Features

One of the Society's objectives is to further the study of James Woodforde's world and the setting in which he lived. These pages invite you to share this exploration —
Firstly  by looking at Woodforde's world in a dozen objects, and
Secondly  through highlighting parts of the country with which he was familiar.

I . Woodforde's world in a dozen objects Woodforde's clock from his 'happy, thatched dwelling' [Parson Woodforde Society Collection]

We celebrate the diarist's life through a selection of artefacts. They range from the seventeenth-century oriel window at his birthplace and the marble memorial to his parents in Ansford Church to his longcase clock and the family pew of his great friends at Weston, the Custances. The majority of these items are on public view.

Each link in the list takes you to a separate page with a photograph and description of the object.

Possessions

1 . James Woodforde's longcase clock, made at Reepham, Norfolk
2 . Nancy Woodforde's portrait aged 22, painted on a box lid
3 . The cream jug of Mr Du Quesne, Woodforde's clerical friend

Ansford, Somerset

4 . The Old Parsonage • the diarist's birthplace
5 . The parish church • the mural tablet to Woodforde's parents

Oxford

6 . New College cloisters • the mural tablet to Woodforde erected by the Society

Weston Longville, Norfolk

7 . The parish church • James Woodforde's portrait
8 . The parish church • the Royal Arms of King George III
9 . The parish church • the Custance family pew
10 . The parish church • James Woodforde's mural tablet
11 . The former public house • the Old Hart

Introducing Woodforde to the public

12 . Beresford's five-volume Diary • vol. 1 first edition (1924)

II . Exploring Woodforde country

• 1 • SOMERSET

Ansford: the former Ansford Inn. This was the haunt of the diarist's brothers Heighes and John, whose drinking caused him great embarrassment [photo Margaret Bird 2024]The two places in Somerset with which Woodforde was most familiar are Ansford and the neighbouring town of Castle Cary. Woodforde's birthplace, the Old Parsonage at Ansford, and the mural tablet he erected to his parents in its parish church feature as two of the objects associated with him (listed above).

The diarist retained close family connections with the area throughout his life, including at Galhampton, where his nephew William Woodforde established himself following his marriage, and at Cole, near Bruton, where Woodforde's sister Jane Pounsett lived.

For a short while Woodforde moved to Babcary, a few miles from Castle Cary, when he became curate there soon after his ordination.

The attractive market town of Castle Cary lies a short walk from Ansford. Woodforde's father was the long-serving vicar here, and following his ordination the diarist returned to Ansford to serve as his father's curate in both parishes. Castle Cary Church has been remodelled since their time, but the George Hotel and some of the shops and houses in the principal streets would have been familiar to father and son.

Like the Old Parsonage many are built of the fiery orange stone seen in the older buildings in the immediate area.

Many of Castle Cary's shops and houses retain their elegant frontages [photo Margaret Bird 2024]

A Castle Cary shop dated 1804 in Fore Street, next to the thatched George Hotel [photo Margaret Bird 2024]

• 2 • OXFORD

Oxford: the steps to the dining hall at Woodforde's college. New College's 14th-century hall is the oldest in any of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge [photo Margaret Bird 2023] James Woodforde spent much of his young adult life at Oxford, initially as an undergraduate at Oriel College and then New College 1758–63. After serving a few years as a curate in Somerset, and disappointed in his hopes of obtaining his father's livings of Ansford and Castle Cary, he returned to New College to serve as a Fellow, later Sub-Warden, and as a Pro-Proctor of the university until leaving to become a resident parish priest in Norfolk in 1776.

His diary provides an absorbing chronicle of life at the university in the mid-18th century. Contrary to popular belief, he took his studies seriously. He was evidently an accomplished classicist and exponent of religious faith who saw off competition for the coveted living of Weston Longville in Norfolk. His 1776 New College sermon, demonstrating his quiet spirituality, is quoted in the study of Woodforde the man on this website.

