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History 4 Watton

History in a Modern Time

By Dawn ElizabethPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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With a population of 7,000 individuals, Watton is a growing town and with it, comes a lot of history. Thanks to the charity organization called Museum 4 Watton, this history is now being brought to life.

The Domesday book talks of an Anglo-Saxon settlement but with one artifact from here, it may be that Watton’s history stretches further back than we could have possibly thought. The trustees and volunteers behind the exuberant idea of a museum to our little-forgotten heart took to talk to the general public regarding a museum and the general consensus was positive. So, these inspiring leads took it on to give us our history back or in my case, introduce us to the back story of this town I am quickly coming to love.

Like many in our ever-expanding area, I am not a native of Watton. I am native to Norfolk but had only ever really seen Watton as a town on the way to London from Dereham where I was brought up for a majority of my life.

I work in a local pub and it never ceases to amaze me just how many people are also Watton outsiders. My husband is from Kent originally and I am completely dumbfounded that he isn’t the only one to be brought to the Norfolk countrysides. With that in mind, it seems as though that the worries of the Museum 4 Watton trustees fears would be founded, that we were losing the history of what the town stood for.

If you have been to Watton, I would be extremely surprised if you did not say you had seen the towers and military signage scattered around. More so towards the Carbrooke end of Watton, but that seems to be what most people associate Watton with.

With the little knowledge, I possessed, as in none, armed with a notebook I took to the Watton Museum and was quickly introduced to Kate and John and what a pleasure it was. I hadn’t researched prior as I didn’t want a jaded perspective of what to expect, I wanted a fresh pair of eyes. Having spoken to John and later his lovely wife Jackie, I came away transformed and in awe of the work of what these amazing people had managed to put in.

A little timeline for you. The committee began in 2014 and the name Bonnie Robertson should be mentioned here as a force in their workings. The committee would work towards 2015 where they were given CIO status and it was only upwards. It took a year but in 2016, Watton Town Council voted in favor of the museum and the location at Wayland Hall, a fantastic location right in the heart of Watton center. In November 2016, the lease was agreed and the heritage lottery fund bid was compiled and they were later awarded an excellent sum to start their project.

A labor of love and the passion most definitely shows. It's impressive to hear of the enthusiasm of these people and it is so uplifting and, in a way extremely hypnotic to hear these facts because you cannot help but be fascinated. The volunteers are an inspired and inspiring bunch but where they are a perfect decoration on a beautifully formed cake, their collection is astounding.

7,000 may sound like a lot, it may not but for the size of our town, our history has been greatly underestimated. So, going to the museum, I was nervous because, in all honesty, all I could think to myself was how much I could hear about RAF Watton. My grandfathers were both in the RAF and growing up the family had been to many a sergeant’s messes so, like I say, I was skeptical. Not researching, was a blessing in disguise because it meant that I could enter and be completely blown away. *SPOILER ALERT* IT'S NOT JUST RAF!!

A mammoth tooth!! An actual mammoth tooth!! Findings that had been housed by the British museums over half a million years old, sea urchins dating 60-69 million years ago! And that is just the first display! There were coins and I love coins! I could spend hours looking through a person’s coin collection, hell maybe one day I could start my own. For now, I will just have to settle for my lonely Centenary coin in my display cabinet and my Peter Rabbit 50p I keep safe. For me, the favorite was easily the Celtic Bury Helmet dating 50-15BC. I can barely remember last year, so to be able to have a close up look at the details thanks to their magnifying glass, it’s hard for someone like me to be anything but overwhelmed.

The pride of the display and the birthing of the idea of our history comes in the form of Hero. 'Hero' is an Inhumation found on Norwich Road during excavations prior to the building of what is now known as The Signals estate. Dating to possible Roman times due to his height their replica is humbling. The age, coming from what I learned, was taken from his burial site which was a Bronze Age Burial mound and also due to his height. One look at his femur bone and you can see this man meant business and our Englishmen of the time weren’t as tall. The replica was created from photos of the actual skeleton found, and the detail down to individual hairs from archaeologists’ brush is positively stunning. Hero’s replica was commissioned and paid for by Bennetts homes, the company in charge of the site where the excavations took place. A true sense of community and decency right there, in giving our town a gift like this.

Honestly, I could go on forever about this spot. It is free admission and my husband took two of our children along the day after I visited, or it might have been my children took my husband such was the enthusiasm. They were not disappointed. Their children activities and the thought process in involving them really has done justice to their whole idea all along. It's given us our history but it has also given a spark to children in our area to absorb the area around them. It was interactive and they are also digitizing so many various papers. They also have Latin scripture and calligraphy that is almost artistic it makes you nostalgic for the day when people took pride in writing by hand.

I keep trying to reign myself in because I don’t want to tell you about everything here and spoil it. I will say you need to go and see the massively diverse collection and portal to so many hidden gems in the town of Watton it makes you wonder how it has all stayed quiet for so long.

They are looking for volunteers and their training programme sounds fantastic so naturally, I have signed up with an eye to go on and see what I can do to help, though I feel surplus to requirement.

The work, the effort, the time, the money. I just cannot put into words how impressive this all is. I was there for two hours and only left because I had to pick the children up from school.

Take your children! Go find the mice! Go to Children’s corner! Absorb it! Enjoy it! But more importantly, please thank these wonderful people for giving us a Museum 4 Watton, and History 4 Watton.

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About the Creator

Dawn Elizabeth

I am a mum of three and I am working towards a degree in English Language and Literature. I attempted a degree in Nursing but I found I enjoyed the writing more than the nursing side.

I hope you like my writing too x

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