The house with the pet lions 🦁

Alright?

Welcome to the 411 of you who have joined us this week. It’s a shoes-off policy around here, so I hope you’ve picked your good socks.

Apparently, it’s warmer in Norfolk this weekend than in Ibiza. I can just imagine the celebrities around the pool at the Blue Marlin Beach Club, gazing over the crystal-clear Balearic, turning to one another and saying, “This is nice, but I’d probably rather be in Gorleston.”

Anyway, today’s secret is inspired by an email from one of our readers (hey Sally). She’ll get a £20 Jarrolds voucher as a thank you. If you have any secrets, send ‘em in and, if I use them, you’ll get a voucher too. Just reply directly to this email.

Colney Hall.

Head west out of Norwich and, just after you’ve passed the hospital, you’ll find an innocuous right turn that looks like it leads to nowhere in particular.

Follow the road down and, eventually, you’ll come across Colney Hall. It’s arguably one of Norwich’s most remarkable properties.

Today, it looks like this:

But back in the 18th century, when it was built, it would’ve looked liked this:

There are two things that are particularly fascinating about this property:

1) The caves.
2) The history.

Yeah. This house has actual caves.

These man-made caves were built in the 19th century and still survive today.

Not so long ago, you might’ve even stumbled upon a lion prowling through them. Let’s talk about that.

Mitzi and Fritzi.

In the late 19th century, Colney Hall was purchased by Hugh Gurney Barclay. Barclay as in the bank - you know the one.

Whilst on a safari in Kenya (which, presumably, was also colder than Norfolk this weekend), Hugh met a German count who liked him so much that he gifted him two lions. Obviously.

Mitzi and Fritzi were kept at Colney Hall as pets. By all accounts, they were like any other pet cats.

That was until they killed Hugh’s 29-year-old son.

Terence Barclay had wandered into the lion’s enclosure but, unfortunately for him, he’d been handling raw meat that day. I’m no expert, but I reckon that’s a big no-no around lions. Mitzi and Fritzi attacked, and whilst Terence was initially saved by the groundskeeper (who fired his gun to scare them off), he would later die of sepsis from his wounds.

You can visit Terence’s grave at St Andrew’s church in Colney - where it states he was killed “from the result of an accident”. Talk about an understatement.

Where does Edith Cavell come into it?

Ah yes, Edith. Before her wartime heroics, Edith Cavell was hired by the Barclay family as a governess to their children in 1889. A governess = a private, live-in tutor.

She wasn’t there for the lion attack. In fact, she only stuck around at Colney Hall for a year. Still, it adds extra texture to the house to know that she lived and worked there.

Some extra info you might appreciate:

• The house was on sale last year for “offers over £5.5m”. I managed to find the PDF used by the estate agent, which provides some extra pics.

• Surprisingly, the lions weren’t put down after the attack. Some sources claim they were shipped off to Dublin Zoo.

• The cave (or ‘grotto’) was totally man-made. Even the rock - Pulhamite - is a patented, man-made rock by a bloke called James Pulham (who, incidentally, was born up the road in Suffolk).

If you have a moment (and the willpower), I’d appreciate you sharing this newsletter with someone who might enjoy it. Also, your responses to the poll below are always useful:

See you next Sunday,

Secret Norwich.