Memories of a place: Salthouse Norfolk

Introduction

In August 2021, I went on holiday on the North Norfolk coast to Holt, which is well known in birdwatching circles for being one of the best places to see birds on their migration routes. The north east coast of Norfolk is replete with marshland, and much used by a vast variety of wading birds and ducks. Although not myself a bird watcher, a lot of my friends have been all their lives and still are. Initially, in our early teens we’d go up by bus and sleep out in bus shelters. I’m not hardy enough to do that now!

Holt is still my ‘place to go to’ in Norfolk, and I’d grown to know and love the north Norfolk coastline. I’d been introduced as a teenager to the fascinations of the bird sanctuary at Cley-next-the sea. I had known about Salthouse, which is only three miles or so from Cley, since those early days, but had never deliberately visited it before. It’s a hamlet with just over 200 inhabitants according to the most recent census. Salthouse seemed somehow to be ‘off the map’ in a way that Cley never was, possibly because there has been for many years now an official bird sanctuary and a very well-established café from which it is possible to view with telescopes and binoculars the birdlife of the marshes.

Visiting Salthouse itself for the first time last August, it seemed to me to be very unlike the domesticated prettiness of the village of Cley. Salthouse seems part of the ancient landscape that largely preceded human habitation. There are a few old Norfolk cottages, the ancient mediaeval church of St Nicholas, hidden away inland from the coast, and a war memorial located in its grounds, which records thirteen names for World War One, three for World War 2, and one for the now almost forgotten Korean War.

The Geography of the North Norfolk Coast

The name Salthouse derives from ‘salt,’ as salt-panning was a common human activity up and down the coast, judging from the remnants of tools left. Numerous remnants of flint tools and artifacts have been found all around the North Norfolk coastline, including at Salthouse.

 Norfolk had been severely affected by the Ice Age. It had lain beneath vast ice sheets covering most of what later became the British Isles but was not then separated from the continent of Europe. There were periods in which the ice melted and deposited thick layers of till, or boulder clay. Streams at the edges of the melting ice formed rivers containing extensive sands and gravel. The coast then was located far away, forming a line running from the Yorkshire coast to the northern tip of Denmark. The process of coastal change still continues. For example, the villages of Eccles near Great Yarmouth and parts of Dunwich further south are now submerged beneath the sea.

Along the north Norfolk coast there are stretches of salt marsh, chalky dunes, shingle banks and brackish marshes. These habitats have supported a great diversity of wildlife, which has wildly varied at different times in its history. Salt marshes evolved at the edge of the sea all along the North Norfolk coast, as part of a long-term coastal erosion process, where the coastline contained rock layers or fracture zones with varying resistance to erosion. Where softer rock such as flint occurs, erosion could lead to rock pools and then the development of soft marshy areas which, once stabilised, become a permanent feature of the landscape, encouraging the development of flora and fauna adapted to those conditions. The Ice Age lasted between 700,000 and 10,000 years ago. During this period the climate varied dramatically, sometimes much colder and dryer and sometimes much hotter, almost tropical. Sea levels varied, sometimes by as much as 100 metres. In the more temperate periods, huge forests developed and stretched right across the European continent. Animal life varied greatly, according to the climatic and environmental conditions. The area now known as the North Sea was then a fertile plain, populated by vast herds of giant animals, including woolly Mammoths and giant elephants such as that found in West Runton, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bison, and wild horses.

When in around 10,000 BC, the climate gradually became more temperate and stabilised, a great variety of life in all its forms began to develop. The icy barren tundra of the high arctic landscape had broken into patches of open land. By the coast at places such as Salthouse Heath where the soil was relatively acid and therefore vegetation sparser, heathlands developed on land that did not yield itself to early attempts at farming and agriculture.

East Anglia as a geographic zone, especially the inland areas, lent itself to the cultivation of crops and then to the farming of animals such as sheep, cows and goats. This lead in due course to prosperity and the development of human skills in weaving and the production of woollen fabrics and garments.

