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Kirby Bedon-The Village
A peaceful South Norfolk village which lies about three miles south-east of the edge of Norfolk's capital city Norwich but protected from it by the flood plain of the River Yare. The Kirby part of the village name signifies the dwelling at the kirken or churches. In the countryside we find English village names with French surnames added as manorial attributes. They are the family names of the Norman lords of the manor. They are thinly represented in East Anglia in comparison with the west and south of England but Kirby Bedon is an example. It was given to Hadenauld de Bidun in 1100--1135. Records show the birth of Ermengrarde de Bidun in Kirby Bedon in the year 1166, her grandfather was Halneth de Bidun of Lavendon.
St Andrews Church & St Marys Church
Before the Reformation there were two medieval churches here, just a stones throw apart on either side of the village street. St Andrews is still at the heart of village life while the ruined round towered St Marys stands majestically across the way.
The ruins of St Mary's Church, Kirby Bedon
(photo by Teresa Goldsmith)
St Andrew's Church, Kirby Bedon
When Langley Abbey was closed by Henry V111 in 1536, during the dissolution of the monasteries, the church of St Mary's land was confiscated by the Crown along with the rest of the Abbey's possessions. After this the church was run by a curate who was an assistant to the parish priest of St Andrew's Church and at this point St Mary's became the less important church in the village. St Mary's appears to have become disused by about 1721. The graveyard of St Andrew's Church looks down onto the Yare marshes and is home to a mausoleum which is the last resting place of Sir Robert John Harvey whose family made their fortune as bankers. Sir Robert Harvey took over the running of the Crown Bank and presided over its spectacular collapse in 1870 and he then shot himself. Earlier he had been one of two MP's for Thetford but when constituency boundaries were reformed in the 1860's he was made a Baronet. Ironically his co-MP at Thetford was Alexander Baring, whose own family bank would also spectacularly collapse more than a century later.
The mausoleum
(photo by Teresa Goldsmith)
American Heroes Honoured
St Andrew's Church contains a plaque erected in memory of four crew members of the "Broad and High", an American Liberator bomber, who were killed when it crashed near the church on the 18th August 1944 as it made an attempt to make it home to Rackheath airfield after a raid on an aero-engine works in Woippy, France. Lt Roger Leister called in when a few minutes from Rackheath requesting priority emergency landing. There was good reason to believe that he could not negotiate a safe landing. It was suggested that he head for the special emergency landing strip at Manston but figuring that he was closer to Rackheath he continued in that direction. Descending at a rapid rate he barely cleared the village of Kirby Bedon, belly landing in a field just beyond. The crash wiped out the plane and killed four of the crew. The others, including Leister, sustained varying degrees of injury. Villagers who witnessed the final seconds of the flight said that Leister had heroically avoided the village and wanted to show their appreciation. Some weeks later the Kirby Bedon minister contacted the chaplin at Rackheath and arranged to go there. He told them that the villagers had collected a sum of money and would like the names of the crewmen of the Liberator so that their names could be placed on a memorial plaque in the church where it remains to this day. The inscription includes a quotation from Abraham Lincoln "Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty."
The Memorial in St Andrews Church
Leister Crew R-36
Back row, left to right...
John Beyer-bombardier, Vance Cridling-navigator,John Bales-co-pilot,Roger Leister-pilot
Front row,left to right...
Darlton Pontius-engineer,Neil Matzek-waist gunner,Philip Snyder-nose gunner,Ernest Schreiner-gunner,George Lifschitz-radio operator,Jess Duff-tail gunner
Note: This picture was taken before William M.Sherrill replaced Cridling in the crew.John Beyer was taken off the crew when they first arrived therefore the Leister Crew was a nine-man crew.
V-2 Rocket Impacts
Another incident was a V-2 rocket launched from Rijsterbos impacting close to the sewage works on 27th September 1944 in which two people sustained minor injuries. Neighbouring villages also suffered from V-2's launched from Rijsterbos. On 4th October 1944 one hit near the school in Rockland St Mary with one person seriously injured as well as several people left with minor injuries. The following day another rocket hit Surlingham with ten injured and thirty-six houses damaged.
Inside St Andrews Church
(both photo's by Teresa Goldsmith)
At The Races in Kirby Bedon
Race meetings were once held at Kirby Bedon. A race card survives from the 19th April 1864 of a meeting organised by the Norfolk Hunt and the 18th Hussars. Another has survived from the 2nd March 1950 when Dunston Harriers were the organisers. The starter at the 1864 races was Donald Steward whose grandson of the same name was a steward at the 1950 meeting. A large crowd came from Norwich on that April day in 1864 causing thick dust down Bracondale and up the long hill from Trowse to Kirby Bedon. One beer tent on the course ran dry on the day. The distance in 1950 was three miles with built up fences and two open ditches. Lord Somerleyton was in attendance as a steward.