Oxford's Holywell Music Room stands facing New College in Holywell Street. Woodforde attended concerts here while a Fellow of his college [photo Margaret Bird 2024]Woodforde also emerges as quite a combative character in his Oxford years, ready to resort to fisticuffs; he was laid up in bed for a week at New College after losing one fight. He was also a sportsman keen on cricket and skating, and a music lover who records hearing concerts at the Holywell Music Room. Dating from 1748, it is the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe, and is still regularly used for concerts.

Like all the Oxford colleges Oriel, where Woodforde spent a year, and New College are open to the public during normal visiting hours. They are both located in the historic city centre where the diarist spent his college years, close to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and to the Sheldonian, where degrees were conferred.

The Parson Woodforde Society regularly holds its annual frolics at welcoming New College, which houses an impressive collection of Woodforde papers and images.

• 3 • NORFOLK

Map of Weston in Woodforde's time, with labels superimposed [from Bryant's Map of Norfolk 1826: Larks Press edition 1998, detail]WESTON • Woodforde lived from 1776 until his death in 1803 at Weston Longville (then generally known as Weston). It lies ten or 12 miles north-west of Norwich, depending on the route taken. We learn a great deal about the village and neighbouring places from his diary.

A hand-coloured map of Weston and the surrounding area as it appeared a few years after Woodforde's death can be downloaded and printed as an A4 sheet using this link. The pdf is annotated with numerous places which feature in the diary, and has a key and scale.

The A4 map covers an area reached within about an hour's walk of the village centre dominated by the church and the Hart public house at (1) and (2) on the annotated map. The diarist's parsonage house (3), shown in its little park, lies a short distance south-west of the church in what is today Rectory Road, by the turning to Hungate Common. The house was demolished less than 20 years after the map was surveyed 1824–26.

The main Norwich–Fakenham road (turnpiked in 1823 and now the A1067) runs north-west close to the Custances' Weston House (4), incorrectly named as Weston Hall. The road crosses the River Wensum (7) at Lenwade Bridge (6). The lane leading to Weston from the main road is just after the eight-mile milestone close to the White Horse at Morton (labelled incorrectly as the White House).

Another route to Weston leads south-west from Lenwade Bridge past the Old Hall of the Rokewoods (5), the Custances' predecessors as squires. By 1826 the Old Hall was a farmhouse, with barely any grounds. Woodforde's village, set amongst a dense network of lanes, could be reached by numerous other byways, tracks and bridleways.

This density was about to be lost, making journeys in the area rather longer. Weston parish underwent parliamentary enclosure under Hambleton Custance in an Act of 1822. Following the subsequent enclosure award, as was common, roads would be suppressed or diverted to suit landowners' desire both for privacy and for larger and more compact holdings.

We can see from Bryant's map that James Woodforde had a number of lanes running close to his rectory (3) which on modern maps are marked now only as footpaths. He could reach the church by heading east-northeast along the road opposite his drive leading to Dark Lane just south of the church (1). From Green Gates, very near his home, he had a direct route to Dairy House Farm beside the back entrance to Weston House (4). Both these roads are now paths.

The road leading behind the Hart (2) directly to the Custances' park from Dark Lane was closed. Not even a footpath exists there today.

What we learn from Bryant's map is that James Woodforde and his nephew and niece were much less isolated at their parsonage home than is suggested by Weston's road layout in the 21st century.

NORWICH • In 2008 the Society marked its fortieth anniversary by publishing Phyllis Stanley's Walks Around James Woodforde's Norwich, a 48-page booklet describing the city which Woodforde knew. Illustrated with maps and drawings, it is still available from the Society, by post.

Norwich in 1779, in a wealth of detail. The walled city was very familiar to Woodforde on his numerous visits. He often stayed at the King's Head in the Market Place, west of the Castle in the centre [drawn by M.J. Armstrong for Mayor Roger Kerrison; engraving by J. Thompson: Cozens-Hardy Collection]The booklet has been used to good effect by a historian and blogger for his website Colonel Unthank's Norwich – History, Decorative Arts, Buildings. Here he draws on Phyllis Stanley's text to create a well-illustrated portrait of the city known to James Woodforde: Parson Woodforde goes to market.

In a second study taking as its inspiration the Society's booklet we learn about Parson Woodforde and the Learned Pig.