The
following chart contains the descendants of Henry Chamberlain
(c.1620-1666),
a pinner of Norwich, Co Norfolk. In the course of this
research, I examined all Chamberlain's appearing in the various Norwich
parishes to determine which, if any, are connected to this family.
Charts on the unrelated Chamberlain's can be found via the relevant
link above.
There are few Henry Chamberlain's listed in the IGI, born between 1610-1625, the feasable DOB range for Henry, below.
1. Henry Chamberlin, Birth: About 1610 Hingham, died after 29/7/1674, married Jane. 2. Henrye Chamberlyng, baptised: 04 OCT 1612 Upton, s/o Henry. 3. Henry Chamberlain, Birth: 1618-1620 Wymondham, s/o Henry & Joan, died 3/12/1678, Massachusetts, USA 4. Henry Jr. Chamberlin, Birth: About 1618 Hull, Norfolk, died 1678. 5. Henry Chamberlain, Birth: 1619-1630 Hingham, s/o Henry & Jane, died 3/12/1678, Massachusetts, USA 6. Henry Chamberlain, Birth: About 1620 Wyndham, s/o Henry & Joan, died 3/12/1678, Massachusetts, USA
It
is evident here that there are in fact only 3 Henry's, one born around
1620-1630, either Hingham or Wymondham, Co Norfolk, a 2nd is his father
(with a likely off the mark guess for his DOB) and a Henry baptised at
Upton. The entries in the IGI without an exact DOB are, of course, of
dubious accuracy.
FreeREG has two Henry Chamebrlain's: 1. Henry Chamberlyng, baptised 4/10/1612, St Margaret, Upton, s/o Henry 2. Henry Chamberlaine, baptised 10/12/1620, Wymondham, s/o John
Henry
Jr of "Wymondham/Hingham" has emigrated to the USA by the time of his
marriage in the 1650's, so can be safely discounted. An examination of
the Wymondham baptisms in FreeREG indicate the presence of a William,
John & Dennis Chamberlain having children around 1620, but no trace
of a Henry. An examination of the Hingham baptisms in FreeREG reveal a
John & Robert in the 1610's and 1620's, a Richard, John & Henry
in the 1630's (including a Henry Jr baptised 1635). The Henry who
emigrated to the USA would neatly fit the Henry Jr baptised Hingham in
1635 (thus married in his 20's). This leaves Henry Jr, born 1612,
Upton, and Henry (s/o John) born 1620, Wymondham. No further trace of
either of these Henry's is found in the respective parishes indicating
they likely emigrated or moved to another parish in Co Norfolk. Henry
of Upton is probably too old to have been the Henry below. Henry s/o
John is a good match insofar the DOB and note also Henry below named
his 2nd known son John. Was this after his father? Incidentally, the
claim that the Henry who died 1678 in the USA was born Wymondham is I
suspect a result of faulty research, confusing Henry Jr baptised 1635,
Hingham, with Henry s/o John, baptised 1620 Wymondham. Hingham is about
10km distant from Wymondham, by road. Note that a cousin of Henry
baptised 1620 Wymondham, moved to Norwich by the 1640's, about the time
Henry, below, appears in Norwich. Refer to the "Other Chamberlain's of
Norwich" chart for additional details on the Wymondham Chamberlain's.
One
additional possibility can be found in St Stephen's, Norwich with the
marriage of John Chamberlyne and Barbara Coop, 27/7/1615, St Stephen,
Norwich, Co Norfolk.[3] Henry did name a son, John. A subsequent
marriage of John Chamberlyne & Nahomy Bacon, 31/1/1642, St Stephen,
Norwich,[3] may be a son of John & Barbara and a possible brother
of Henry, below. The oldest known sibling of Henry baptised 1620,
Wymondham, was baptised 1616. Could John & Barbara who married in
1615 be the parents of this family, and Henry below?
