The 15 Tonne Revolving Cap And Brake Wheel Of Horsey’s .

Bird Life by Judy CliftSix stalwart members of the Hobby Clubassembled on the Staithe at nine am on thefirst Saturday in May. By rights it shouldhave been five am for the dawnchorus.but at that time of the morning itwas cold, and though it was less windy itwas raining. And none of us could be calledspring chickens.By nine, it was less cold, with a slightbreeze. The sun did graciously come out fora couple of minutes when we eventually gotto Dungeon Corner. Nothing daunted,however, we saw and heard all manner ofbirds. Immediately there were wood pigeonsand collared doves, goldfinches andgreenfinches; in the fields before the mill,were greylag and Canada geese, jackdaws,rooks, crows with a few starlings; a piedwagtail perched on the quay heading. Wewere just past the boathouse when asparrowhawk swooped low across the reedsand flew swiftly northeast; our first sedgewarbler chattered at full tilt and then flew upand parachuted back down into not thereeds; before long, the slightly different,slower song of a reed warbler sounded fromlow within the reeds. Always confusing callsat first these two at first, but should you seethem there is no confusion: the Sedgewarbler has a white eyestripe, and a brightred gape when singing, the reed warbler is auniform buff brown with a paler throat.By the South Broad, chaffinch, willowwarbler, chiffchaff and black cap weresinging in the trees, while on the broad wespotted a dozen or so swans, a greatcrested grebe, some mallard, several tuftedduck, a pochard and a handful of coot. Somegreylag geese flew off, squawking loudly anda few swallows and a house martin swoopedoverhead.Robin, dunnock and a blackbird sang in thehedges, and blue and great tits busiedthemselves in the trees along the pathtowards Dungeons, a great spottedwoodpecker drummed in the distance.On arrival, green and goldfinches wereflitting from tree to tree, singing; a Cetti'swarbler called explosively from theundergrowth; an arctic tern flew gracefullytowards us and on, and three whimbrel,smaller relatives of the curlew, and onpassage at this time of year, flew low overus calling. Whimbrel are also known assevenwhistlers,because,surprisesurprise, as well as a curlew like call, theyemit a series of seven whistling notes.A shelduck flew over, a green woodpeckercalled, a crow sat on its treetop nest as sixlapwing wheeled behind it over the StarchGrass, cormorants flew over and a heronflew lazily eastward. We were turning toretrace our steps when there was a veryfaint but unmissable boom: a bittern! Whata treat. We heard it twice more, and loudereach time as we neared the South Broad.Throughout the walk there were marshharriers: two apparently on the nest, twomore still displaying to each other; reedbuntings perched, calling, on top of reedsand small willow bushes, numerous wrenscalling loudly from deep in the reeds and apair of buzzards soaring overhead.It was good in fun and in good company.Such was the concentration that it took anhour longer than expected.Needless to say, the following day therewere five black terns over the broad andwhitethroats had returned, while theprevious week a white tailed eagle hadbeen seen over West Somerton.butthat is birding for you: the ones that getaway.Page 7

Death in the dunes by Linda LewineatIf, like me, you’ve found yourself holding yourbreath whilst watching an episode of one of thegripping murder/mystery thrillers which havebeen on TV recently, you’ve probably alsowondered where the writers get their ideasfrom!Many are based on true stories and I recentlycame across a report of a local unsolved crimeof the early 1900’s in which Great Yarmouthwas the centre of the nation’s attention!Fleet Street descended on the town in searchof the gory details surrounding the murder oftwo young women whose bodies werediscovered on the South Beach. The chiefsuspect was Herbert Bennett. He was a bit of achancer, good looking and with a reasonablestandard of education he fooled people intothinking he was a successful businessman. Inreality he just got involved in any “get richquick” scheme that came his way.Whether his wife, Mary Jane, who he marriedin 1897, was a party to Herbert’s dodgydealings, or whether she only realised after thewedding what kind of man she had married isnot clear, but it may have been her influencewhich led Herbert to getting a job at theWoolwich Arsenal.This could have been an attempt on his part totoe the line, now that Mary Jane had a baby, orwas it a cover for something more sinister?After all, the Woolwich Arsenal was at the timemaking ammunition to be used in the BoerWar. Apparently Herbert had recently visitedCape Town so could he have been a spy forthe Boers?Before long, Herbert told Mary that travelling toWoolwich from their home in Bexleyheath,Kent was getting too much and he decided totake lodgings in London. Mary Jane and babyRuby appeared to be quite happy with thisarrangement and it suited Herbert as he wasliving a double life, also being in a relationshipwith a young parlour maid named AliceMeadows.To celebrate his “engagement” to Alice, whohad no idea that her new “fiancé” was amarried man, let alone a father, Herbert tookher on holiday to, where else, but GreatYarmouth. They stayed in single rooms in arespectable hotel and from all accountsseemed a normal happy pair of young lovers.It seems likely that Herbert had anothersource of income as he was apparentlysending money to Mary as well as buyingclothes and jewellery for the new love of hislife.Things must have become rather complicatedfor Herbert with talk of marriage to Alice onthe horizon, so when Mary indicated that shethought a holiday by the sea would be nice forherself and Ruby, perhaps this looked like agood opportunity to remove Mary from his life– or did Mary have her own secret agenda?Had she got wind of what was going on inWoolwich and knew about the earlier holidaywith Alice?Naturally, Great Yarmouth was again thechosen venue for Mary and Ruby’s trip to theseaside. They arrived on the 15th September1900 and stayed at a B&B owned by a Mr &Mrs John Rudrum at Row 104, between SouthQuay and Middlegate. Strangely, Mary gaveher name as Mrs Hood and described herselfas a widow from York.Mother and daughter appeared to be enjoyingtheir holiday, even being snapped buildingsandcastles by a beach photographer! On theevening of 22nd September Mary put Ruby tobed and got herself dressed up to go intotown. She was seen outside the Town Hall,possibly waiting for someone to arrive on atrain? Later she was reportedly seen in thetown kissing a man, but whether it wasHerbert or someone else is a matter forspeculation.The following morning, young John Mortonwent to the beach for an early morning swimand stumbled across Mary’s body,Page 8

