AD 43-410
There were Roman sites at Scole and Stoke Ash. Roman remains turn up all over this area.
880-1066
The Danelaw originated in the conquest and occupation of large parts of eastern and northern England by Denmark. The term applies to the areas in which English kings allowed the Danes to keep their own laws following the conquest in return for the Danish settlers’ loyalty to the English crown.
The Norse settlers brought with them a communal approach to governance. Things, or assemblies, were central to decision-making. Intermarriage between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons blurred cultural lines, creating a hybrid society. This mingling of traditions enriched East Anglia’s heritage, with Norse craftsmanship, art, and religious practices influencing local culture.
1066-1154
Norman rule, although only 88 years, was long enough to make profound changes to the country. The Protestant immigrants from Flanders and Brabant spoke Flemish, a Dutch dialect.
1327-1377
Edward encouraged the Flemish to settle in England, as he valued their silk and other textile skills.
1551- 1567
The French-speaking Protestants who fled from religious persecution and civil war on the continent are all loosely referred to as Huguenots. The Walloons were from the Low Countries. The final wave of Protestant refugees were the Palatines from what is now part of Germany.
1595
A local saint was born Henry Morse in Brome. He was the seventh son in a family of 14 children. His father and mother were Robert and Margaret Morse from Tivetshall St Mary. In 1583 he was reported to the Bishop’s Court in Norwich for having secretly attended a Roman Catholic Mass in the parsonage at Stuston, and giving hospitality to a priest called Montfort Scott who was later executed.
Henry studied law, became a priest in France, but on his return was imprisoned. Spells in gaol of imprisonment alternated with work among plague victims and with the army in the Netherlands. He had bouts of plague but survived.
During the Civil War he was arrested and sent to Durham gaol before being put on a coal-boat for London. Because of the stormy weather the boat had to shelter in Yarmouth. On New Year’s Day 1645 he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, just for being a Catholic priest. In 1970 he was canonised by Pope Paul VI.
1770
William Norris of Diss was transported for stealing cloth from a wagon on its way to Norwich. In the 18th century you could be hanged for burning a hut, rick of corn or pile of straw; poaching a rabbit, cutting down an ornamental shrub; stealing 40 shillings or being on the high road with a sooty face.
1914-18
During the war UK took in 250,000 Belgian refugees. As Belgians became more permanent guests a lot of individuals and families who enthusiastically housed them ran out of money and/or patience within a few months and returned the refugees to where they had collected them.
Diss Express
25 September 1914
BELGIAN REFUGEES IN NORFOLK
Parties of Belgian refugees continue to arrive in Norwich, and are being housed mainly by Roman Catholics, acting under the direction of Mrs. Geoffrey Birkbeck, at Stoke, and in various villages in South Norfolk.
On 21 July 1916 Belgian Day was celebrated in Diss Market Place.
‘When my Dad was a little boy at the Waterworks (where his father was the engineer) during WW1, he once ran in and told his mother that the Salvation Army had just gone past. They were, in fact, German prisoners of war going to work in the fields.,’
– Basil Abbott
1939-1945
In August 1939, 382 evacuee children arrived at Diss railway station to be dispersed around the area. They were from a school in Enfield, which recorded the evacuation:
‘By the end of the first weekend the staff had located all children and completed registers of addresses etc; and it was then that we realised how completely the party was disintegrated, for staff and children were scattered over 17 villages of the Depwade area, stretching from the Norwich boundary in the north to the Bungay district in the south. The difficulties of caring adequately for all the needs of the children in these conditions can be imagined, but the job was well and faithfully done through the almost superhuman efforts of the teachers and a grand team of helpers.’
Just after Christmas 1944 some evacuees were waiting for a bus to take them from Diss to a party at the Thorpe Abbotts base.When the bus was late, seven-year-old Tony Coles ran out on to the frozen Mere, near The Nunnery, and went through the ice. His brother, Raymond (aged nine), ran to try and save him but, being weighed down by overcoats and hobnail boots, both went under.
One was drawn dead from the water, while the other died on the bank. They were buried in the Heywood Road cemetery.
The first Americans to arrive in Diss were all black, you never saw a white one. They were very friendly and generous and popular. They were engineers building the air bases. I don’t know how long they stayed, but quite a time, then they were gone and replaced by white aircrew and their support. These were just as friendly, generous and popular as the black ones had been. In the early stage the MPs were all black, then followed the white ones. I am pretty pro American which I can only attribute to the way they treated me as a little boy.
I think that during the earlier phase Diss was in fact Out of Bounds to white American troops, I was told only two other towns in Britain were the same.
Every pub in Diss used to be full of black soldiers. There was a pub almost opposite the entrance to the mere which was particularly popular. [The Ship?]
– Diss & District Memories
Italian prisoners of war were housed in Nissen huts on the south side of Rectory Meadow. Evacuee Eric Hancock said that one of the perks of the time was being able to crawl under the barbed wire of the camp and spend the day with the Italians.
They were well treated, with a pail of beer daily for each hut, had the run of the town and were popular with the ladies.
The prisoners, in specially patched uniforms, worked as farm labourers, played football on the meadow and made models, like rings and cigarette cases. A model car made by them was exhibited in the Diss Publishing Company window. When a Flying Fortress crashed, bringing down another plane with it, the area was scattered with perspex, which helped in model-making.
Many of the Italians were in tears when they had to go home. Some even stayed as farmers. Eric also stayed here and actually lived in one of the Nissen huts after the war.
More recent incomers
Diss was an unsuitable place to house refugees, Councillor Stan Kitchen said. There was already a shortage of housing locally, yet other places had houses to spare. Diss was only a small community and it would be better to send the refugees where they could get together in larger numbers than they could in Diss.
Countries all round the world have been kicking out their unwanted minority groups, said John Speirs, and in this case he could see no particular reason why these people should be accepted here. We have enough trouble of our own, he said.
(Mr Speirs had spent many years living and working in Burma, annexed by the British in 188.)
James Scoggins said he did not think the refugees should be housed in Diss but there were spare houses elsewhere in South Norfolk which were difficult to let.
Chairman Cyril Grace said Diss was not suitable and the refugees should be housed elsewhere in South Norfolk. It was not a question of an un-Christian attitude, but in these times of enormous problems it would be foolish to put the refugees in an area where houses were not readily available while other houses in the district remained empty.
This report provoked a storm of protest in the press. One letter compared John Speirs to Alf Garnett. Another said ‘I hope every one of those councillors is meeting with the scorn and hostility they deserve.’ The Council seemed to have no objection to 70 pensioners moving from London to the Mere Manor site at the same time.
South Norfolk District Council were finally moved to accept three families who were housed in Taylor Road, Thomas Manning Road and Blomefield Road. Another family later lived in Willbye Avenue.
But by April 1982, the District Council had decided that there would be no more homes for refugees
In recent years, there has been a welcome influx of people from Europe – Rumania, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Lithuanian, Hungart. The Youth & Community Centre has even doubled as a mosque.
This account derives from a lecture delivered by Diss Museum manager Basil Abbott as part of the Diss Town of Sanctuary celebration of refugee week in 2025.