The
medieval pin was usually of iron topped by a head of solid pewter
sometimes inlaid with glass or a semiprecious stone. In the 12th
century medieval pins became very thin and delicate in
their construction, being made from drawn wire,
with the head manufactured separately. The medieval pin head in turn
then became smaller and plainer. In the 16th century brass pins became
common but retained the large head in solid or hollow-cast brass; but
by the beginning on the 17th century the head, though still rather
large, was fashioned from a second piece of wire wrapped around the
shank. The head usually consisted of three turns and was anchored by
means of a blow from a treadle-operated stamp that spread the top of
the shank. On occasion the blow was sufficiently hard to flatten the
head at the same time. This method continued in use until the early
19th century. 17th & 18th century pins vary greatly in size,
ranging from lengths in excess of 5" (hairpins) down to less than 3/4",
the latter sometimes being hardly thicker than a hair. A few pins of
all sizes were made from iron wire. Common pins probably had small
spherical or hemispherical heads that
were hammered into shape or soldered on. Pins were also headed
with
globs of glass or with the end of the wire bent over and wound around
the top of the shank. Because of their delicate nature, few have
survived today.[55]
Norwich
experienced its last epidemic of Bubonic Plague during 1665-1666; this
resulted in most of the wealthy citizens leaving Norwich. Unemployment
became a serious problem, followed by a severe food shortage in 1666,
which was only averted by huge catches of herring which were brought
ashore at Great Yarmouth. Agricultural wages in East Anglia were very
poor and country life became increasingly difficult; this prompted
people to move from the country into the city in search of work. The
textile industry was recovering from a slump as new interest in fashion
meant there were employment opportunities for many. Norwich was now
exporting its cloth to Europe, North America, India and China. By the
early 1670’s Norwich had a population of around 21,000 and was probably
the largest provincial town in England.[History of Norwich] A report in the London Gazette, dated 22/8/1666, concerning deaths from the Plague, read in full "The Account of
our Bill of Mortality for this last week runs thus, Buried of all
Diseases 218, where of the Plague 201, besides at the Pesthouse 2."[Early Newspapers]
The Great Plague (1665-1666) was a massive outbreak of bubonic
plague in England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of
London's population. It was on a far smaller scale than the earlier
"Black Death" pandemic, around 1350 and was remembered
afterwards as the "great" plague because it was the last
widespread outbreak of plague in England.[Wikipedia] Bubonic
plague is the best known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague,
caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis. The term
"bubonic plague" was often used synonymously for plague, but it does in
fact refer specifically to an infection that enters through the skin
and travels through the lymphatics, as is often seen in rat flea-borne
infections. Bubonic plague kills about half of infected patients in 3–7
days without treatment. The fleas seek out other prey when their
rodent hosts die. The bacteria form aggregates in the gut of infected
fleas and this results in the flea regurgitating ingested blood, which
is now infected, into the bite site of a rodent or human host. Once
established, bacteria rapidly spread to the lymph nodes and multiply.
Yersinia pestis bacilli can resist phagocytosis and even reproduce
inside phagocytes and kill them. As the disease progresses, the lymph
nodes can haemorrhage and become swollen and necrotic. Bubonic plague
can progress to lethal septicemic plague in some cases. The most
famous symptom of bubonic plague is painful, swollen lymph glands,
called buboes. These are commonly found in the armpits, groin or neck.
The bubonic plague was the first phase of the infection. The
plague also spread to the lungs and became the disease
known as the pneumonic plague. This form of the disease is highly
infectious as the bacteria can be transmitted in droplets emitted when
coughing or sneezing. Other symptoms include spots on the skin that are
red at first and then turn black, heavy breathing, continuous blood
vomiting, aching limbs, coughing, and terrible pain. The pain is
usually caused by the actual decaying, or decomposing, of the skin
while the person is still alive. The disease has claimed nearly
200 million lives since the first recorded epidemic ravaged the
Byzantine Empire during the sixth century.[Wikipedia] The
village of Dunston is quite small, with a population of just 107 in
1845 (and an aera of 600 acres). In 1881 the population had dropped to
73. Nearly all the parishioners died of the plague in 1349. St
Remigius, Dunston, as with many of the churches just south of Norwich,
is a rather lonely and remote building - access is via a several
hundred metre walk from a nearby road. The church is rather small and
was heavily restored (and Victorianised) in the late 1800's. The
church however retains its rural feel, both inside and out. It is part
of the parish of nearby Stoke Holy Cross. The church is a pretty
structure consisting of nave, chancel, and
square tower with pinnacles and three bells. It is chiefly in the early
Decorated style, and partly Perpendicular; and was restored in 1844.[Norfolk Churches, GenUKI]
St.
