, you will appreciate the sacrifices made by these animals). Following the war, and with the increase in mechanisation, the use of the Heavy horse in agriculture began to decline.By the 1980’s many of them had become at critical numbers. In recent years there has been a resurgence in interest in them, with rare breeds organisations and Heavy Horse society attempting to bring their plight to public attention. Now with use at Farm Parks, and agricultural shows, and ploughing competitions, the public can see these animals at work again, even so, the Suffolk Punch our local Heavy Horse, is still at ‘Critical’, and there are only 633 left in the world (fewer than the Panda!)

Thank you Tom.

On 19^th June we had a visit by Carbrooke descendants, Jan (Murrell) and her husband Trevor Cloake, from Australia. Following attendance at our morning church service, we chatted with Jan and Trevor about the Murrell family who were stalwart members of the Carbrooke community for centuries. A ‘Murrell’ can be seen on almost the first page of the Carbrooke Church registers in 1500’s, but sadly the name died out with the death of Reggie Murrell in 1992. Jan and Trevor then went on to visit Enid Clarke who was related to the Murrells by marriage, and was able to fill them in with more village history.

We look forward to approaching residents for the ‘Living History’ project, to ask if we could take a photo of Carbrooke properties, or further interesting information of its history. (we have many different house styles in Carbrooke as a broad representation of British building styles over the centuries, so a selection of all house styles will be very interesting – (not just the old ones)! We also hope residents on the Norwich Road Estates will be keen to take part too. The properties will be plotted onto a map to create a ‘history’ of our community as it is now. The information will be compiled into a book later in the year. Look out for the request letters we will be posting to you prior to calling.

20^th July, Helen Riley will be presenting her talk on ‘Carbrooke and the Knights Hospitallers’ for the Trefoil Society. Anyone else is welcome to attend in the Church at 2pm. It is a fascinating talk, if you have never had the opportunity to attend before.

Friday October 21^st Talk by Julian Horn on the effects RAF Watton has had on the local area.

Carbrooke Village Hall 7.30pm more details to follow.

This talk will be taking a slightly different angle from other talks on Watton Airfield. 

All welcome to our informal meetings.