Coming to your TV soon?His downfall was the photograph taken on thebeach which was found in Mary’s B & B. Thisclearly showed Mary wearing the necklacefound at Herbert Bennett’s lodgings in London.His counter argument was that it was aduplicate necklace which he had purchasedas a gift for his new girlfriend. This was one ofthe first trials in which photographic evidencewas used.Mary Jane Bennettlaying in the sand dunes. She had beenstrangled with a mohair bootlace.Having given a false name it was severalweeks before police were able to identifyMary’s body. They traced her from a laundrymark in her clothing, which led them to theBennett residence in Bexley Heath. By thistime, Herbert, seemingly unconcerned by hiswife’s absence, had removed all his belongingsfrom the marital home.A search of his lodgings revealed a necklacebelonging to Mary. The Yarmouth landladytestified that Mary had been wearing this whenshe left to go out on that fateful evening.The conclusion was that Herbert had travelledto Great Yarmouth, killed Mary and returned toLondon with her necklace. He was arrested forher murder and tried at the Old Bailey.The case became notorious as the Londonnewspapers seemed hell bent on waging acampaign to convict Bennett, disregarding anyevidence in his favour and even payingwitnesses to tell their stories prior to the trial.In Bennett’s defence, records seemed to provethat he was working at the Woolwich Arsenal atthe time Mary was murdered some 120 milesaway and a further witness said that he hadspoken to Herbert on the night in question, wellafter the time that the last train to Yarmouthwould have steamed out of Liverpool Street.And there was nothing to suggest that he hadever owned a pair of boots with mohair laces!Despite his continued protestations ofinnocence and lack of confession, the juryremained unconvinced and Bennett wasconvicted of murder and hanged at Norwichgaol on 21st March 1901. As the black flagwas raised, signifying that the death penaltyhad been carried out, the flag pole snapped,viewed by many as an indication that aninnocent man had been hanged.Mary was laid to rest in the cemetery betweenKitchener and Estcourt Road and her grave ismarked by a coffin shaped stone with hername on it.Many people remained unconvinced ofHerbert Bennett’s guilt and a sense of uneaseprevailed in the town for some years with theunderlying fear that there may still be a killerat large.Unsurprisingly then, the news of the discoveryof the body of 18 year old Dora Green on 14thJuly 12 years later, found on the dunes andstrangled with a mohair bootlace, spreadaround the town like wildfire.This caused quite a furore both locally andnationally as it appeared that quite possibly aninnocent man had been hanged for a murderhe did not commit. The crime reportersflooded the town in search of a story, wellaware of the grave doubts about theconviction of the man whose life had ended atthe gallows in Norwich prison 11 years earlier.Yarmouth was once more in the limelight, butnot for the best of reasons.Concluded on page 17Page 9

A short history of British coinsOn July 1st 1690, two armies faced each otheracross the River Boyne, just to the north ofDublin in Ireland. The commander on the northside was William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant,who had recently been crowned King ofEngland, Scotland and Ireland. The commanderon the south side was James II, the deposedCatholic king, who had lost his throne to Williamonly the year before. The two men were linkedby blood and family ties. James II was both theuncle of William of Orange and his father-in-law.In 1688, William was invited to seize James II'sthrone by Protestant nobles who feared Jameswas founding a Catholic royal dynasty.After four hours of

The summer solstice falls on Wednesday 21st June, the longest day of the year! If you can’t get to Stonehenge or Glastonbury, what could be better than a picnic on the beach or an open air performance of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream? I can’t find one nearby on the actual day, but the Pantaloons