Stephen's Church has a long and rich history within the city of
Norwich. It is thought that a church may have existed on the site from
Saxon times. The earliest known reference to St. Stephen's appears in a
charter of Henry
2nd (1154-1189), giving
posession of the funds of the church to the Cathedral Priory. In
1205 a charter appropriated the church to the office
of the Chamberlain of the Priory for the clothing of the monks. By
1304 a charter ordained the church as a vicarage. St Stephen's is
located in what at the time was known as the 'French
Borough' (roughly today's Mancroft Ward), home to French settlers
brought in by the Norman rulers to keep order with the Saxon
inhabitants. The Mancroft churches (St Stephen, St Peter Mancroft &
St Giles) were established to serve this new area. Around 1350 St.
Stephen's was built as a stone and
flint church. The base of the tower and part of the walls date from
this period, the same time period the city walls were built. The
present day building was
restored and largely rebuilt in the 16th century when the central part
of the church had become unsafe. The Tower is the church’s dominating
& distinguishing feature. The lower half is predominantly knapped
flint. The chequered effect is created by white stone. The offset
tower, forming what is effectively a three-storey porch at
the west end of the north side, is unique among larger medieval
churches in East Anglia. There is evidence that prior to the
reformation there were five separate chapels each with its own altar.
The church remains the centre of a thriving Church of England religious
community, visitors are always very welcome.[St Stephen's, Norfolk Churches, Norwich Churches]
St
Paul's, Norwich, was located just to the north of the city centre, in
the area of Coslany & Pockthorpe. By the early 1900's the medieval
streets had given way to factories and the terraced houses where the
workers lived. St Paul's was a healthy parish with a sizable
congregation. Barrack
Street formerly continued across Cowgate, terminating at Peacock
Street. On its northern side stood St Paul’s Church with its round
Norman tower, gutted by incendiary bombs in the early morning of
27/6/1942; after standing as a roofless ruin it was demolished ten
years later, despite pleas that the tower should remain. The site today
is partially covered by a
playground and by the Norwich ring road. St Pauls' had the largest
of Norwich's five round towers. The church was restored in
the 19th century, but the structure was still discernible as that of a
15th
century Perpendicular church against a Norman round tower. In the
1700's the church had fallen on hard times, in 1773 William
Utten wrote that the very path to the north door was overgrown
with weeds and that the drainage was from the graveyard to the church.
Inside, the
walls were green and filthy with pavements bad and rain coming into the
vestry. The pavements,
doors, seats, walls and windows were all wretched, the gallery was
out of repair and its removal was recommended on safety grounds; the
tower was bad and the churchyard walls falling down. The church
was
restored several times after that, including twice in the early 1900's.
Apart
from its architectural merits, this church was of particular interest
in that originally it served not only the parish but also a hospital
for poor strangers, vagrants, sick and impotent folk. Founded between
1118 and 1145, it became known as Norman’s Spital from a monk of that
name
who was one of its earliest masters. From 1571-1583 it was occupied as
the
city bridewell. Much of
the medieval parish of St Paul's has also been
demolished, replaced by a shopping centre and Sovereign
House. Of the square
surrounding the churchyard, William White wrote in 1883: "A rookery of
disgraceful tenements in St Paul’s
has been demolished under the Artizans’ Dwelling Act, and a colony of
trim cottages erected in their place." 30 years later, Mr F. T.
