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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Please join me on Substack where I try to get something interesting out once a week or so... www.normaexplores.com

Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I've got a couple of new podcast short episodes/tiny tales written, and I've even started planning out a special Christmas publication... so while I have been quiet on socials, Im still doing my best behind the scenes.

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HOME | Norma Explores

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I've needed to take a bit of a break from everything online lately, but I have continued research tasks and have enjoyed selling physical printed copies of the Norma Explores magazine (Norfolk Supplement) at my shop, which hopefully means sharing the project with new people. ⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

They'd have probably brought him back once they got to know him 😂

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Little Bear wanted to see an alien 👽 in Rendlesham Forest.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

New substack post! Plus a bonus post for subscribers added today. open.substack.com/pub/normaexp...

open.substack.com

The Foulsham Beerhouse Incident

A Fatal Act of Bullying in a Norfolk Village

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Day 26 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'figure' Sadly, this headstone is so badly worn its impossible to make out who lies here. Only the figure remains standing proud of the surface... 📍Holy Trinity, Marham, Norfolk

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Day 25 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'graveside ornament' I wanted to share this wonderful thing I found earlier this year. Every war grave has been marked with a Tommy silhouette, even the ones without a headstone. It really highlighted just how many WW1 & WW2 casualties lay here ⬇️⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Day 24 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'unique animal'. Ive taken a bit of a liberty and chosen a reptile 🐢 But I couldn't not share this wonderful tortoise. 📍St John the Baptist, Aylmerton, Norfolk

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Fanny was an 8 year old girl whose name would become slang for cheap tinned mutton. What happened to her was so horrific I am not going to describe it here, but I will link the Wiki page if you want to read the story. 📍Alton cemetery, Hampshire

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Day 23 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'cross' It was Christmas Eve when I visited the grave of Fanny Adams. It was also Christmas Eve in 1867 when her murderer was hanged for his crime. Her cross was decorated with tinsel and toys had been left for her. Cont ⬇️⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

I no longer use tiktok, but I made this video when I visited a couple of years ago.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Day 22 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'landscape ' The tiny church of Kirkmaiden, perched on the cliffs on the South West cost of Scotland. Probably one of the prettiest places to be laid to rest 😍 I have shared below a short about one of the burials there ⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Day 21 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'bronze'. An unexpected find in a Somerset cemetery. The grave belongs to Lt Col John Marshall Field MBE. 📍East Coker cemetery, Somerset 📷⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Day 20 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Wreath' This lovely fruity Wreath is up on the wall inside the parish church and remembers Edward Bunting Loynes - church warden for 54 years. 📍St Nicholas, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Day 19 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Social Group'. I dont know anything about this grave marker, but I like it. 📍All Saints, Faringdon, Oxfordshire

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Friends of Friendless Churches @friendlesschurches.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Why do so many medieval church doors have iron studs on their exterior face? 1/7 📷 - All Images of South Door at St Mary's, Derwen, Denbighshire

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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

There are rows and rows of Guinea Graves at Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds. If a poor family could find a guinea (21 shillings) they could have a shared grave with an inscription of up to 36 letters. It was half price for under 7's. /1 #31daysofgraves

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

The men had built a secret vault to hide their contraband, which was smothered with manure when they were away. It is said that they were overcome by the fumes which had built up from the spirits they were hiding there and suffocated. 📍St Michael's, Tunstall, Suffolk

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Day 18 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'mistake' A smugglers headstone today to Robert Debney and William Cooper, who died in an unfortunate accident on 22 June 1778. The mistake is that the headstone notes the men as being 28 and 18 respectively, but parish records show Debney was 30. 🧵⬇️⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Yep. Would've like to see it, tbh!

