Amateur historian Stephen Poulter teaching Diss residents how to dig up the history of their homes

After digging up centuries of undiscovered history about his own home, an amateur historian is now teaching residents in Diss how they can do the same.

Since moving to Needham back in 2016, Stephen Poulter has been trawling through archives to learn about the previous inhabitants of his 17th century cottage in High Road.

Now, through a series of workshops, the 65-year-old will outline the skills and methods he used so that others can tap into the undiscovered histories of their own homes.

“I started researching my cottage when I came here,” said Mr Poulter, who lives in Needham with his partner, Alan Jeffery. “I was fascinated because I had never lived in such an old property before. I had done local history before, but never as far back as this.

“So I went to the archives in Norwich and was amazed to discover that there was hundreds of documents, not only about my house but about the history of the village, too.”

Through his research, Mr Poulter found out about some of the earliest inhabitants of his home; Thomas Kidman, who lived their in the 1660s; and the Johnson family, three generations of which lived there from 1790 through to 1927.

The fact-finding mission also led him to discover unknown history about the village itself; members of the Johnson family had worked in a brickworks, which it turns out was located in Needham.

Mr Poulter’s course, ‘Researching the History of Historic Buildings’, will be held at Diss Methodist Church, in Victoria Road – and he is convinced other homes in the town are also sitting on centuries of untold stories.

“It’s going to be about any historic building and is for anybody who is interested in researching their home’s history,” he said.

“It’s almost like if you were a detective; you have to look through different kinds of documents.

“It’s based on my research, and I take people through what I have discovered. I show them through all the different types of documents and manuscripts and the process you take when you go to the research centre archives.”

He added that south Norfolk, in particular, with its abundance of ancient homes, is fertile ground for the workshop.

“A lot of people are interested in researching the history of their homes – there are so many old buildings that people live in around south Norfolk,” said Mr Poulter.

“People move into old houses and they become interested in who lived there.

“There’s been all sorts of interesting things for me – it’s about people and their lives.

“I’m fascinated about the people who lived here before me and how they lived.

“Because I live in such an old property, I don’t feel like I’m the owner; I feel like I’m a custodian and it’s my responsibility to pass on as much as I can to the next generation.”

Mr Poulter will be holding two other workshops, ‘Historic Tours of Norfolk’ and ‘Adapting Plays and Stage Musicals for the Cinema’, at Stradbroke Community Centre and the Pennoyer Centre in Pulham St Mary.

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