ARCHIVE RECORDS
Norfolk Record Office has hundreds of records relating to Trunch. I have listed some of them from the catalogue, with brief details. Most of them relate to the Manor, land and property but there are references to the school and churches and some letters. Click here for my list. NRO list
The Star Chamber Court
The National Archives in Kew also have some Trunch references in their catalogue. Most of them are the same documents as those in the Norfolk Record Office but there are some different ones. Some of the most interesting ones are about litigation. People seem to have gone to court when there were disputes about wills and land or property ownership.
Among them is an account of some people making a forcible entry at Swafield Hall in 1538 and seizing deeds relating to the manor of Swafield Hall and properties and land in Trunch.
Another case was heard in the notorious Star Chamber in 1610 when Browninge brothers and John Worts were accused of perjury in the Manor Court of Gimingham and of fraud in obtaining a property title.
A case in 1456 is fascinating because it was about debt owed by a North Walsham man, who had land in Trunch as well as elsewhere and it contains a long list of his possessions, including ploughs, harrows, horses, feather beds, worsted hangings, furniture, red cushions, numerous curtains of red worsted, a covering of red and black lions, fire-irons, a Prussian chest, 3 furred gowns, silk pillows, a book of the Siege of Troy, 6 spoons (no knives and forks) and many other things - a fascinating insight into the life of a rich man in Norfolk in the 15th. Century.
In 1811 there was an interesting case. Stephen Coleman, had been convicted in 1809 with Ann Coleman
for the theft of pork, mutton, 6 loaves of bread and 1 yard of linen from Charlotte Etheredge of Knapton. Ann Coleman was the wife of Stephen's brother and the goods were concealed in a false ceiling in a bedroom. Stephen was sentenced to 7 years transportation and in 1811 he was petitioning for clemency as it was his first offence, he was corrupted by another (Ann Coleman), and he was supported by 27 farmers in Trunch and Gimingham. Click here for my full list Trunch in the National Archives
See also the Colmans page
