Thursday 14 Sept
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Saturday 16 Sept
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Sunday 17 Sept
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 5. A Walk around Wells-next-the-SeaPreviously living in and around Morston, Wiveton,
Blakeney, and North Creake, several members of the
17th century Powditch family came to live and work at
Wells during the late 1600s, and indeed it was from
Wells-next-the-Sea where most of today’s Australian,
American, Canadian, and English, Welsh, and Scottish
families can trace their descent.
For those family members who had previously visited
Wells-next-the-Sea, either under their own steam
(rather an apt comment, considering the journey we'd
just completed!) or during the 2004 Powditch Family
Gathering, our return to the waterfront Town and sea-port
was rather like returning home - a feeling which other
family members who'd never been to Wells, also
experienced during the limited time we were here.
On this occasion we were able to spend a little longer in the Town, and for the better walkers
amongst us, we were set down from the Coach opposite St. Nicholas' Church, into which we went to
have a look around.
Much altered since the days when many of the pre-19th century Powditch family members knew it,
the original Medieval Church was struck by lightning in 1879, which caused great structural damage
- both externally and internally. (photographs showing the devastation are available for viewing,
inside the church). - through both a great fire and the collapse of much of the building's infrastructure.
What the church must have looked like before the destruction, and where various family members
had sat, we could only conjecture, but in 1940 in his book on Norfolk (as part of "The King's
England" series), Arthur Mee wrote;
We too saw that same chest, now some 371 years old, and it's strange to think that when the first
Powditch family members came to Wells in the late 1600s, the chest then would have still been in its
infancy, possibly 50 years old at the most!
The Church interior has changed much since the mid-1980s when I first visited the Town of Wells.
Back in 1984, seating had been on long wooden pews, and the Choir had their own wooden stalls
etc, then when Ang and I came here in 1992 the long pews had been replaced by chairs, and even
the choir stalls had been removed, whereas on this occasion I was pleased to note that the chairs
themselves had been superceded by long wooden pews once again. Not so obvious were the choir
stalls, especially as the altar had, as it had been in1992, moved from its previous (CofE) position, to
in front of the choir.
Because of the changes, the feeling of age, of the building being ancestral, or having a palpable
history is sadly lacking, and after the plainness yet depth of feeling in Bale, which we'd visited
earlier in the morning, Wells was not only more ornate, but it was also without that mystique of
reverence of the plainer Bale.
Outside, in the freshness (cold actually!) of the afternoon, we walked around the churchyard looking
for the gravestones of Powditch forbears. Although I knew that there was more than one there,
unfortunately I couldn't find the second stone, although the one we all found and saw is one of the
best stones remaining.
Made from French slate, the stone was dressed and engraved by a Wisbech stonemason in the
1800s; the wording on the stone probably not much worn since the day it was first cut.
Wandering around the churchyard we also saw reference to the 'Bounty' and to one John Fryer who
had been on board that ship, and on going in to the porch area of the Church, I was able to show
everyone the graveslab which had been discovered, face down in the soil, several years ago, and
dedicated to the said John Fryer.
 Soon
afterwards,
we all
left the Church,
and walked
first of all into
'Church Plain'
before slowly
wandering up
the hill (street
known as
High Street) to
its top
crossroads,
where, after
a short stop
for family
members to
refresh their
wallets at
the nearby
cashpoint!)
we slowly
began
walking
down
Staithe Street.
As we didn't
have a very
long time to
spend in and
around Wells,
everyone 'did-
their-own-thing'
from the top to the bottom of Staithe Street, looking in shops, buying the odd gift or cake or pie,
getting a drink, buying postcards and other memories of our visit, and generally looking around.
After Staithe Street, individual family members went their own way, some turning right (towards
'East End), whilst others turned left, and walked along the quay (both ends of the Town having had in
the past as many family ancestral homes as there had been in Staithe Street itself)
On the quay, Roger was waiting there with the Coach, and as soon as all were back on board (I was
late as I'd been sitting in the car behind, talking 'Powditch' with Bryan Harman, and I didn't discover
til he said something about my holding up everyone from the next leg of our journey. Needless to
say, once I actually got on board the Coach, I had a resounding 'welcome' from everyone - plus
many 'comments', especially from Ang!!!)
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Thursday 14 Sept
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Saturday 16 Sept
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Sunday 17 Sept
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