Swaffham, Norfolk

Swaffham is an historic market town with a catchy slogan, "Traditional values, modern outlook." The entrance to St Peter and Paul church is directly opposite the Market Square with its Butter Cross; a small but ornate canopy with the Roman Goddess of agriculture on top (!/?). I assume that it replaced a more traditional market structure in the late 18th century.

We started our exploration at the museum in the 'Main Street' opposite a couple of pubs, the Methodist Church** with the Conservative Club a little further up the road.
Really everything is in the right place for an "historic market town". The museum has a collection of local history and artifacts; Roman, Saxon, Medieval, and later. Rooms are devoted to the role of the local RAF Base in the Falkland War and to adopted son Howard Carter who discovered Tutankahmun tomb.** There is an ornate tea pot decorated for the Methodist church on display.
St Peter and Paul is set in a large grave yard traversed by a public footpath, and across the road is a "Young Man's Home - Church Reading Room and Library" (white building).
We returned to the museum on Saturday (market day ) morning to meet up with Emma Ward, the archivist. I posed to her our dilemma of not being able to locate a record for William Dickerson NELSON's migration to Australia. Her initial comment was trite but also incisive! "There are always missing records!" She added that many Swaffham records from the mid 1800s were missing; they had been transferred to Norwich for 'safe keeping ' and then burnt in a fire. I had just re learnt a lesson I had forgotten ; you can not force there to be a record.
In regard to William's move to Sheffield she said that the introduction of enclosure laws had lead to many people who were displaced from the former common land being shipped off to the new industrial towns like Sheffield.
{Reference Wikipedia: "Between 1604 and 1914, over 5,200 individual Enclosure Acts were put into place, enclosing 6.8 million acres. "}

We then returned to the church passing the Red Lion Inn which dates back to coaching days and was once owned by members of the Dickerson family.          

On Saturday mornings they sell morning teas in the church, which in addition to raising some money is clearly a community meeting opportunity. It also gives a very lived in feel to the church, and brought back memories of 'Ladies Guilds' morning teas!
Again everyone we spoke with was most welcoming, and we were soon in possession of the folder of church inscriptions, and introduced to a lady who had just returned from Australia; "she goes every year you know!" Another gentleman upon learning that we were Australians, commented "Of course we know all about Australia from Neighbors!"

In my mind I could hear a British sit-com star saying, "TV has a great deal to answer for!"

There are a number of Nelson and Dickerson Inscriptions recorded in the church records, which is most helpful as the headstones in the yard are greatly degraded.

Acting upon information provided by 'cousin June' we drove into the suburbs to visit Tumbler Hill where June and a couple of generations of the NELSON's lived. It is a scenic area with a duck point opposite where the street name (photo) is located.
Just beyond the top of the street is a wind generator not too far from where a windmill once stood.