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Dereham

East Dereham (or Dereham as it is more commonly known) is a large market town which lies 15 miles east of Norwich - just off the busy A47. It is particularly important for its connections with the poet William Cowper and the novelist/travel writer George Borrow. It was also the birthplace of the science fiction writer Brian Aldiss.

George Borrow

In the opening lines of  Lavengro George Borrow describes how he was born in Dereham:
 

'On an evening of July, in the year 18-, at East D - -, a beautiful little town in a certain district of East Anglia, I first saw the light.'

However, it is likely that he was actually born in Dumpling Green (see below) - just south of Dereham. This indicates immediately how Borrow's writing blurred the distinction between fact and fiction. In fact, Augustus Jessop once said of him: ' Scrupulous veracity was hardly a characteristic of the late George Borrow. A man of great memory, he was also a man of fertile imagination.'

Dumpling Green lies just south of Dereham and the house is quite hard to find. It lies at the end of an unmade up road (opposite a thatched cottage with grass growing on the roof). When the track splits in two, you need take the left hand fork. There is a plaque above the door commemorating the link with Borrow.


 

In Chapter 3 of Lavengro there is a charming description of Dereham:
 
'I love to think on thee pretty, quiet D--, thou pattern of an English country town, with thy clean narrow streets branching out from thy modest market-place, with thine old fashioned houses, with here and there a roof of venerable thatch'.

There then follows a fascinating section in which he pays homage to William Cowper - who lived and died in the town. Although not explicitly mentioned - it is obvious from the description that he is talking about the famously troubled poet:
 
'Pretty, quiet D- -, with thy venerable church, in which moulder the mortal remains of England's sweetest and most pious bard.

Yes, pretty D- -, I could always love thee, were it but for the sake of him who sleeps beneath the marble slab in yonder quiet chancel. It was within thee that the long-oppressed bosom heaved its last sigh, and the crushed and gentle spirit escaped from a world in which it had known nought but sorrow.'


Borrow, who had a manic depressive character himself, would have felt great empathy with Cowper's debilitating fits of depression.

See also Norwich and Great Yarmouth

 

William Cowper

The poet William Cowper (1731-1800) is buried in St. Nicholas Church. There is a famous commemorative stained glass window which depicts him with his pet hares - erected 100 years later.

William Cowper

Cowper moved to Norfolk in 1795 with his companion Mary Unwin. At first they stayed at North Tuddenham rectory and this enabled Cowper to visit his cousin Anne Bodham at nearby Mattishall. The couple then moved to Mundesley - hoping that the sea air would be beneficial - but unfortunately it enflamed Cowper's eyes. From here they moved to Dunham Lodge - but Cowper found this dreary and rambling so, finally, they settled in Dereham. On 17th December 1796 Mary died leaving Cowper grief stricken. (She is also buried at St. Nicholas' Church.)

Cowper moved one final time to another house in the Market Place. This has now been demolished and replaced by the Cowper Memorial Congregational Church. By this stage in his life he was suffering from chronic depression verging on insanity. A memorial stone outside the church bears lines from The Task: 'I was a stricken deer, that left the herd/ Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt/ My panting side was charg'd, when I withdrew/ To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.'

St. Nicholas Church

Cowper Memorial Congregational Church

His harrowing poem The Castaway was written during his last years in Norfolk. In it he likens himself to a sailor who is cast overboard in a storm and is facing death by drowning. The poem may have been inspired by his visits to Mundesley where he used to sail down the coast to Happisburgh. Happisburgh churchyard is also full of graves of shipwrecked sailors. The final verse of the poem sounds a note of terrible despair:
 

No voice divine the storm allay'd,
  No light propitious shone;
When snatch'd from all effectual aid,
  We perish'd each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm'd in deeper gulps than he.

Read complete poem


However, his work was varied and contained a number of satires such as The Sofa and humorous poems such as John Gilpin.

Cowper Memorial Window

Cowper Commemorative Window

Tomb of William Cowper

Links:

St. Nicholas Church


The George Borrow Society


Dereham Tourist Information
 

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