Hibgame, wrote: "The
most picturesque square in the whole city at that time [Norwich Fifty
Years Ago] was St Paul’s, which showed a complete square of singularly
quaint half-timbered houses. It looked very much then as no doubt it
did in mediaeval times; but alas the jerry builder came along, down
came all the old houses, and in their place arose dozens of hideous
red-brick cottages, all exactly like one another, without a single
thing to redeem their innate ugliness." 23-33 Barrack Street were
the last remaining medieval dwellings in the parish and were demolished
shortly before WW2.[Norfolk Churches, George Plunkett's Old Norwich]
The
area around Tivetshall St Margaret is intensely agricultural and
several 100 years ago villages like Tivetshall would have
supported a vast range of trades and occupations - Norfolk villages
were virtually self-sufficient. Tivetshall originally was originally
two parishes, with two churches, Tivetshall St Margaret &
Tivetshall St Mary, the later was destroyed in the 1940's. St Margaret
sits in the midst of fields, surrorounded by its crowded graveyard. The
early 14th century chancel seems oddly 'stuck on' to the rest of the
church, due to its steeply pitched roof which is also higher than the
rest of the church, almost as if it was a farmworker's cottage tacked
on. The church appears to have been relatively unaltered during the
Victorian period (it was restored in 1862) so retains much of it's
earlier Medieval character and appearance, inside and out. In 1841 the
parish of St Margaret's covered 1698 acres and had a population of 368,
which had only slightly changed by 1883 (then 339 residents).[Norfolk Churches, GenUKI]
St
James Pockthorpe (or St James the Less) has one of the more unusual
towers in Norfolk. The church is broadly 15th century, but the tower
was built within the nave, resulting in a three-way partitioning.
As if this wasn't odd enough, the top was given a fancy octagonal
turret in the 18th century. For much of the 19th century this church
was the home of a particularly firebrand form of Christianity.
Until the 1930s, this was a densely populated area of terraced streets
and small factories. Virtually all of this has since been demolished,
partly due to bombing during WW2 but also city 'redevelopments'. The
church was closed in 1972 and since the early 1980s, St James has been
the home of the Norwich Puppet Theatre. The church, for the most part
of flint, is of Perpendicular style, and consists of a nave, a chancel,
and a south aisle that runs the whole length of both - but with no
clerestorey. Nineteenth century -restorations took place in 1842
and 1882. This later one saw the insertion of fashionable
'mediæval-style' furnishings, including a screen and a Gothic reredos.
The parish of St James was a notorious slum area in nineteenth-century
Norwich. It was dominated by the Pockthorpe Brewery. It was one of the
early churches to adopt High Church ritual.[Norfolk Churches, Norwich Churches]
St
George Tombland. This is one of two mediæval churches dedicated to St
George in Norwich, which may indicate a late foundation date. Tombland
is from the Old English for ‘empty land or space’, referring to the
site of the late Saxon market. The church is built of flint
rubble, but the nave clerestorey is of brick, a high-status
material when it was built in the 17th century. The front of the
south porch was put there in the 1880s, and bears no relation to its
original appearance. Despite being heavily restored in the 1880s, the
church retains a good deal of its Georgian furnishings. Bequests from
the tower date from the early part of the 15th century,
and the rest is probably broadly contemporary. The very top of the
tower is a 17th century repair in the Gothic tradition. St George is
hemmed in by 17th and 18th century houses. Today the Church of St.
George Tombland remain a centre for religious worship.[Norwich Churches, Norfolk Churches] St George Tombland is located on Princes St, just off Tombland. Princes
Street is a narrow lane and finding a decent photograph of the church
is rather difficult. The websites devoted to the churches of Norwich,
as well as various online photograph galleries all show St George's
tower seen over the top of nearby buildings. The photograph here was
obtained from Google StreetView. From StreetView it appears that much
of the medieval parish of St George remains more or less intact, a
rarity for Norwich.
