8 June 2026 Norwich

 What a nice city to visit. I stayed about a half a mile from the inner city, and about a mile from my furthest stop today, Norwich cathedral. Lots to do, see, and places to eat. Yesterday was Turkish food, today was Thai food. 

Norwich Cathedral, still standing after 932 years. This place became a religious site in the 7th century long before the Normans arrived, but within 30 years of their arrival, work began on the current day cathedral, and it was completed before 1119. 

I showed up at the front door just before the rain arrived, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but two worthy Volunteers, dressed up in their gear! I love church volunteers! They are so knowledgeable of their churches, and so willing to help! I had 9 names of my ancestors who were supposed to be buried inside the cathedral, and when I showed them the list, we got to work.

The first tomb they showed me was Sir Thomas Wyndham (1468-1509, 1st Earl of Darcy). Here it is above. Most of the tombs in this cathedral are bereft of any identification devices, since Cromwell's troops in the English Civil War did a thorough job of pilfering brass plaques and destroying the tombs themselves. At least the cathedral kept good records and knew where a lot of the tombs were. Another name I was looking for was Elizabeth Wentworth, Sir Thomas' wife. I didn't find hers, but there is a good possibility that she is lying next to her husband in this stone tomb. She lived another 43 years after her husband's passing, so who knows. This may be a two for one deal.

The second one they showed me was the Boleyn Chantry. It is hidden by some drapes to the right side of the High Altar, but the bodies of the Boleyn's buried there are no longer here. Nobody knows what happened to them, other than another incident by Parliamentarian troops under Cromwell wreaking havoc on graves within a church. Geoffrey Boleyn II was buried there as well, and he was my 17th great Grandfather. I didn't know this, but before the Boleyn's came to prominence, they started out as hatters. Geoffrey Boleyn and his father worked as Mercers, selling fine fabrics. This made them very wealthy men. In 1452, he purchased an estate called Blickley Manor, and in 1462, he purchased Hever Castle, which became the Boleyn estate from then on. he was knighted by King Henry VI sometime around then. 

The archway above the Boleyn Chantry at Norwich Cathedral. The Boleyn family crest is top right, the white shield, with one red chevron, divided into three parts with Black Bulls in each section. 

The Boleyn Chancery

Geoffrey Boleyn was the Great Grandfather of Queen Anne Boleyn, and served as the Sheriff of London from  1446-1447, and the Lord Mayor of London from 1457-1458. His second wife, Anne (Hoo) Boleyn, outlived Geoffrey by 21 years, and is buried in the cathedral to the right side of the pulpitum. Her stone also had the brass taken from it by Cromwell's troops, but can still be seen below.

This is not a relative, but an interesting story from a burial at the cathedral. Thomas Gooding. Thomas died around 1600, and was a stonemason. When he was laid to rest, this skeleton of him was mounted in brass with a warning to all.

Back to burials. Yesterday I wrote about the Heydon's of Baconsthorpe Castle. One of them is buried here. Sir Henry Hayden is buried in Norwich Cathedral. This is the Heydon Chantry, on the South side of the Cathedral, adjacent to the Choir pit.

Sir Henry was married to Lady Anne Boleyn, Great Aunt of the Queen of the same name. Her parents are buried in this Cathedral also. My genealogy records indicate that Anne was buried in Norwich, but I think it's pretty safe to assume that if her parents and husband were buried here, the chances are good that she was too. The picture below is where Henry and quite possibly Anne are both buried.

I never would have been able to locate these tombs without the help of the volunteers today. A big thank you goes out to them.

The last burial that was found is that of Sir James Hobart. He was born in 1436, and died between 1507-1517 (my records show 1517, but the cathedral records show sometime after 1507). James Hobart was appointed Attorney General by King Henry VII, and had done some legal work for John Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk. His first wife, Margery Lyhart, is supposedly buried in the Cathedral, and this may be the same situation as Henry and Anne Leydon, where they are both buried in the same place, but the plaques were removed by Cromwell's troops, so there is no way of knowing short of opening the tomb and looking for two sets of bones. His tomb is below.

As you can see, there is a cut out for a man and a woman on the tomb stone above, so I think I may be correct in assuming this is also a two for one. On the pillars in front of and behind this tomb were crests for the Hobart family, as shown below.

One more interesting thing about James Hobart's death year. Wikipedia reports (I know, not a good source of reliable information) the following: 

The Dictionary of National Biography (1891) and other sources cite Hobart's death as in 1507, but Colin Richmond (2005) notes that his will was drawn up on 27 July 1516 and that he died in 1517. The confusion may be due to the statement from the Dictionary of National Biography, which says: "He continued in his office until his death in 1507." And, that there was a sudden resignation as attorney general by Hobart in 1507. But, Steven Gunn states that he resigned in 1507 and died ten years later, which syncs up with Richmond's mentioning of his 1516 will and 1517 death and others, like Gibson, who say that he died in 1517. Moreover, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provides the death as 24 February 1517.

It still doesn't solve the mystery of what year he died, but it does give someone's possible explanation for it. I also found this painting of the Hobarts online, and thought  I'd share it. If anyone can read Latin, please enlighten me to what it says.

Well, that's the big news from my visit to Norwich Cathedral. I'd like to share a few more photos of it before I blog about Norwich Castle next.

                                                    Tiled floor before the High Altar

                                                                      The High Altar

This little guy was sitting on a bench outside of the Cathedral enjoying his sandwich. I'll bet it is peanut butter and honey.

Norwich Castle was ordered built by William I just after he became King. It was a Motte and Bailey castle, that sits very high above the inner city of Norwich. The Castle was used as a jail from around 1220 through 1894, and was in a sad state after that. The city of Norwich moved its city museum to it, and completely re -did the castle transforming it into a recreation of what it should have looked like in its heyday. The ancestors I have associated with this castle were Alice de Norwich, and Thomas Pettus Jr, but listed as having been born here, but there isn't anything left to determine that. I almost would have rather seen a ruined castle than what it was transformed into, which looks rather fake. Anyway, this castle was a bust, but I will show some pictures of what I saw. They had re-enactors entertaining school kids when I was there, so at least the city is getting their moneys worth out of it.

I do have a Robert FitzWalter in my family tree. He was born around 1070, and died in Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, but I doubt if this was what he looked like. He built the castle at Horsford in Norfolk too, but I haven't seen anything other than this suggesting he had anything to do with Norwich Castle. Kind of looks like a young Kenny Rogers, doesn't he?

Reproduction garderobes

This one is from the museum. That concludes it for todays journey. I have one more day tomorrow, then I will be taking a couple day break to go pick my wife Terry up from the airport, so that we can spend our anniversary together doing three more weeks of this adventure.