GRISTON

The Griston connection

Tradition has it that the events told in the story originally happened in Wayland Wood, now off the A1075 between Griston and Watton, and that the uncle lived at nearby Griston Hall. The ghosts of the murdered children are said to haunt the wood.

 

Village sign

The village sign at Griston and town sign of Watton both depict the story in different ways. Griston's sign is the more dramatic, showing the wicked uncle armed with a sword chasing the babes in front of Griston Hall, while Watton's simply shows the babes reposed under a tree.

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The traditional tale

The traditional children's tale is of two children abandoned in a wood, who die and are covered with leaves by robins.

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It was first published as an anonymous broadside ballad by Thomas Millington in Norwich in 1595 with the title "The Norfolk gent his will and Testament and howe he Commytted the keepinge of his Children to his own brother whoe delte most wickedly with them and howe God plagued him for it".

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The tale has been reworked in many forms; it frequently appears attributed as a Mother Goose rhyme. Around 1840, Richard Barham included a spoof of the story in his Ingoldsby Legends, under the title of 'The Babes in the Wood'; or, 'the Norfolk Tragedy'. Harris cheekily claims in an endnote that the true history of the children is, 'or ought to be,' in "Bloomfield's [sic] History of Norfolk", but that work's Wayland section does not mention it. The anonymous ballad was also illustrated by Randolph Caldecott in a book published in London in 1879.

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This version of the story tells of two small children left in the care of an uncle and aunt after their parents' deaths, and is most closely aligned with the Griston connection. The uncle gives the children to ruffians to be killed, in order to acquire their inheritance, telling his wife they are being sent to London for their upbringing. The murderers fall out, and the milder of the two kills the other. He tells the children he will return with provisions, but they do not see him again. The children wander alone in the woods until they die; their bodies are covered with leaves by the birds.

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Like many morality tales, the story continues with a description of the retribution befalling the uncle. In sanitized versions, the children are bodily taken to Heaven. The story ends with a warning to those who have to take care of orphans and others' children not to inflict God's wrath upon themselves.

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Pantomimes

The story is also used as a basis for pantomimes, including, in 1972 and 1985, at the Norwich Theatre Royal, although no local connection appears to have been referenced. It continues to be a popular choice for pantomimes nationwide.

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However, for various reasons including both the brevity of the original and the target pantomime audience of young children, modern pantomimes by this name usually combine this story with parts of the modern Robin Hood story (employing the supporting characters from it, such as Maid Marian, rather than Robin himself) to lengthen it.

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Common usage

The expression 'Babes In The Wood' has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile situation.

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