The Almshouses

Situated on Oak Street, just around the corner from The Oak, the almshouses were built in 1819.


The left hand photo shows that the almshouses were originally built as a row of 8 'bedsits'. The Trustees of the Moundeford Charity converted them into 4 one-bedroom cottages in 1994, seen in the right hand photo. The Almshouses "were endowed by Sir Edmund Moundeford in 1642 for poor aged and impotent people inhabitants of Feltwell." Left photo provided by Mr. C. Cock.

The Unveiling of the Village Sign

Donated to the village by the Archaeological and Historical Society.

Old Village Sign (small)

From right. Sir Edmund
Bacon (Lord Lt Norfolk),
Lady Bacon,
D.L.Feltwell (Chair FPC),
A.J.Orange (designer, founder and chair FA&H.

August 1969.

From a newspaper of the time comes this report.

Watched by dozens of villagers, the Lord Lieutenant for Norfolk, Sir Edmund Bacon, unveiled Feltwell village sign on Saturday.
Sir Edmund said the sign, which stands in the garden of the Oak Street almshouses, showed the people of Feltwell had a pride in their parish. He also recalled that he and Mr A. J. Orange, chairman of the Feltwell (Historical and Archaeological) Society, which presented the sign to the village, had served in the same regiment during the war.
Mr Orange said the society, formed in 1966 and at present numbering about 50 members, had spent most of its third year of existence working and collecting so that Feltwell could have "one of the finest village signs in the country."

Read A. J. Orange's sign design explanation.

The sign, which was carved by Mr. Harry Carter, art master at Hamond's Grammar School, Swaffham and maker of many villages signs all over East Anglia, was designed to depict several aspects of Feltwell's history.
A meadow crossed by a stream is depicted to show the name "Feltwell" means "the settlement in the meadow by the stream." Sheep are included in the design to represent ancient "sheepwalks" and the fact that the centre portion of the parish is roughly a figure 8 is perpetuated in the octagonal base.
Main feature of the sign is an oak tree (a former landmark of the village said to have been 1300 years old when it was felled in 1964 - its girth then being 32ft. 6 in.). Also depicted are another former landmark, St Nicholas Church and a Saxon woman named Alveva who once owned part of Feltwell. Three of the village charities are also represented.