Official Guide to North Walsham 2023-2024

144 North Walsham Town Guide
many of his crew of his favourite command,
Agamemnon, from North Norfolk. After
attending a number of schools, at the age of 10,
along with his brother William, he transferred
to the Paston School with the promise of a
firm grounding in Latin and Greek. A relic of
Nelson’s schooldays is preserved at the College:
a brick from the school wall with the initials
“H.N.”. Nelson’s school room is preserved as
it was in his day and he features in the school
song, written in 1907. In early 1771 he joined
his uncle’s ship the Raisonable, and so began a
career in the Royal Navy.
5. Cornish & Gaymer, Grammar
School Road.
This business was remarkable in its day that by
1880 they were employing more than 200 men
in joinery, masonry and other detailed work.
Another 800 men worked on sites further afield.
Robinson Cornish of Knapton was listed in 1858
as a builder and ecclesiastical carver. In 1877 he
joined forces with John Gaymer. The works were
situated on the Norwich Road adjacent to the
Railway station (where the Canneries stood).
Their most famous carver was Charles Simpson
who was born in North Walsham in 1856. His first
piece of work, when only 16, was his carving on
the altar in the parish church. Other examples of
his work are to be found in Norwich Cathedral,
Durham Cathedral, Winchester College Chapel
and a host of other Churches and mansions in
this country and abroad. He spent his working
life with this company.
6. Sir WiIliam Paston, Market Place
Born 1528 of the distinguished Norfolk family,
well known for the Paston Letters describing
life during the Wars of the Roses. Educated at
Gonville Hall, Cambridge, he became one of the
richest men in Norfolk. Following the ‘Great Fire’
of 1600 which destroyed much of our flourishing
town he bought land in the centre of the town
and founded a school for boys. The school was
for the ‘training, instructing, and bringing up
youth in good manners, learning and true fear,
service and worship of Almighty God’. During
the ensuing 400 years the school has changed a
great deal reflecting the changing times. Today
it is a flourishing sixth form college. Famous
alumni include Horatio Nelson, Archbishop
Thomas Tenison and Admiral William Hoste. Sir
William Paston died in 1610 and his magnificent
tomb can be seen in St Nicholas Church.
7. Thomas Dix, Vicarage Street.
Thomas Dix of Brentnall House is best known for
his finely engraved maps that were completed
and published after his death in ‘A Complete
Atlas of the English Counties’ 1882. The Norfolk
map with a view of Cromer Church is a good
example. He was a surveyor and is remembered
for his school books of which his ‘Treatise on
Land Surveying’ reached seven editions. It is
believed that Dix had an Academy here - in July
1803 there was an advertisement in the Norfolk
Mercury for what appears to be a boarding
school, terms 20gns a year. He was certainly a
master at the ‘North Walsham Academy’ as he
mentions it in two of his books in 1808 and
1810.
8. Fisher Theatre, Vicarage Street.
The Fisher Theatre, built on the site of an earlier
barn which served as a theatre, was opened
on May 6th 1828. The Fishers were a very
active theatrical family. David Fisher joined
William Scragg’s Company of Comedians and,
on William’s death in 1808, formed his own
company and proceeded to build 12 theatres
in northern East Anglia with North Walsham
being the last. The theatre, built at a cost of