Bale is a village within the civil parish of Gunthorpe

Gunthorpe, Norfolk

Gunthorpe is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 8.6 miles east north east of the town of Fakenham, 14.9 miles west south west of Cromer and 122 miles north north east of London. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs...

  in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 of Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

. The village is on the north side of the A148

A148 road

The A148 is an English A road entirely in the county of Norfolk. It runs from King's Lynn to Cromer via Fakenham which it bypasses to the north.-King’s Lynn starting point:...

 King's Lynn

King's Lynn

King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....

 to Cromer

Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...

 road.The village is 9 miles east north east of the town of Fakenham

Fakenham

Fakenham is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, some north east of King's Lynn, south west of Cromer, and north west of Norwich....

, 14.3 miles west south west of Cromer

Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...

 and 125 miles north north east of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham

Sheringham railway station

Sheringham railway station is a timber halt in the town of Sheringham in the English county of Norfolk. The station is the terminus of the Bittern Line, operated by National Express East Anglia, and is 49 km north of...

 for the Bittern Line

Bittern Line

The Bittern Line is a railway line from Norwich to Cromer then Sheringham in Norfolk, England. It is one of the most scenic in the East of England traversing the Norfolk Broads on its route to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the North Norfolk Coast. The line is part of the Network Rail...

 which runs between Sheringham

Sheringham

Sheringham is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer.The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District Council, is Mare Ditat Pinusque Decorat, Latin for "The sea enriches and the pine adorns"....

, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....

.

History

Bale has an entry in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1085. In the great book Bale is recorded by the name ‘’Bathele’’ and it is said to be in the ownership of the King. The main tenant was Harold holding his land from Count Alan

Alan IV, Duke of Brittany

Alan IV was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong"...

.

The Parish Church

The Parish Church is called All Saints and dates back to the middle of the 14th century. The chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 is slightly older and there is a north transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

 which indicates that another was planned but never built. The windows have impressive tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

 around them. The church has a collection of Norwich School stained glass in one of the south nave windows.

The Bale Oak

The Bale Oak

Bale Oak

The Bale Oak was a large oak tree in Bale, a village in northern Norfolk, England that measured in circumference, was over 500 years old and, reportedly, featured branches over long.-History:...

 was a large oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 which once stood in the village. The tree measured 36 feet in circumference, was over 500 years old and, reportedly, featured branches over 70 feet long.

History

In the middle of the 14th century, All Saints church was erected immediately east of the site of the tree. According to folk legend, the tree had previously been a site for pre-Christian worship

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 and may have been a part of a larger grove. In 1795, the oak was severely damaged. The oak was heavily pollarded

Pollarding

Pollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...

 and the removed bark and some of the wood was sold to the Hardys of Letheringsett for tanning. Norfolk historian Francis Blomefield

Francis Blomefield

Francis Blomefield was an English antiquary, who projected a county history of Norfolk. During his lifetime, he compiled and published detailed accounts of the city of Norwich, Borough of Thetford and the southern hundreds of the county, but died before the whole work could be completed.-Biography...

 recorded use of the oak in the 18th century:

A great oak at bathele near the church, its hollow so large that ten or twelve men may stand within it and a cobbler had his shop and lodge there of late and it is or was used for a swinestry.

Deemed dangerous by the local populace, the abuse of the tree lead to its destruction in 1860. The Lord of the Manor Sir Willoughby Jones

Sir Willoughby Jones, 3rd Baronet

Sir Willoughby Jones 3rd Baronet was a Norfolk landowner and an English Conservative Party politician. He was briefly Member of Parliament for the Cheltenham constituency...

 ordered the tree removed and, with much local mourning, the remains taken carted to Cranmer Hall at Fakenham

Fakenham

Fakenham is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, some north east of King's Lynn, south west of Cromer, and north west of Norwich....

. The site is now covered by a grove of Holm Oak tree

Holm Oak

Quercus ilex, the Holm Oak or Holly Oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It takes its name from holm, an ancient name for holly...

s and is protected by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty

The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

.

Edward Rowe and the Titanic

One man who was aboard the RMS Titanic when it hit the iceberg

Iceberg

An iceberg is a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice...

 and sank was born in the village. Edward Rowe was born in Bale in 1882. In 1912 he was age thirty and he was a steward aboard the White Star Liner RMS Olympic

RMS Olympic

RMS Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic-class ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included Titanic and Britannic...

. He had then become a member of the crew for the delivery voyage of the RMS Titanic from Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 to Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

. After the ship arrived in Southampton, Edward Rowe, who gave his address as 56 Bridge Road, Southampton, signed-on to the Titanic’s new crew on the 4th April 1912. Rowe was a steward in the first class saloon for which he would have received a monthly wages of £3 15s. Edward Rowe died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.