THOMAS ANDREWS 1577-1643

[Ancestral Link: Mary Elizabeth Bickmore (Schow), daughter of Isaac Danford Bickmore, son of Isaac Motor Bickmore, son of David Bickmore, son of John Bickmore, son of Elizabeth Andrews (Bickmore), daughter of Joseph Andrews, son of Thomas Andrews, son of Thomas Andrews, son of Thomas Andrews.]

Migration from England-History of Leicestershire early 1600's , England

Perhaps Thomas moved from Leicestershire to Norfolk? See info on Norfolk below also. Why would they move? Norwich is a pretty far distance from Leicestershire.

LEICESTER IN THE 16th AND 17th CENTURIES
In 1500 Leicester probably had a population of about 3,000. Like all towns in those days Leicester suffered from outbreaks of the plague. It struck in 1564, 1579, 1583 and 1593. However Leicester continued to grow despite periodic outbreaks of plague.

Henry VIII closed the abbey, the friaries and the hospitals of St Leonard and St John. His son closed the merchants guild (The Tudors dislike guilds as they felt they restricted trade) and confiscated their property, including the guildhall. In 1563 it was sold to the town council.

In 1545 a grammar school was founded in Leicester.

There were more outbreaks of plague in Leicester in 1604, 1606, 1610, 1625, 1636 and 1638. But the outbreak in 1638 was the last.

Then in 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. The king’s army laid siege to Leicester in 1645. The royal army was made up of 5,500 men. Inside Leicester there were only 2,000 defenders. Traitors left the town at night and revealed where there were weak spots in the walls. The royalists aimed their cannons at these spots and made breaches. The defenders tried to plug the gaps with sacks of wool but the royalist infantry attacked. They attempted to reach a breach in the wall near Newark 4 times but each time they were repulsed. The royalists then attacked a breach by the Eastgate. They caused the defenders to withdraw by throwing hand grenades among them. Then they swarmed through the breach. Soon Leicester was captured. The royalists then sacked the town killing many people.

However their triumph was short lived. The royalists were routed at the battle of Naseby. The parliamentary army then laid siege to Leicester. The royalists had not had time to repair the breaches in the walls and they were soon forced to surrender. However, they were allowed to leave provided they left behind all their weapons. Afterwards the castle was destroyed to make sure it never fell into royalist hands again. Leicester soon recovered from the effects of the civil war and by 1670 it probably had a population of about 5,000.

At the end of the 17th century a writer said of Leicester: ‘It has four gates. The streets are fairly large and well made. There are 5 parishes. The market place is a large space, very handsome with a good market cross and town hall. The town’s buildings are of timber except one or two of brick’.

In 1612 a conduit was built to carry water from springs into Leicester. The name survives in Conduit Street. In 1686 a scavenger was appointed to clean the main streets. In 1681 Leicester purchased its first fire engine. In the late 17th century a hosiery industry flourished in Leicester.

Info on Ryburgh
Great Ryburgh is a village (population 668 with Little Ryburgh)[1 ] in the English county of Norfolk. It is located about two miles south-east of the market town of Fakenham. The River Wensum flows through the village. The village has a large maltings which has been producing malt on a traditional malting floor for two centuries.[2 ] The village and maltings were formerly served by Ryburgh station on the Great Eastern Railwaybranch from Wymondham and East Dereham to Fakenham and Wells-next-the-Sea. This line is proposed for restoration, as far as Fakenham, by the Mid-Norfolk Railway.
found on ancestry.com