St Peter Parmentergate,
Norwich. The name seems to be originally from St Peter Per Mountergate
(a nearby street). The original building, probably small and in the
Norman style, dates from the late eleventh century. In the fifteenth
century it was completely rebuilt, financed by the prosperity of its
location on a main route through the city, close to the merchants'
quays. St Peter Parmentergate became redundant in 1981. In 2005, after
being empty for some time, the main church building became the Norwich
Centre for Martial Arts. The church, built on a slope, is notable for
its great height. The absence of any cusps in the tracery suggests a
'no frills' building
budget. Parmentergate is a big, urban church, in a somewhat deceptive
setting. It sits in an overgrown graveyard towards the northern end of
the Ber Street and King Street area of social housing and rundown
warehouses, an area now undergoing regeneration. In past times, this
was an important city church. The church sits on a drastically sloping
site, so much so that the Priest door in the chancel has a flight of
twelve steps leading up to it from the graveyard. St Peter was
ultra-Anglo-catholic, as can be deduced from the interior decorations.[Norwich Churches, Norfolk Churches]
All Saints (or All Saints Church Westlegate) sits at one end of All
Saints Green. The buildings to the west of the church survived both the
blitz and the post-war redevelopment and the view up Westlegate is
substantially the same today as it was in the 1800's. All Saints is a
typical late-15th century flint church on a small scale - a Norfolk
village church in the heart of the city. The tower is patched up, the
very top being from just before WW1. All Saints was noteworthy for
being one of the most extreme Anglo-Catholic churches in a city famous
for them. The earliest documentary evidence for All Saints was a major
'makeover' of an earlier building that occured in the 15th Century. The
church was transformed from a place of solid walls and small
windows to an elegant framework of columns and arches supporting a
handsome, canopy-like roof. The tower is fifteenth century, very plain,
without buttresses. Its corners were rebuilt in brick in the nineteenth
century. The top stage was rebuilt in 1913. Some traces of the
pre-15thC building can be discerned, especially on the inside. The
church once stood in a densely-populated area, with its large houses
along All Saints Green and many closely packed smaller houses, with
numerous coaching inns and public houses along Ber Street and All
Saints Green, which was the swine market. The market for sheep and
cattle was moved into the Castle Ditches in 1660 from the Haymarket.
Many people were connected with this weekly swine market which had
moved from All Saints Green to Hog Hill (Orford Place), then nearer the
castle. In the 1930s the slum clearance began, and with the death of
Fr. Maude-Roxby in 1938, the parish went into a decline. People were
moved out to new houses in Lakenham and by the time the 1939-45 war was
over, the district was desolate. The market was moved out to Harford in
1960 and most of the new buildings were shops or offices. The church
closed in 1973 and since then has been used as a drop-in
centre. All Saints has never been deconsecrated, and the chancel has
been reordered as a chapel.[Norfolk Churches, Norwich Churches, All Saints]
St John the
Baptist on Timberhill is located on
the edge of the central shopping area and is one of the smaller
medieval churches in the city. This
site of this church was originally just outside the Castle Bailey.
Timberhill itself was the open area to the south of the church, where a
timber market was held. The building had
fallen on hard times by the 19th century; the tower collapsed in 1784,
the roof was full of holes, and there was a massive restoration
in the 1860s to bring it back from the brink. Internally, very little
medieval survived. Externally, St John the Baptist is delightful, with
that massive 15th century porch and aisles. They also
rebuilt the chancel, replaced most of the windows, and a little
stone bell turret was added at the west end in 1877. Threatened with
redundancy in the 1970's, St John's modern incarnation as a
working church dates back to the early 1980s, when it was designated
the main church for the new Parmentergate parish,
which covers a wedge shape southwards from the town centre containing
the predominantly working class King Street and Rouen Road areas. This
wedge was originally served by about a dozen medieval parish churches.
It is now the largest of the city parishes. 19th century shops screen
the castle
from the church, but this was the closest church to the Castle
entrance, and at one time was known as St John Castlegate. It is said
that executed prisoners from the Castle were buried here at this
church. On the east wall
there is some long-and-short work, which may indicate a date of
pre-1066, although Anglo-Saxon building styles continued in use for
some time after that date. The present church, which was
begun in 1420, replaced a previous building from 1303.[Norfolk Churches, Norwich Churches, St John's]
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Kingdom copyright law images are in the public domain 70 years from the
death of the author or 70 years after it was created if the author is
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