PEOPLES PUBS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2010 :: RMTnews 36 PEOPLE’S PUBS - Words by Mike Pentelow, Pictures by Peter Arkell ROBERT KETT The Robert Kett, Lime Tree Avenue, Wymondham, Norfolk Kett’s Tavern, Kett’s Hill, Norwich The stealing of common land by the gentry (a process known as the enclosures) took place over many centuries. It was bitterly resented by commoners who needed this land to graze their animals on. An early example of their resistance to this theft of their livelihood was Kett’s Rebellion in 1549. It was led by a tanner, Robert Kett (1492- 1549), who lived in Wymondham and was executed in Norwich. It all started when, after drinking plentifully at Wymondham’s annual summer fair, the locals tore down fences which had been put up around the local common land. The following day they set off to pull down more fences erected in nearby Hethersett by landowner John Flowerdew. He told them that Kett had also fenced off land in Wymondham and offered them cash to pull his fences down instead of his own. Kett surprised everybody when he offered to help pull down his own fences and lead their protests wider afield. He promised to subdue the power of the “importunate lords” who had seized the common pastures. “Whatever lands I have enclosed shall again be made common unto ye and all men, and my own hand shall first perform it,” he declared. “Never shall I be wanting where your good is concerned. Your shall have me if you will, not only as a companion, but as a captain, and in doing of so great a work before us, not only as a fellow, but for a general standard bearer and chief.” A server in the local church he had bought a small amount of land in 1540 which became available through the dissolution of the abbey. But his religious convictions were outraged by the callous disregard of many large landowners for the plight of the poor commoners. After pulling down his own fences, he and his followers uprooted Flowerdew’s fences in Hethersett, where Kett urged the crowd to act “in defence of their common liberty.” Later a large crowd assembled under an oak on the common near Hethersett. A tree now marked “Kett’s Oak” in a lay-by just south of the village on the B1172 is said to be where this meeting took place. At this meeting Kett echoed the words of John Ball during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, demanding “thatt all bonde men may be ffree for god made all ffree with his precious blode sheddying.” They then marched towards Norwich and settled on the outskirts at Mousehold Heath, by another oak tree. This one was known as the “Oak of Reformation”, where Kett asserted: “What we want is liberty, and the power, in common with our so called superiors, of enjoying the gifts of nature.” It was under this oak that he held councils, administered people’s justice, issued edicts, and appointed 25 governors for the surrounding areas. They drew up a charter of 29 complaints, mainly against economic exploitation, and concluded: “We pray that all bond men may be made free.” From the gentry the rebels commandeered 3,000 bullocks, 20,000 sheep and immense quantities of corn, which they shared out publicly under the Oak of Reformation. The landowners who had enclosed the land were tried, convicted and imprisoned under people’s justice, but none were executed. No such mercy was shown to the rebels when they were finally beaten by vast numbers of professional soldiers including foreign mercenaries after seven long weeks. A total of 3,000 rebels were slaughtered in the battle by the army of over 13,000, and the remaining 300 were later captured and executed. These included Kett and his brother William, a butcher, who was hanged in chains, a slow painful death, from Wymonham church. Kett himself was executed on the same day at Norwich Castle. Both their heads were displayed on the walls of Warwick Castle as a warning to others. The role of Robert as “a noble and courageous leader” was finally recognised in 1949 on a plaque placed at the entrance to Norwich Castle. The town sign of Wymondham (outside Becket’s Chapel at the end of Damgate) also proudly depicts him rallying the peasantry under an oak tree. His name also lives on through these two pubs, plus Robert Kett Junior School in Hewitts Lane, Wymondham, and a play called “Kett the Tanner” written in 1909 by G Colman Green. More recently, unemployed workers on the People’s March for Jobs in the 1970s rallied under Kett’s Oak, and were addressed by Jack Boddie, the then general secretary of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers. * A Pub Crawl Through History, by Mike Pentelow and Peter Arkell, is published by Janus, price £16.99 (ISBN 978-1-85756-701-4).