Page "Kett's Rebellion" Paragraph 4

Kett's rebellion, or " the commotion time " as it was also called in Norfolk, began in July 1549 in the small market town of Wymondham, nearly ten miles south-west of Norwich.

The previous month there had been a minor disturbance at the nearby town of Attleborough where fences, built by the lord of the manor to enclose common lands, were torn down.

The rioters thought they were acting legally, since the king had issued a proclamation against illegal enclosures.

Wymondham held its annual feast on the weekend of 6 July 1549 and a play in honour of St Thomas Becket, the co-patron of Wymondham Abbey, was performed.

This celebration was illegal, as Henry VIII had decreed in 1538 that the name of Thomas Becket should be removed from the church calendar.

On the Monday, when the feast was over, a group of people set off to the villages of Morley St. Botolph and Hethersett to tear down hedges and fences.

One of their first targets was Sir John Flowerdew, a lawyer and landowner at Hethersett who was unpopular for his role as overseer of the demolition of Wymondham Abbey ( part of which was the parish church ) during the dissolution of the monasteries and for enclosing land.

Flowerdew bribed the rioters to leave his enclosures alone and instead attack those of Robert Kett at Wymondham.