Do you know anything about the family of the man who carved Sheringham's War Memorial?

The Roll of Honour website has photographs of Sheringham War Memorial commemorating the men and women of Sheringham and Beeston Regis who lost their lives during the two world wars. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Sheringham.html

Herbert Palmer carved the fine memorial cross, which was unveiled on 1st January 1921. Kelly's Directory of 1929 lists Palmer & Gardner with premises in Station Yard as Monumental Masons and also a Herbert Harry Palmer JP living at Kingswood on the Cromer Road. The 1912 Directory lists Herbert H Palmer, monumental agent, Station Yard. Are these references to the same person? In 1911 a new font, a copy of a medieval font at Walsingham, was installed in St Joseph's Church. It was described by an eyewitness at the ceremony as being 'not only absolutely faithful to the original, but also an extremely beautiful piece of workmanship ... it is the work of a local sculptor, for it has been carved in Sheringham by Mr Palmer'. The Sheringham War Memorial is also a beautiful piece of work in the style of the thirteenth century Eleanor Crosses. In November 1290 Eleanor, the much loved wife of Edward 1 died at Harby near Lincoln. Her body was taken in procession to Westminster Abbey in London. Edward had stone crosses erected between 1291 and 1294 at Lincoln, Grantham,Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St.Albans, Waltham, Westcheap and Charing as memorials. These were the twelve places where the procession stopped overnight. If you want to see an original thirteenth century cross, only those at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire and Geddington and Hardingstone in Northamptonshire survive. The pulpit in St Joseph's, given in memory of Canon Walmsley Carter the first parish priest of St Joseph's who died in 1938, was also the work of a Mr Palmer. This is too displays lovely workmanship, this time in wood, with carvings of the four Evangelists, on a stone base. Is all this the work of the same highly skilled craftsman? On 28 November 1974 Councillor J R Palmer presented a photograph of St Joseph's Church taken circa 1910 to the church. He said that his father and uncle were responsible for the stonework when the church was extended, work began in 1934 and it was consecrated in 1936. We would love to be able to name the stonemasons who worked on the church. It is their skills combined with the architect's design that contributed to the designation of St Joseph's as a listed building in 1987. In the 1970's Councillor J R Palmer and his wife lived in Morris Street. They moved to St. Matthews Nursing Home in Bradford, West Yorkshire; both are buried in Sheringham Cemetery. The Nursing Home has since closed.

Can @Sheringham readers tell us anything about the Palmer and Gardner families? It would be fantastic to have contact details for relatives, friends or acquaintances of the families for it would be wonderful to know more about the man whose work so many local people and visitors admire at not only on Armistice Day but whenever they walk down the Boulevard.
Teresa Collins, nee Bullock
terricollins@tiscali.co.uk Tel:01926 315018

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