Ketts Rebellion- 450 Years On

On Saturday 10th July, to commemorate the Ketts Rebellion 450 years ago, The Land is Ours (Anglia region) occupied the grounds of an old hospital on the outskirts of Norwich. With the sale of the site imminent, activists set up camp on this area of prime greenbelt land to stop a piece of natural countryside falling into the hands of developers.

The NHS Trust won a possession order at the High Court on Thursday 22nd July to evict the protesters, but this only fanned flames of public hostility towards the site owners as TLIO campaigners received a groundswell of support from local residents at a public meeting, which was organised by the protesters. Locals vowed to carry on the fight to preserve the site for public use, unanimously backing TLIO's intention to apply to Norfolk County Council for the site to be granted village green status. Under the 1965 Commons Registration Act, in order to get village green status, it would have to be proved that the land had been used for recreational purposes continuously for 20 years.

The procession on the way to Bishopsgate High Court followed the direct route of the Ketts rebels, when 20,000 landless labourers took over the City of Norwich in August 1549.