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Day 17 #31DaysOfGraves is 'relocated' I've chosen a very old one today. Two Roman coffins, discovered in 1815, which now sit outside of the Norris Museum in St Ives (Huntingdonshire)

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Our Epitaph: East Anglia podcast relaunched today! Episode one available on Spotify, YouTube, Substack, and probably some places Ive never heard of! open.spotify.com/episode/5rGH...

open.spotify.com

Epitaph : East Anglia // Episode One - Peasenhall, Suffolk

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Scotland's Churches Trust @scotchurchestrust.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Day 16 of #31DaysOfGraves - Obelisk "REMOVED in the midst of his USEFULNESS. READER be ye also ready" A cheery warning about the fleeting nature of life on Alexander Cowper's obelisk monument in Wigtown Kirkyard in Dumfries and Galloway.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Day 16 #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'obelisk' The plaque reads 'Sacred to the memory if Henry Nicholas Ground ME of East Howle Colliery. Who died 11th March 1881, aged 31. Erected as a tribute of respect to his memory by the workmen and friends.' 📍Found in St Lukes, Ferryhill, Co. Durham.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Day 15 #31DaysOfGraves is 'damaged'. I've chosen this ceramic headstone, one of many in this style in the cemetery. It belongs to Pvt Joseph Gale of the Royal Sussex Regiment. He died in Eastbourne Hospital on March 30th 1916, aged just 24. A casualty of the Great War. 📍South Hetton, Co Durham

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Day 14 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'inside' Not an intentional interior viewing of this collapsed vault, photographed last year. 📍St Thomas a Becket, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Day 13 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'skeleton' Today, we are at the grave of George Hopper. The tomb has some fantastic carvings, but beware! It is said that if you see Death's scythe move, you will follow George to the other side! ☠️ 📍 St Mary's, Barnard Castle, County Durham.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Day 12 #31DaysOfGraves is Notable Women. I'm sharing one of my favourite effigies.The reclining figure of Rose Claxton, who died in 1601, aged just 23. 📌 St George's Church, Rollesby ▪︎ Norfolk

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

The neighbouring headstone commemorates the loss of Private Stanley Charles Andrews of the 11th Bttn Suffolk Regiment. He was killed in action on 17th October 1917, aged just 21. He has no known grave and is listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the missing, just one of more than 33,000 names recorded.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

This is the beautifully carved headstone of Cpl Henry Grimwood of the 1st Bttn London Irish Rifles. He died serving his country on April 18th, 1918 - aged just 21 years old This grave is in St Andrews churchyard, Histon, Cambridgeshire His headstone is next to another young veteran of WW1 ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Its day 11 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is military. This was always going to be a difficult one. I primarily record military graves and have almost 10,000 photographed. Their stories are all worth telling, so I decided to select one for aesthetics. Cont.... ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Pure chance 😂 but I am very fond of this grave. Kinda looks how I feel most mornings before Ive had coffee.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Y'know what I dont have pictures of? Urns, apparently. Its day 10 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is Urn. After going through about 7000 photos, I came to realise its something I dont photograph 🙈 So please enjoy possibly the only image I have that comes close ⚱️ 📍Cottenham Dissenters Cemetery

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

The image was taken in 1978 by my grandfather and is part of a collection known as the Jeevar Archive which I am sharing online when I can. If youd like to learn more please visit the website ⬇️ www.normaexplores.com/jeevar-archive

normaexplores.com

JEEVAR ARCHIVE | Norma Explores

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

'In memory of Mary, wife of John Richards, who departed this life June ye 3rd 1771. Age 31.' The inscription goes on: All you that stop to read this stone, consider how soon she was gone, death doth not always warning give, therefore be careful how ye live' 📍St Mary's, Doddington, Cambridgeshire ⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Day 9 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'hand'. I've borrowed an image from my side-quest, The Jeevar Archive, today. The grave is that of Mary Richards. According to local legend she died at the altar, just moments after the wedding ring was placed on her hand as she was being married. 🧵⬇️

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Day 8 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Glass' Here at St Nicholas' Church, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, the beautiful stained glass window is reflected in the memorial to a son of the town lost in the First World War. Alfred Gordon Calthrop 2nd Lt 11th Bttn Royal Fusiliers. KIA near Ypres.

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Dovecote Barnack, Huntingdonshire - I dont know exactly where this was or if it is still standing... so if anyone local can enlighten me, I'd be most grateful!! It worldvgave been photographed between 1974 and 1978, I think!

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Norma Explores @normaexplores.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Day 7 of #31DaysOfGraves and the prompt is 'Angel' I've actually chosen three, all from 📍 All Saints, St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Ive added a close up of the last one, as he's less than angelic looking these days....

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Britain’s War Memorials @britwarmemorial.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Burgh roll of honour. St. Botolph’s Church, Burgh, Suffolk. Second World War. #LestWeForget

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