| The Old School ( below left ) that stood on the
green, and was erected by Lord Walsingham in 1874 for 30
children; average attendence was 22. In 1883 School mistress
was
Miss Sarah Herring and 1892 was Mrs Kate Kirk. The young boy seen there is John Baldwin, at the time of this photo the School was closed. During 1942 it was used by the home guard, When a few years later it was demolished. A small piece of the school entrance step remains. |
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| The Bus shelter ( above right ) has a thatched roof
over flint and red brick walls, the shelter was given by
the villagers and friends of Merton to commemorate the
Silver Jubilee of 7th June 1977. The shelter has seating areas inside and out, and was built by a local builder and the roof was thatched by local Thatcher Alwyn Mindham. Outside seating was built by local man Glendy Sutton. With labouring help by local children and pensioners. Thatched cottage (below right) known as " Darkins Piece " built by Alwyn Mindham, the roof was thatched by himself and his father Albert Mindham, Also the local Thatcher for the Estate for many years, and can be seen here at the age of 88, working on Darkins peace. Although quite a modern build ( 1984 ) it is as all new properties should be , in parr with the older and original part of the village, and so holds the character in whole. If only others would follow this perfect excample. Tottington Terrace, so called when people of Tottington village were forced from their homes in the early years of the second world war (1942) by the War Department and used by the M.O.D., Known as the Battle Area. The people of Tottington,and other close by village's were given other accommodation, some here at Merton Green. Original residents of Tottington were given assurances that when the war ended they would be allowed to return to there homes, This promise was never kept.... There is a excellent book that covers this and the history of Tottington;- "A Lost Village In Norfolk", by Hilda and Edmund Perry, isbn 0 90061656 3. Pictures below courtesy of Alwyn Mindham |
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| To the West of Merton Green just off the peddars way,
Where In a tiny pit rests a boulder which swepted to its present place
by the ice in the last glacial period. It is said to be the
largest of its kind in Norfolk and possibly Britain.
The boulder also holds a history of Mystical source, I have been told by many
People, personal experience's, some with handed down stories that when standing on the
stone One feels an ice cold feel
together with a feeling of some kind of Unexplainable spiritual presents. It is said if this stone is removed all the waters will rise and flood the village and beyond. The 7th Baron gathered together some men and attempted to move the stone with ropes and horses and failed in their task. I have been told by an old farm worker from the estate that they too had made attempts later to move the stone using more modern equipment,With the use of the Gyrotiller, again this became a failed effort, The whole episode ended in one of the gyrotillers became well and truly bogged in, It then had taken two others to pull the unit out of its bog, apparently something never heard of before. The Gyrotiller (below), was an early form of mechanical cultivator,which ran on tracks and had two sets of rotating blades at the rear. There is only one working Gyrotiller in the world which was made in 1934. |
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