A long-standing member, Shirley Howell, has died aged 84 and left her books to benefit the Society.
She transcribed parish registers of the former round tower church of St Paul’s, Norwich. In The Round Tower (March 2001), she said that it had taken more than 18 months to translate the registers between 1614 and 1812 from a single 1939 microfilm.
In the mid-1930s, the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) wrote to England’s 43 bishops asking to copy registers using the new microfilm technology. It wanted the records because the Mormon Church has permitted post-death baptism since the 1840s.
In 1942, St Paul’s records were almost destroyed and charred remains were given to Norfolk Record Office in 1965. Another Norwich church, also lost in the Baedeker raids, St Michael at Thorn, had not allowed its records to be copied.
Born in London in 1934, she was evacuated to her grandparents in Stibbard, near Fakenham, during the second world war. In 1949, she started learning German at Loughton High School, Essex, and in Easter 1950 was one of six girls selected to spend a term in Germany.
Having trained as a secretary, in 1959 she went to New Zealand. Returning two years later, she was at the Cambridge Instrument Company where she met a research scientist, Keith. After they married in 1962, they went to the USA for two years, staying at Indiana University.
Later, after living in south Wales and Harrogate, North Yorkshire, they retired to Norwich in 1990. She volunteered at the Norfolk Record Office, where she indexed the Norwich Freeman Rolls from 1753 to 1980. She transcribed registers of Stibbard Church in 1985 and log books of the village school, which were reviewed in the Times Educational Supplement.
She is survived by Keith, a daughter, Carla and son, James and four grandchildren.
Donations – A number of donations and a legacy have been received by the Society. A former member, Pauline Dickson, from Deeping St James, Peterborough, left £1,000.
A £100 cheque in memory of Society member John Latham, of Brentford, Essex, was sent by his sister Elizabeth Manero.
“He was passionate and knowledgeable about ancient churches and loved the Round Tower churches in particular. In addition to their architecture he was an expert on lichens and mosses and used to do guided tours of flora in Kensal Green Cemetery,” she added.
A member from Monmouthshire, Gillian Knowland, who thanked the “Round Tower team for such an inspirational magazine – very informative and a delight to read” sent £100 and postage stamps.
Nik Chapman, treasurer, said that around £200 of donations have also been received in the second quarter.
Book offers – Offers for her books, please to Michael Pollitt, by December 15 for Christmas delivery. A single offer for all 14 Claude Messent volumes would be preferable. Otherwise, all reasonable offers will be welcome even after mid-December. Please bear in mind the cost of postage when submitting “bids.” Hardback unless stated *
Norfolk books
Round Tower Churches of SE England, WJ Goode 206p*, RTCS 1994.
Parish Churches of West Norfolk – A photographic & historical guide, 311p*, Adrian S Pye, ASPYE. 2010
Norfolk Churches, 128p, David Stanford, Frances Lincoln 2007.
Norfolk Country Churches & the Future, 44p*, Wilhelmine Harrod, Norfolk Society 1972.
Flint Architecture of East Anglia, 150p*, Stephen Hart, Giles de la Mare, London 2000.
Vernacular Architecture of Breckland, 56p*, Breckland Society 2007.
Norwich Castle Keep – Romanesque Architecture, 71p*, T A Heslop, Centre of East Anglian Studies 1994
Beautiful Norfolk Buildings, Stanley J Wearing, 54p, Soman-Wherry Press, 1944
Building Norfolk, Matthew Rice, 200p, Frances Lincoln 2008.
Claude J W Messent, all hardback, unless stated
The Old Cottages & Farmhouses of Norfolk, 248p, HW Hunt, Norwich 1928.
The Ruined Churches of Norfolk, 41p, HW Hunt, 1931.
The City Churches of Norwich, 83o, HW Hunt, 1932.
The Monastic Remains of Norfolk & Suffolk, 151p, HW Hunt, 1934.
Parish Churches of Norfolk & Norwich, 298p, HW Hunt, 1936.
Weather Vanes of Norfolk & Norwich, 128p, Fletcher & Son, Norwich 1937.
Old Water Mills of Norfolk, 64p, Fletcher & Son, 1939.
A Guide to English Architecture, 96p, Hutchinson 1940.
Old Door Knockers of Norwich, 55p, Fletcher & Son, 1948.
