{"id":788,"date":"2020-02-16T22:22:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T22:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=788"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:09:29","slug":"medieval","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=788","title":{"rendered":"Medieval Martham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Norman and Medieval Martham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1066 to 1485<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1086, the Domesday Book <\/a><\/em>recorded that Martham had 36 freemen who owned 610 acres of land and 16 ploughs. In addition there were peasant families who made the population up to around 400 people. There was a church with 50 acres of land provided by the freemen who gave money for it to be built. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Medieval ecclesiastical ring from Church Farm<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Domesday Book<\/a><\/em> also has a curious reference to 27 \u2018socmen\u2019 living in Hemsby but owning about 200 acres of land in Martham as well as 30 acres in Hemsby. (A socman is a man who paid rent or gave other non-military service to a landlord for land). The \u2018socmen\u2019 appear to be part of the Danish settlers working in Martham. The land they worked had once been owned by the Earl of Mercia but at Domesday had passed into the hands of Bishop Herbert. Within 15 years of the Domesday survey Bishop Herbert united his Hemsby and Martham lands to form his Martham Manor<\/a><\/em>.
In 1292, The Stowe survey<\/a><\/em> was carried out which provides detailed information about people holding land in Martham. By this time the original parcels of allocated land in the three field system had become over 2,000 strips divided amongst over eight times the original number of owners. By 1300, the population had increased to 1,000 making it a very large village. Martham Manor<\/a><\/em> was owned by that time by the Cathedral Prior of Norwich.
The 1300\u2019s brought a series of disasters to the community. A change in climate led to flooding. The peat diggings filled with water producing the Broads as we know them today. There was a succession of bad harvests. In 1348\/49, the Black Death plague struck the village reducing the population by a third or more.
By the end of the 1500\u2019s, the village had recovered. The Broads provided reeds for thatching roofs and peat for fuel as well as fish and wildfowl for food. Most families kept a pig and cow on common land to provide butter and cheese. The richer farmers kept flocks of sheep profiting from the growing wool trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martham has a wealth of medieval history so it is not surprising that many artefacts have been found that represent the period. The magnificent 15th<\/sup> century ecclesiastical gold ring shown above was, perhaps appropriately, found at Church Farm. It illustrates the baby Christ on the shoulder of the Virgin Mary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Medieval Graffiti<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graffiti isn\u2019t just a modern curse, our forebears indulged in it as well and lucky for us there is an example from medieval times in St Mary’s Church. Scratched on one of the pillars there is a drawing of a \u2018cog\u2019 which was an oak sailing vessel very common in northern Europe during the Middle Ages.  They were used by the Hanseatic League and replicas can be seen in Sweden at Malmo. Cogs were plank built, had one mast and a square-rigged single sail hanging from a yard arm. When you look closely you can see that it is beautifully drawn by an artist with a very good knowledge of sailing ships and how they work. There is lime-wash in the scratched outline and it therefore dates from before the Reformation in the 16th century when much that was decorative was obliterated with lime wash. The lime-wash either wore off or was removed in a later century. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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But why is it there?  Before the days of road, rail and air\ntransport everything was transported by water and even the narrowest rivers\nthat were navigable were used by small boats. Sea-going transport was\nvital and almost every place near the sea had its harbour, jetty or staithe. But\nseafarers had a very risky job. They were in constant danger from the weather,\nthe tides, the hidden sandbanks and rocks and even pirates and warfare. Seafaring\ntook men away from their homes for months, sometimes years on end and they\nneeded to know that people remembered them and prayed for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays we think constantly of those near and dear to us and have\nphotos and other mementoes to remind us to think of them and to pray for\nthem.  Many centuries ago, they did not have these things.  Being out\nof sight meant that sailors could be out of mind too, but they desperately\nneeded to feel that they were not forgotten. The symbol of a ship on a\nchurch pillar would remind people to pray for and remember before God those of\ntheir community who were seafarers.  Sometimes a wealthy merchant\nship-owner would have commissioned a skilled artist to make an engraving of his\nship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At places like Blakeney, Wiveton and Cley, which were important ports in the Middle Ages, you can see several ships scratched on pillars in the churches, but there are few that are as large or finely crafted as ours at Martham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*With thanks to local historian Ann Meakin for providing this information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Medieval Facts for Martham<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n