Kirby Bedon School
Kirby Bedon school was opened on the 24th June 1878 with 43 children attending in the morning and 45 in the afternoon. The school was closed at times for various reasons such as epidemics of Whooping Cough, Scarletina and Ringworm. In its earlier years a large percentage of the children were absent at Harvest Time. 74 children were on the books by the 5th August 1878 but attendance was very poor when some farmers began harvest on Aug 6th. Only 19 had attended on July 29th the same year when Water-frolic took place at Bramerton. A report on July 7th 1880 stated "In this district 90 children ought to be at school but the average attendance has only been 34 and only 23 were present for Examination." On Nov 5th children were attending very irregularly with the school mistress recording that "gathering acorns is their chief employment." Attendance problems continued during Miss Walker's fourth and last year as school mistress in 1882. Only 17 children attended on Feb 14th and the school closed for two weeks on March 16th because of a measles outbreak. On August 11th nearly all the farmers began harvest and the children were required to carry their fathers and brothers meals to the harvest field. On Sept 22nd Miss Walker reported that several children were absent as they had no boots to come with, which is generally the case after harvest. By May 5th 1893 100 children were on the books and on July 24th 1894, 100 children were present in the afternoon. An unannounced visit to the school in 1896 resulted in the following H.M.I report "I found the teacher with 46 children in a room built to hold 27. The air was foul and the health of the children must suffer." A days holiday by leave of the Board was given on 24th May 1900 in honour of the Relief of Mafeking. In September 1905 older girls attended cookery class at Trowse, they were collected by a waggonette at 9.30am and returned by the same at 4.30pm. In 1912 boys were now walking to Trowse for woodwork classes. One afternoon they walked to Trowse and found the school there closed. A 12 and a half year old boy left to work on a farm in October 1915, "liberated according to the New War Regulations".There was excitement for the pupils on March 29th 1916 when a biplane descended in the field adjoining school house garden just as school was being dismissed. The children were intensely interested and asked the aviator a great many questions. The plane was repaired and the children saw the aeroplane start and take off again. The whole school was engaged in the Blackberry Scheme in October 1918 and between the 1st and 10th October 232 lbs were picked. The school was closed from Nov 4th to Dec 4th that year as the influenza epidemic spread. Few returned on 4th Dec and the school was closed till Dec 20th.On Oct 28th 1919 the school broke up for Peace Week celebration from Nov 3rd to Nov 7th. A School Concert in Oct 1925 raised £4 6 shillings and 11 pence and it was proposed to purchase new gramophone records, floormats for the babies and wet weather shoes for the children. In 1933 the first Sports Meeting of the Yare Valley Schools Sports Association were held on the school playing field and Kirby Bedon School came second. The road by the school was always a danger with various accidents involving carts, in 1936 a pupil was involved in a fatal car accident. An ice-cream van from Ber Street, Norwich, once stopped regularly at the school and during the time when the village still had its Stracey Arms pub one teacher used to send an older pupil to fetch a jug of beer for the teachers. July 1939 saw the children fitted for gas-masks which were tested and disinfected. The following month the children were given first stages of air-raid drill. It was arranged for both porches to be used during air-raids, 30 boys to use the boys porch and 21 girls to use the girls porch. In the event of a fire children would hide in the ditch on the left of the playing field. Daily practices were given and all pupils could reach their places within two minutes. Twelve evacuee children were admitted on Oct 14th 1940 and eight more by Nov 11th although two left. The number on the school roll on 30th June 1941 was 54 Norfolk children and 27 evacuees. On May 9th 1942 twelve panes of glass were broken due to enemy action during World War Two. On July 3rd 1942 the children were very tired and unable to do lessons owing to air-raid alerts at night. On October 6th 1944 several parents did not send their children to school because projectiles had fallen in the district. This difficult time for the school came to an end on May 8th 1945 as the school closed for a "Cease Fire" holiday to mark the end of the war in Europe. In 1949 there were 72 children on the roll and in November that year a Cycle shed was delivered. The school canteen opened on March 15th 1950 and a garden shed was erected in Feb 1952. April 1959 saw all senior children transferred to the new Framingham Earl Secondary Modern School which opened after the Easter Holiday. The school roll in 1959 was now 42 children, 23 juniors and 19 infants. The 1960's brought changes as a television was bought for the school in Nov 1963, a telephone was installed in April 1965 and mains water connected in September 1965. In Feb 1977 the children planted shrubs and trees along the border in celebration of the Silver Jubilee. Sadly though the writing was already on the wall for this special little village school. The school closed for the summer holidays on 26th July 1978 and never re-opened, another victim of the relentless drive to close small village schools in the belief that children needed to attend schools with larger numbers of pupils to thrive. It had celebrated its centenary on 24th June 1978. To commemorate the centenary the pupils had received silver medals made by the father of one of the pupils, Mr Robert Dryland. Part of the money for the medals came as a gift from the education committee and the rest had been raised by jumble sales. It was hoped that the medals would serve as a lasting reminder to the children of their happy days as the last ever pupils of Kirby Bedon School.
  Kestina & Joanna Goldsmith - the The Kirby Bedon School
last ever day at Kirby Bedon School. centenary silver medal
Joanna recalls her memories of the
school below.
Merrilyn Crosskill, Chairman of the managers, described the school as "this little gem of a primary school, where it matters not who your father is or what he does." One of the last pupils who attended the school on its final day was Joanna Goulding,then Joanna Goldsmith. Recalling her days there she said "I remember Kirby Bedon school well, despite the fact that I only attended as a pupil for one academic year. My memories are characterised by the nurturing and caring environment created by the teaching and support staff. I particularly recall Reverend Bawtree and his Religious Education classes, who would have thought that singing hymns could be so much fun. Looking back now, I believe that an important part of the community died on the day the school closed." The last day in the life of the school was marred by the theft of a kettle and sweets intended for a party to mark the end of the summer term.
Kirby Bedon School - The last pupils and staff in 1978
The staff in the back row are the caretaker Fred Clemens, school cook Dorothy Dawson, kitchen assistants Phyllis Cracknell & Margaret Fisher, midday supervisor Jacqueline Hinchley, infant teacher Sheila Paston & acting head Enfys Chalmers. Pupils in the middle row are Kirsty Jiggins,Joanna Goldsmith,Susan Marrison,Rachel Richardson,Lucinda Agar,Michelle Ashworth,Trudy Hallam,Anna Creswell.
Pupils in the front row are Paul Richardson,Ben Potter,Alexander Higgins,Unknown,Benjamin Creswell,Michael Ashworth
 Trumpery Lane, Kirby Bedon
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