GENUKI: Norfolk: Acle, Norfolk

Hide

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883

ACLE is a parish and a pleasant and well-built village, on two opposite acclivities, 11 miles E. of Norwich, and eight miles W. by N. of Yarmouth. It is in Blofield union, Walsham hundred, Norwich county court and bankruptcy district, Blofield and Walsham petty sessional division, Blofield polling district of South Norfolk, Blofield rural deanery and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. It had 910 inhabitants in 1881, living on 3459A. 2R. 25P., and has a rateable value of £6868 10s.

The greater part of the parish is marsh. It has a detached member, lying near Yarmouth, allotted at the enclosure in 1797. The new line of rail from Brundall to Yarmouth, by which the distance from Norwich to the latter town is considerably shortened, passes through Acle and has a station there.

At the Conquest, the parish was a fief of the Crown, and was granted by the Conqueror to Roger Bigod, who obtained for it a market and fair. These are now obsolete. Richard II. granted the inhabitants freedom from all tolls, suits of shire and of hundreds, with other immunities.

Lord Calthorpe is the principal owner, and lord of the manor; but the trustees of the late H.N. Burroughes, Esq., have land here. Acle bridge, on the Bure, a mile east of the village, is called in all legal documents Weybridge; and a little below it, a short canal branches to a staithe or wharf. At a short distance east of the church are some small remains of Weybridge Priory, founded in the reign of Edward I., by Roger Bigod, for regular canons of the order of St. Augustine. At the Dissolution, it was valued at £7 13s. 4d., and granted to the Duke of Norfolk.

A House of Industry was erected at Acle, in 1788, for seven parishes, to which ten other parishes were afterwards united, but the house was burnt down in November, 1834.

The CHURCH, dedicated to St. Edmund the King, consists of nave, chancel, north and south porches, and tower. Each of the porches has a parvise or chamber over it; the tower, which contains five bells, is round at the base but octagonal above. The building is of rubble and flint with stone quoins, the roof of the nave is thatched, and that of the chancel is slated.

The font is octagonal, and bears upon its sides representions of the symbols of the Evangelists, the Trinity, the patron saint, &c. The chancel, which is separated from the nave by a handsome screen, was restored in 1860, at a cost of £400; and on its south side are sedilia for three priests. Here is a brass to the Rev. Thomas Stones, a former minister; and many tombs still remain, but their brasses are gone. The church contains an organ presented by the patron in 1837. In the churchyard is a number of fine lime trees.

Lord Calthorpe is patron of the rectory, which is valued in the King's Book at £20, and is now in the incumbency of the Rev. Robert Winter Kennion, M.A., who has a flint and brick residence in the Tudor style, built in 1858; a yearly rent-charge of £693 in lieu of tithes; and 13A. 3R. 27P. of glebe.

The Primitive Methodists are building a new chapel here. A National School was established about fifty years ago. A lodge of Oddfellows is held at the Queen's Head Inn.

About an acre of land left by an unknown donor, and called the Poor's Acre, is let for 30s. a year, of which 10s. 6d. is paid for a sermon, 1s. goes to the clerk, and the remainder is distributed in bread on Good Friday. The poor have also two other plots of land which are let for small sums; and they had a sand pit till 1861, when, the sand being exhausted, it was sold, and the money invested in the Post Office Savings Bank to accumulate till another sand pit could be purchased.

POST OFFICE, TELEGRAPH, MONEY ORDER and POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK at Mr. Richard Leeder's. Letters arrive at 5.50 a.m., and are despatched at 4.50 p.m., via Norwich.

         Arnup       James           beerhouse
         Baker       Miss Harriet
         Baker       Mrs Sophia B
         Barwood     Joseph          grocer and draper
         Basham      William         police superintndnt
         Benns       James           wherryowner & coal dlr
         Bessey      Mr James Green
         Briggs      Samuel          cutler
         Brown       Robt.           carpenter & wheelwright
         Bunn        Mr George
         Capon       Henry Thomas    registrar and relieving officer
         Church      Joseph          tailor
         Church      Mrs Only        boarding school
         Church      Thomas          shoemaker
         Church      Thomas, jun.    shoemaker
         Coman       William         painter, plumber and glazier
         Cufuade     Frank, M.D.,
                       M.R.C.S.      physician and surgeon [see note below]
         Cufuade     W. H.           surgeon               [see note below]
         Daniels     George          farmer & landowner
         Daniels     George jun.     grocer and draper
         Dunt        Mr James
         Durrant     Daniel          shoemaker
         Ellis       Joseph          thatcher
         Evans       Mrs Mary Anne
         Felmingham  Mr James
         Fowler      Benjamin        farmer
         Fowler      William
                       & George      carpenters and wheelwrights
         Furrance    Thos.           bricklayer and builder
         Fynch       Eugenia         photographer
         Gale        Mr Daniel
         George      Wm.             carpenter & wheelwright
         Gissing     William         watch maker
         Green       Mr Samuel
         Greenacre   Simon           farmer and owner
         Hacon       Mrs Martha
         Hall        Henry           shoemaker
         Harrison    Daniel          farmer and carrier
         Hinchcliffe John            butcher
         Holmes      Charles         market gardener
         Holmes      John            farmer and parish clerk
         Holmes      William         carrier
         Hunn        Jas.            vict. & frmr, The 'Hermitage'
         Hunn        Mr Joseph
         James       Charles         schoolmaster
         Kennion     Rev. Robert
                       Winter, M.A.  rector, The Rectory
         Knights     Mr William
         Lark        Daniel          (outfitter) Yarmouth
         Leeder      Richd.          postmastr. grcr. & draper
         Lemmon      Thomas          coach painter and surveyor
         Mainprice   John            farmer
         Miller      Mrs Anne        baker & confectioner
         Mitchley    Jarvis          farmer and victualler, The 'King's Head'
         Moore       Thomas          carpenter
         Parry       Wm.             farmer & cattle salesman
         Pearce      William         vict. (and posting) The 'Queen's Hotel'
         Riches      Mrs Bessy
         Rix         George          grocer and draper
         Rix         William         saddler and harnessmaker;
                                       and at South Walsham
         Rose        Edward          victualler, The 'Angel'
         Squire      John & Albert   millers, merchants and farmers
         Squire      Robert          farmer
         Squire      William         farmer
         Tills       Charles         farmer; h Moulton
         Tungate     Mrs Mary Ann    grcr. & draper
         Utting      Walter          stone mason, glass and china dealer
         Waters      William         farmer & landowner
         Wilkinson   Reuben          blacksmith
         Winfield    Mr James
         Wright      Samuel          farmer; and Moulton

CARRIERS.--
William Holmes, to and from Norwich, Mon., Wed. and Sat.
Daniel Harrison, to and from Yarmouth Wed., and to and from Norwich Sat.

Note: This surname is probably Cufaude.

Hide

Norfolk: Acle

hide

Hide

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883