Norah Lofts Country Trivia Quiz

Answer: Suffolk

Almost all of Lofts' English novels were set in East Anglia, most in south Suffolk. The 'real' nearby city most often mentioned is Colchester. Baildon is said to be patterned after Bury St Edmonds.

Answer: Bywater

Books of this sort need a handy seaport, and Bywater is mentioned in almost every book. This is where Ethlereda Benedict first meets civilization, in "The House at Old Vine", and Sir Godfrey's brother, William, is the Bishop of Bywater, in "Knight's Acre".

Answer: Raveloe

Raveloe comes from another sort of book entirely, George Eliot's "Silas Marner".

Answer: Layer Wood

The wood is spread out like a six fingered glove, with great houses at the points and in the hollows, and footpaths and short cuts all through.

Answer: Mortiboys

The history of the place goes back to before the Norman invasion - in "Jassy" Barney Hatton tells us the story of how it was named:
"The owner of the place at that time, called upon to be William's liege or to surrender the place, 'refused with many oaths,' and when the day of reckoning came, opposed, with his little force of house-carls, the mounted knights. At sunset he was surrounded in the only spot which remained to him - a woodsman's hut in the centre of the woods. There, with the last three of his men dead about him, he set fire to the hut and died within the flames. And the Normans were sufficiently impressed by his performance to name the place Morte de Bois, which name upon the tongues of the common Saxon people was eased down to Mortiboys."

Later legend tells that the wife of this Saxon, newly pregnant, visited the Norman lord, and "enthralled him with her sorrow and beauty" so he married her. Later, when the Tudor-era Hattons acquired the place as a gift from Henry VIII (the owners had been Catholics) the first Hatton married the daughter of the original, Norman, family.

Answer: Ockley

Fennels are mentioned in most of the books, and play some part in several ("Jassy", "Nethergate" and "Bless This House" come to mind) but so far as I can tell, there is no book set at Ockley.

Answer: Hattons

Mortiboys itself passes to the Helmars at one point, when the Chris Hatton of the time gambles it away. My favorite gambling Christopher Hatton is "Gentleman Johnny", Felicity's father, in "The House at Sunset".

Answer: The Hawk in Hand

The One Bull is the tavern in "A Wayside Tavern", the Pot of Flowers is where Davy Armstrong first starts to go bad ("The House at Sunset") and the Fleece is the inn where Hester Roon was born ("Hester Roon").

The Hawk in Hand was a base of Royalist sympathy, during the Civil War.

Answer: Turnbull

It is a Turnbull who gets a glimpse of Rupert Hatton's will and learns that Felicity will be a rich woman some day. His hastily arranged Fleet marriage to her does him no good, however; she ends up seeing through his plan. ("The House at Sunset")

The "strange strain" in the Old Vine family has its final appearance in Felicity's tale; the queer wanderer whom she finally marries has the familiar name - Rancon.

Answer: Convent

Maude Reed spends some time here, in "The Town House" and Josiana Greenwood also finds refuge here ("The House at Old Vine"). The Clevely syrup, a painkilling poppy extract, plays a pivotal role in the final scene of "The House at Old Vine".