Suffolk & Cambridgeshire, 155p*, Penguin Guide, Harmondsworth 1949.
Round Towers to English Parish Churches, 369p, Fletcher & Son, 1958.
A Thousand Years of Norfolk Carstone, 96p, Claude Messent, Stibbard 1967
Lych-gates & their Churches in Eastern England, 238p, Claude Messent, Blofield 1970
Architecture on the Royal Estate of Sandringham, 93p, Blofield, 1974.
County Guide to English Churches, 352p, Lawrence E Jones & Roy Tricker, Countryside books, 1992.
The English Parish Church, 192p, Gerald Randall, Spring books 1988.
How Old is that Church? 256p, Pamela Cunningham, Blandford, 1990.
What to see in a Country Church, 88p, Lawrence E Jones, Phoenix, 1960.
The Leaves of Southwell, 72p, Nikolaus Pevsner, King Penguin, 1945.
The English Cathedrals, 99p, Herbert Felton & John Harvey, Batsford 1950.
Great Homes of England, Tiger, 1991.
English Heritage from the Air – 192p, Neil Burton, Guild Publishing, 1989.
A Vision of Britain, A Personal View of Architecture, 160p, The Prince of Wales, Doubleday 1989.
Architects & Architecture, 144p, Editor, Mike Darton, Tiger, 1991.
Architecture – A Visual History, 512p, James Neal, Parkgate 1999.
English Manor Houses, 159p, English Manor Houses, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990.
Wren’s London, 160p, Colin Amery, Lennard Publishing, 1988.
London’s Churches, 224p, Christopher Hibbert, Macdonald Queen Anne Press 1988.
The City of London Churches, 32p, John Betjeman, Pitkin, 1967.
City of London Churches, 29p, J Betjeman, Pitkin, 1997.
Churches the Victorians Forgot, 173p, Mark Chatfield, Ashbourne 1979.
Sir Norman Foster, 175p, Philip Jodidio, Taschen 1997.
Architecture is about People, Norman Foster, Angewandte Kunstmuseum 2001.
Foster Catalogue 2001, 259p, Prestel Verlag, Munich 2001.
Andrea Palladio 1508-1580 – Between Renaissance & Baroque, 248p, Wundram, Pape & Marton, Taschen 1992.
Antoni Gaudí I Cornet 1852-1926 – A Life devoted to Architecture, 239p, Taschen 1985.
The Life & Works of Gaudi, 79p, Eleanor Van Zandt, Parragon 1995.
John Soane – Architectural Monograph, 123p, Academy, 1983.
Aynhoe Park – a Brief history, 20p, Country Houses Association.
Sir John Soane’s Museum – A New Description, 82p, 1988.
Essential Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 256p, Fanny Blake, Parragon 2001.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 30p, Fiona Davidson, Pitkin, 1998.
English Architecture through the Ages – Secular Building, 124p, Ison, Arthur Barker 1966.
Follies & Pleasure Pavilions, 132p, George Mott, Pavilion 1989.
Buildings of Delight, 256p, Alec Clifton-Taylor, Gollancz 1988.
Vitruvius – The Ten Books on Architecture, 331p, Dover, 1960.
Victorian Architecture, 288p, Dixon & Muthesius, Thames & Hudson 1993.
An Outline of European Architecture, 301p, Nikolaus Pevsner, Penguin 1951.
Architecture in Britain 1530-1830, Pelican History of Art, 624p, John Summerson 1989
Palladio – Penguin Art & Architecture, 196p, James Ackerman, Penguin 1991.
The English Cottage, 117p, Harry Batsford & Charles Fry, Batsford 1938.
How to Look at Old Buildings, 90p, Edmund Vale, Batsford 1940.
London Historic Buildings – Illustrations, Batsford 1950.
Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, 252p, Peter Murray, Thames & Hudson 1988.
The Story of Architecture in England, 152p, Walter Godfrey, Batsford 1931.
British Building Styles Recognition, 160p, Ian Allan, Shepperton 1987.
A History of English Architecture, 256p, Kidson & Murray, Harrap 1962.
How we built Britain, 288p, David Dimbleby, BBC 2007.
English Church Design 1040-1540, 120p, FH Crossley, Batsford 1945.
English Parish Churches as Works of Art, 256p, Alex Clifton-Taylor, OUP 1989.
Requiem for a Red Box, 128p, John Timpson, Pyramid 1989.
