The Littleport riots

Those of you who read my journal regularly ,will know I am interested in the history of the fens ,and have been looking at various things since we moved here nearly two years ago ,and I have shared much of it with you ,Remember I told you about the posts that had been sunk in the Holme fen ,in the eighteen hundreds and are now about fifteen feet above ground proveing how much the fens are shrinking ...I looked at bog oaks ,and a fen blow ,we recently went to Ely cathedral affectionately called the ship of the fens ......well now we have our noses into something else ,which is interesting us ........

 You will remember last month we went to my cousin Alans birthday lunch in Northampton, Maurice was talking to my late cousin Doff's son David ,they were talking motor bikes,Maurice had recently sold our Dragstar ,but David still rides,they were talking about shows and rallys ,Pete (Pete is my sister Jeans husband )introduced to the conversation ,he thought somehow he might be related to the famous Harleys ,of Harley Davidson . A Harley went to America after some riots at Littleport,near Ely.

This fired Maurices imagination,so with the help of his friend Chris ,and armed with facts from Pete (Harley is the maiden name of Petes late mum ),they checked electoral registers ,and yes we think we may have a connection !

As you know we went to Ely cathedral ,affectionately known as ,'the ship of the fens 'and when we went in ,we were greeted by a delightful Lady welcoming us to the cathedral ,Maurice was chatting to her ,about the cathedral and the area and in the course of conversation Littleport came up and the riots and she told us there was was a gentleman called Bruce Frost who lives in Littleport who could tell us more,and that there is a  plaque in the church yard of St Marys church ,near the cathedral ,to the men who had been hung ,after the cathedral ,we went to look around the church ,and though we searched, we didnt find the plaque.......

The following Monday ,I looked up and found the telephone number for Mr Bruce Frost ,and what an interesting man he is ,he told me lots of interesting things ,and that there was to be an open day ,of a Historical society,that he participates in ,is world wide and he invited us to join ,which I plan to do ,the open day is tomorrow and church records will be on view plus lots of data ,and he told me the plaque at St Marys was a replica ,he will show us were the original is, in a barn in Littlport ,that I'm sure we will find interesting ,unfortunately Maurice has to work,but Pete has offered to take Jean and I....so watch this space        Well I hope you all have a great weekend  .....

With Love From Jan xx

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