Official Guide to North Walsham 2023-2024

Historical North Walsham 145
£1,800, initially enjoyed great popularity and
local gentry could have bespoke performances.
In 1845 the theatre was sold for £400 and
became the National School until the Board
School was opened in Manor Road in 1874. The
Fisher Theatre is now home to Wilco.
9. James Empson, North Street.
The first meeting place for the Quakers in North
Walsham was established in 1692 but was
burned down in 1750. James Empson, a rich
miller of Southrepps and North Walsham, gave
land for a new Meeting House on the Mundesley
Road just past the end of the by-pass and it was
completed in 1772. He also endowed Empson
house to Quaker Charities. The estate was sold
in 1929 for eight hundred and twelve pounds
ten shillings and five pence - the proceeds
invested in charitable funds. During the 17th
century Quakers were regularly persecuted
and many were thrown into Norwich Gaol
including James Empson. There were so many
in the gaol that they often held their monthly
meetings there. He was a staunch supporter
of the Friends and they have profited through
the centuries from the bequests of land and
property which he left in trust to them.
10. Walter Pardon, The Orchard
Gardens, 50 Mundesley Road.
WaIter Pardon was one of England’s great
traditional singers. He lived all his life in the
cottage where he was born in 1914, in the
village of Knapton and spent all his working life
as a carpenter. In 1974 a tape of his singing was
received by the singer Peter Bellamy and this
led to him being recognised as an outstanding
singer of remarkable style and repertoire. He
was subsequently recorded for a number of
LPs and appeared in folk clubs and festivals,
including the one held at the Smithsonian
Institute of Folklife in Washington DC in 1976.
Up until this time he only sang at home and
in his ‘local’, the Orchard Garden Public house
which still continues a reputation for musical
performances. Four LPs were recorded and
released between 1975 and 1983 which
helped to prove WaIter’s standing as a giant
of the English folk scene. He died in 1996 and
remains an important source of inspiration for
folk performers, his understated singing style
was ideal to showcase the best qualities of his
wide, varied and sometimes unique repertoire
- underlying his tombstone epitaph as a
craftsman singer.
The project - a thank you.
This project with its plaques and accompanying
town trail leaflet was funded through the
generosity of Action Signs, The North Walsham
Amenity Society, The North Walsham Historical
Society, Broadland Travel, Nigel Horner-Glister,
Charles Horner-Glister, James Horner-Glister, the
North Walsham Rotary Club, Lovewell Blake and
John Cutting.