13.*—“We regret to find some of the finest parts of the antient church of Yarmouth are doomed to destruction. Handbills inviting tenders for the work have for some time been in circulation. The principal object of demolition is the splendid east window of the south isle, one of the most elaborate examples of a highly-enriched style of architecture in the county. This capacious building has long been suffering from the effects of mutilations which every admirer of our antient ecclesiastical architecture must lament. The modern and ghastly eastern windows of the north isle and chancel are deformities which would disgrace a dilapidated church of the meanest village.”
15.—Mr. Farren, of Covent Garden, and Mr. J. Vining, of the same theatre, formerly a favourite actor in the Norwich Company, commenced a short engagement at Norwich Theatre. The plays in which they appeared included “The Clandestine Marriage,” “The Day after the Wedding,” “The School for Scandal,” &c.
—A public meeting, convened by the Mayor, was held at the Guildhall, Norwich, “for the purpose of congratulating her Most Gracious Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert on their late most happy escape from the atrocious attempt at assassination.” The address was moved by Col. Harvey, and seconded by Dr. Wright. The notorious Chartist, Dover, moved a direct negative, which the Mayor refused to accept. The address was then adopted. An address was also agreed to by the Town Council on the 15th, and on the 21st the Mayor and Corporation attended the thanksgiving service at the Cathedral. Addresses were adopted by the Corporations of Yarmouth and Lynn, by the clergy of the diocese, and by various public bodies in the city and county, and a special form of prayer was used at all the churches. A county meeting took place at the Shirehall, Norwich, on June 27th, at which congratulatory addresses to the Queen, the Prince Consort, and the Duchess of Kent were adopted. Dover and a party of Norwich Chartists occupied the gallery and created much disturbance.
16.—John Mountjoy, the pedestrian, commenced a series of remarkable feats at Norwich. At Ranelagh Gardens he performed the task of taking up with his mouth, without touching the ground with his knees, 100 eggs placed a yard apart and dropping them into a bucket of water without breaking them, and leaping over 50 hurdles 4 ft. high placed ten yards apart, making a distance of 6½ miles. He undertook to do this in one hour, and accomplished it in 58 minutes 56 seconds. On June 22nd he began his walk from the Shirehall Tavern, Castle Ditches, to Symonds’ Gardens, Yarmouth, and back twice a day for six successive days, a distance of 76 miles. He finished the undertaking on Saturday, June 27th. After he had crossed Foundry Bridge on his last return journey he was followed by a tremendous crowd, who bore the toll collectors before them and made a free passage. The only remuneration Mountjoy received for his self-imposed task were the contributions prompted by the generosity of the public. On July 13th, at Ranelagh Gardens, he ran a mile, walked backwards a mile, ran a wheelbarrow half a mile, trundled a hoop a mile, hopped 200 yards, picked up with his mouth 40 hazel nuts placed a yard apart without putting his knees to the ground, and jumped over 30 hurdles ten yards apart within five minutes of the time stipulated, one hour. On August 31st he started to walk to London and back, by way of Cambridge, in 48 hours. Leaving Ranelagh Gardens at four o’clock in the morning, he reached Wymondham at 5.5 and Thetford at 9.20, Barton Mills before 11, and Newmarket at 12.45. After leaving Newmarket, he incautiously drank some cold water, which had such an effect upon him that he lay for an hour and a quarter outside the Swan Inn at Bottisham. Having somewhat recovered, he resumed his walk and reached Cambridge a little before five o’clock, and Melbourne at nine, where he was again taken ill and obliged to lie down for an hour. He then struggled on to Royston, where “he was obliged to lie down under a hedge, with none but strangers around him.” On reaching Buntingford he was advised to give in, but he pursued his course to within a mile of Ware, when he was obliged to relinquish the undertaking. Mountjoy, on September 10th, jumped 144 hurdles and ran twelve times round the racecourse on Mousehold Heath in 1 min. 4 sees, under the hour (distance not stated); and on September 13th walked 20 miles backwards and 20 forwards on the Catton Road, starting at 9 a.m. and finishing at 7.4 p.m.
18.—Died at Coltishall, aged 62, Mr. Thomas Stallard Webb, historical engraver to the Queen. “For the long term of 38 years this eminent artist most assiduously devoted his great talents, in conjunction with the late Thomas Holloway and Richard Slann, who survives, exclusively to the engraving of the celebrated cartoons of Raphael from the original paintings in the possession of her Majesty, the last plate of which series was completed only a few weeks before his death. This splendid work will carry down his name to posterity amongst the first artists of the age.”
23.—The foundation-stone of Christ church, New Catton, was laid by the Hon. and Very Rev. Dean Pellew, after a special service at the mother church of St. Clement, at which the sermon was preached by the Hon. and Rev. J. T. Pelham, rector of Bergh Apton. The architect was Mr. Brown, the contractors Messrs. Wright and Cattermoul and Messrs. Watson and Neale, the site was given by Mr. S. D. Page, and the entire cost of the work was £2,400. “More than 300 years
have elapsed since a parish church has been raised in this city. Of the 36 churches, St. Andrew’s is the last that was erected, or rather rebuilt, about the year 1500, on the site of an ancient church.”
JULY.
1.—On the opening of the Eastern Counties Railway from Shoreditch to Brentwood, the London coaches from Norwich, Yarmouth, and other places in Norfolk and Suffolk there transferred their passengers and mails to the trains in communication with the Metropolis.
4.*—“The very antient lectorium or reading-desk which has for many years lain neglected in Norwich Cathedral has, by order of the Hon. the Very Rev. the Dean, recently been restored, and is now placed in the choir. It was originally adorned with figures, which, in the time of the usurpation, were destroyed or mutilated. These figures have been replaced by others cast in brass and elaborately chased by Mr. John Herbert, from models furnished by Mr. Ollett.”