19.—A meeting of landowners and others was held at Yarmouth, for the purpose of considering a scheme proposed by Mr. Robert Stephenson, for constructing a railway from Yarmouth to Norwich. Two other proposed railways were before the public, and in both cases it was proposed to construct bridges over the river. Mr. Stephenson’s railway, first known as the Valley Line, pursued a route which obviated the necessity of crossing the river, but the scheme included a plan for diverting the course of the stream at Thorpe for a distance of about 50 chains. The scheme, which was estimated to cost £150,000, was adopted, and the line, the first to be opened in Norfolk, was called afterwards the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway.
24.—The celebrated Distin family gave the first of three concerts at the Theatre Royal, Norwich.
27.*—“The memorial statue of the late venerable Bishop Bathurst, by the far-famed hand of Chantrey, has been erected this week in Norwich Cathedral.” This was the last work of Chantrey, who died in London shortly after his departure from Norwich. “The estimate for the monument of Bishop Bathurst was £2,500; Chantrey took it for £1,500; the block of Carrara marble alone must have cost him nearly £1,000.”
—The Census returns were published on this date. The statistics affecting Norwich were as follow:—Houses, inhabited, 13,889; uninhabited, 805; building, 53; persons—males, 28,014; females, 33,832; total, 61,846. The population of Norfolk, exclusive of Norwich, was 350,775.
DECEMBER.
7.—A flood occurred at Norwich, after twenty-four hours’ rain. It was the sixth that had taken place since October 5th. “The waters were as high if not higher than on any former inundation of our marshes.”
23.—The Phenomena coach, with its Christmas load, started from Norwich, drawn by a team of six greys, “which were all managed by Mr. Thomas Wiggins, in a style which would have done credit to a
first-rate whip, and which was never before attempted by any coachman on the road.”
24.*—“We have lately had exhibited in Norwich a new system of skaiting on the saloon in the Ranelagh Gardens and at the Corn Exchange. It is called Tachypos, and is a kind of skait each running on two iron wheels about six inches in diameter, and fastens on to the foot in a similar way to the common skait, with protection to the legs up to the knees. With these persons may travel at the rate of nine miles an hour upon the common road. The Tachypos is invented by Mr. J. Ayton, of this city, and differs considerably from the Tachypos lately exhibited at the principal theatres in London. There are at this moment boys exhibiting upon them, and are cutting round the corners and corn-stands with all imaginable ease and rapidity.”
—Wombwell’s Menagerie arrived at Norwich, and was exhibited on the Castle Hill. The collection included a pair of giraffes, one of which was killed by an accidental fall. “The elephant is a magnificent animal, but we think the walking exercise which Van Amburgh’s elephant is obliged to take, instead of being drawn from place to place by some twelve horses, conduces to a clearer complexion and a better state of health.” For the first time, Wombwell advertised that he had a keeper “who goes into the den of the trained lions and tigers.”