Ditchingham
Ditchingham lies on the Norfolk-Suffolk border close
to the River Waveney.
The village is best known for its links with the Haggard
family.
Sir Henry Rider Haggard
He is buried in the chancel of
St Mary's Church at Ditchingham. Henry also married
Louisa Margitson in the church and the couple lived for
many years at nearby Ditchingham House. (Not to be
confused with Ditchingham Hall across the road.) Most of his
sixty novels were written here. His study was the room
to the right of the main house with the large bay window.
Ditchingham House
Ditchingham House
today: turned into flats
Despite being intimately connected
with Norfolk life, his best known novels - such
as She and King Solomon's Mines - are set in
Africa. As a young man he spent 6 years in Africa - a
time which inspired much of his writing. Like his friend
Rudyard Kipling - his Empire-based fiction reached a
wide and appreciative audience. In fact, for a five-year
period he was probably the best-selling author in the
world. One of his lesser-known books Colonel Quaritch,
VC (1888) is, however, set in Norfolk.
The Norfolk Record Office at County Hall possess a
number of Haggard's hand written manuscripts.
Haggard also wrote books
on farming including: The Farmer's Year (1899)
and The Poor and The Land and Rural England
(1902). Here is a description of the village from The
Farmer's Year:
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'I turn now to describe the land I farm here at
Ditchingham. Ditchingham is a parish of about eleven
hundred inhabitants, containing something over two
thousand acres of land. In shape it is large and
straggling, but the most of the population live at the
Bungay end, for the village and the town meet at the
bridge over the Waveney; indeed, were it not for the
sundering river it would be difficult to say where the
one finishes and the other begins. The village, in the
course of ages, must have shifted away from the church,
which, in the beginning, was presumably its central
pint; at least, not a single cottage now stands near
it.' |
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Gravestone of Sir Henry
Rider Haggard |
Sir Henry Rider Haggard
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Henry's daughter, Lilias Rider Haggard, commissioned a
stained glass window inside St. Mary's to commemorate
her father. At the foot of the window are three scenes:
one depicting pyramids by the River Nile, one showing Bungay from the hills and one of Hilldrop - Henry Rider
Haggard's South African Farm. Henry Rider Haggard was
also the churchwarden here and restored the porch (there
is a brass plaque) and also gave the church tower a
clock in memory of his son Arthur who is buried in the
churchyard. There is also a tablet to his nephew Mark
who died at the Battle of the Aisne in the second month
of the Great War. See also Bradenham.
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Lilias Rider Haggard Sir Henry's daughter is also buried at St. Mary's Church - in
the graveyard. She is fondly remembered for her trilogy
of books about the county:
Norfolk Life (1943)
- with an introduction by Henry Williamson,
Norfolk Notebook (1947) and Country Scrapbook
(1950). The essays contained in these books first
appeared in the Eastern Daily Press. She was also responsible for editing Fred Rolfe's fascinating account of poaching in Norfolk called I
Walked by Night (1935) and The Rabbit Skin Cap
(1939) - tales of rural hardship recounted by George Baldry,
the son of a shoemaker.
Grave of Lilias Rider Haggard |
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Lilias lived for many years at the Bath House on Outney
Common. The house commands a stunning view of the River
Waveney.
The Bath House by the Waveney
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W. G. Sebald In the final stages of The
Rings of Saturn - the narrator visits Ditchingham
churchyard and meditates upon two of the table tombs
there.
Sarah Cannell's Tomb,
Ditchingham
A similar
photograph to the one above is included in the book on page
260. It shows the tomb of Sarah Cannell who was the wife
of the Ditchingham doctor. Sebald (or his narrator) also records her
epitaph which is carved on the south side of the tomb:
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Firm in the principles and constant
in the practice of religion
Her life displayed the peace of virtue
Her modest sense, Her unobtrusive elegance
of mind and manners,
Her sincerity and benevolence of heart
Secured esteem, conciliated affection,
Inspired confidence and diffused happiness. |
Links:
Rider
Haggard Society
St. Mary's Church |
Supported
by Norfolk Tourism