The Northern Norfolk coast is now mostly populated by its huge diversity of birds, owing to it lying in the migratory flight pathways to and from eastern Europe, Russia and occasionally further afield. Both Cley and Saltmarsh offer refuge to many wading birds, stop-off points in their migration. So far as mammals are concerned, the rivers support otters, and water voles, although escaped minks are becoming more common. A few decades ago, the Coypou, imported from Latin America for its fur, flourished, so much so that it had to be systematically eradicated to enable native species to flourish. Common seals and harbour porpoises can be easily seen at sea. Grey squirrels have largely taken over from the indigenous red squirrel. There is a significant population of bats, with the pipistrelle and brown long-eared being the most common. Foxes, moles, and badgers have flourishing local populations.

The War Memorial Salthouse

What I found very moving was that even such a tiny and remote hamlet as Salthouse had not escaped the ravages of history.

When the commander of the British army in the First World War, Lord Kitchener, launched an enormous recruitment campaign in 1914, he certainly meant what he said on a poster which showed him pointing a magisterial finger of command saying: ‘Your country needs you’!

There are thirteen names on the War Memorial at Salthouse, for World War 1, three for World War two, and one for the Korean war. Two of the thirteen names from World War one were brothers: Lieutenant Edgar Francis Wanklyn Cobbold, born 1895, died January 12th 1916, and his older brother Lieutenant Robert Henry Cobbold, of the 6th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, born 1893, died 9th September at Fleurs, on the Western Front. Two brothers, dying within four months of each other. Their parents were Robert Russell Wanklyn Cobbold (1853-1925) who was born in China to missionary parents and where he also married his wife Mary Elizabeth Cora in 1887. They had eight children in all.

Their parents, like so many of that era, must have waved their sons off to war, only to suffer the grief and agony of them never returning. One way their deaths were commemorated was by recasting and rehanging a bell in the tower of St Nicholas church: for whom the bell tolls. It must have been agonising for the Vicar of St Nicholas, their father, hear the bell tolling for his own sons.

I was able to piece together a few fragments of information about the early years of both brothers. Robert Wanklyn Cobbold (1893-1916) was the eldest son and seems to have made a great impression on people wherever he went. He was educated first at the Kings College choir school and then at Marlborough College, where he studied from 1906-1912. The school magazine, the Marlborian said of him: “one of Marlborough’s best. What endeared him to us all was his charming personality. Who could forget a boy who was so generally loved, for his geniality and modesty, high principles and undoubted modesty?” From 1912 -1914, he studied Classics at Kings College Cambridge. He competed at rowing at Henley, despite a degree of ill health and some sporting injuries. He received a commission as second Lieutenant, then immediately promoted to Lieutenant, and then again to machine gun officer for the Battalion. This was an extremely responsible post in that it was his job to coordinate machine gun fire against the advancing German troops.

He seems to have been universally liked and loved. His Brigade commanding officer said of him:” Robert has done excellent work whilst serving in this division and was absolutely fearless and an excellent leader of men. His machine gunners loved him and would have followed him anywhere. He was killed practically instantaneously by a German bullet just after leaving his guns about which he was so keen.” Had he lived, he likely would have risen far in the Army.

Like his elder brother, Edgar went to Marlborough College, arriving in January 1908 aged thirteen and leaving in the summer of 1912. Edgar was commissioned into the 7th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment on 25th March 1914, aged 19. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 and obtained his pilot’s license, training on a Maurice Farman Bi-plane at the Central Flying School Upavon Wiltshire. On 14th April 1915 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and Flying Officer. Only two days later, he was posted to no 8 Squadron and a month later to no 10 Squadron to continue his training. He left for France as a flying Officer for the 16th Squadron on 3rd December. 1915. Just five weeks later he and his co-pilot and observer Lt Geary Field were killed, flying a reconnaissance mission at a height of 4000 ft over the German lines. The mission aimed to spot German gun emplacements and feedback their information to the British artillery, who would then target their fire on the German guns.

