North Repps village sign

Image: © Adrian S Pye Taken: 7 Aug 2015

A glorious celebration of the history of the village, from the church of St. Mary at the top, A shield with pierced winged heart. The crest of St. Benet’s Abbey represents not the abbey but the last abbot, a William Ruggs was born in the village. A man, upper left is seen wearing a breeches buoy reminds us that Anna Gurney who lived at Northrepps Hall, invented the concept and funded the installation of a breeches buoy. A barrel next to a groin represents the smuggling which once confounded the revenue men along the coast, sits on the railway bridge over New Road. Henry Royce designed the Silver Ghost here whilst convalescing at the Hall, hence the Rolls Royce radiator grill. Beneath that is a cithern, a lute-like instrument which John Playford of Northrepps played and wrote a book about in 1652. Next to that are the shackles of a released slave, thanks in part to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton who, in 1822, succeeded William Wilberforce as leader of the campaign in the House of Commons for the abolition of slavery. He too lived at the Northrepps Hall. The poppy remembers those who died in the 20th century wars and the plough is no ordinary plough, it is a Gallas plough invented and developed in The Foundry at Northrepps in 1830. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4602752

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