History of Refugees in Norfolk
The contribution of Refugees to the culture and economy of Norfolk is not a new thing. Two of the most prominent facets of the county, The Canaries football club and our unique accent, owe a debt to 16th century Dutch refugees.
Strangers and the Canaries
- The Canaries
- Norwich City FC's nickname has its origins in the pastime of 16th Century refugees to the area.
In 1565 the Norfolk economy had hit a low point and it was felt immigrants would help alleviate this. Queen Elizabeth issued a letters patent allowing thirty Dutch and Walloon Strangers and their households to settle within Norwich City walls. The people of the Low Countries were having many troubles at the time; their ruler, Philip II of Spain, enforced many anti-Protestant policies and there was also economic hardship and war.
The religious persecution from Spanish colonials within their own country lead up to 300,000 people to seek refuge in the Norfolk area, due to pre-existing trade links with the county. The Dutch and Walloons brought with them their textiles expertise. When they moved to Norfolk, their expertise rejuvenated the local economy.
The 'Strangers' helped rebuild Norwich north of the River Wensum after it was devastated by the great fire of 1507. At the time, the Norwich weaving industry was losing ground to its Dutch rivals, so the influx of refugees, known locally as 'Strangers', brought with them a major revival in the city's textile industry, assuring Norwich its place as England's second city.
Evidence of the Stranger community still remains within Norfolk. Probably the most visual reminder is the local football team, Norwich City FC. The Strangers brought with them a love of canary breeding, which soon caught on locally and led to the breed known as the Norwich Canary, thus giving rise to the nickname The Canaries for the local team.
Our unique accent
Recently, Professor Peter Trudgill, a world renowned linguist at the UEA, has formed a connection between the Stranger Community and specific quirks within the Norfolk and Suffolk accent.
What I have been looking at is what we in the trade call the absence of the third person present tense singular 's'. What this means is that in the standard English we would say he goes, she goes, or he likes her. But in Norfolk we hear people say he go, she do, he like her, missing off the 's'. What prompted me to investigate it is that only in Norfolk and Suffolk do we find that.
Professor Peter Trugill
Professor Trugill believes that as the Strangers tried to get to grips with the irregularities of our language, they formed a kind of pidgin English that may have missed off the 's' on the end of verbs. Four centuries on, the habit remains a distinctive part of the Norfolk dialect.
Although the migration of refugees into Norfolk is relatively tiny today compared to the 16th century - around one third of the population of Norwich were Flemish (Dutch) immigrants - refugees today can still make a lasting and substantial contribution to the economy and culture of our county.
Sources:
Asylum in the UK
The history of refugees in Norfolk has shaped distinctive elements of our local identity.
Local Support Groups