They were flying a BE2c, designed and manufactured by the Royal Aircraft Factory at Royston Bristol. This was a state-of-the-art biplane built and designed as a spotter plane. It was very stable in flight so that the pilot could observe the enemy artillery without constantly having to juggle with the controls. It was however slow, and cumbersome. Whilst the observer sitting in front was armed with a rifle, there was a restricted view, and no protection for its fuel tank. These aircraft were very easy to hit. The German artillery knew that these planes were a threat to their own guns, whose positions could be spotted and fed back to allied artillery which would target their fire accordingly. It was a high priority for German artillery to shoot these spotter planes down, in order to protect their own guns from bombardment. The BE2c had to fly at a low altitude, usually at around 4000 ft, in order to carry out its spotting duties. The German anti-aircraft artillery was constantly on the alert, ready to aim their anti-aircraft fire on a target that was essentially a sitting duck. The casualty rate amongst spotter planes was extremely high. Despite their best efforts to avoid enemy fire by banking and diving, the Vickers BE2c piloted by Lft Cobbold was hit, exploded and burst into flames. There were no parachutes at that time, and the two pilots were seen falling from the burning plane near to Ligny. The international Red Cross recorded their deaths on 26th January 1916. He and Lt Field are buried in the war cemetery at Cabaret Rouge, Souchet.

I have not been able to discover whether the Reverend Ronald Cobbold left a written testimony to his sons, but he did ensure that the bells of St Anthony’s church would forever after, toll for them and the other men killed who were born in or near Salthouse.

Another bereaved father, Rudyard Kipling, did write about his son, who was killed very early on in the war. His only son John died aged 18 on 27th September 1915 at Loos-en-Gohelle. Kipling was initially a fervent patriot supporting the war and using his influence to write war propaganda. After his son’s death, everything changed. He and his wife were plunged into grief for the rest of their lives. His support for the war turned into bitterness.

He wrote surely the briefest anti-war poem, entitled Common Form:

"If any question why we died

Tell them, because their fathers lied."

Salthouse Parish Church

The church dates from the middle of the 13th century, but most of the church as it stands today is the result of a major rebuilding in the late 14th century, and was undertaken under the patronage of Sir Henry Heydon of Baconsthorpe. It consists of a west tower, a combined nave and chancel, north and south aisles, north and south porches, and a vestry on the north side. Two of the figures on the painted screen inside the church may be those of Sir Henry Heydon and his wife.

The church is situated on a hill overlooking the marshes and the sea. These embankments were originally built by Sir Henry Heydon. Heydon had acquired his position of influence through family inheritance. The Heydons were one of many families, members of the landed gentry from land originally bequeathed to them following the Norman Conquest. They had become rich and prosperous through developing extensive herds of sheep, gathering the wool and then making garments for sale.

Sir Henry Heydon was the son of John Heydon of Baconsthorpe, possibly using workmen who also worked on the castle. Construction of this rebuilt church was completed in 1503. Henry Heydon trained as a lawyer, and frequently acted as advisor and consultant to several other Norfolk land-owners. He served as Justice of the Peace in Norfolk from the 14080s.

He was immensely wealthy since he inherited from his father about a dozen manor houses with their accompanying land. He was knighted by Henry 7th in 1485. Through his roles as local Steward of the land he was very much a servant of the Crown, and attended the arrival of Catherine of Aragon when she arrived in England in 1501. Some of his accumulated wealth he spent on building projects. In Norfolk, he completed the castle begun by his father at Baconthorpe, restored the parish church at Kelling, and rebuilt the church at Salthouse. This became a very imposing building, much expanded from its Norman origins.

Only a part of the originally Norman west of the building survives. The fifteenth-century church consists of a west tower, a combined nave and chancel, north and south porches, and a vestry.

Hannah Johnson

One of the inscriptions on the floor of the church is that of Hannah Johnson: “Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Hannah Johnson, died Relict of William Johnson, Gent, Late of this parish who departed this life aged 81 on February 12th 1837. She was born in 1756. Her brother William was born in 1749 and died in 1814. It would seem she did not marry herself, and she was the sister of William Johnson. A gentleman in nineteenth-century England was the lowest rank of the landed gentry, often the younger son of an established land-owning family.