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Norfolk: Baconsthorpe

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

BACONSTHORPE, a village and parish, 3 miles E. by S. of Holt, is in Erpingham Union, South Erpingham hundred, North Erpingham petty sessional division, Holt county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Holt polling district of North Norfolk, Ingworth rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry.

It had 298 inhabitants in 1881 living on 1,339 acres, and had a rateable value in 1882 of £1,932. 13s. 9d., and a gross estimated rental of £2,162. 5s. J.T. Mott, Esq., the Marchioness of Lothian, John Henry Gurney, Esq., and others, have estates here, and the first is lord of the manor.

The manor was long held by the Bacons, one of whom was John Bacon, the learned and "Resolute Doctor," who died in 1346. From them it passed to the Heydons, who held it till the year 1680. Sir Henry Heydon built the old Hall or Castle except the large centre tower, about the year 1495; but the whole is now in ruins, and the more modern hall is occupied by Mr. Richard Mack.

An urn was dug up in 1878 on the estate of J.T. Mott, Esq., which contained about 10,000 coins (now in his possession) dating from Gordianus Africanus (237 A.D.) to Victorianus (260 A.D.).

The CHURCH (St Mary the Virgin) is a large handsome edifice, which was partly destroyed by the fall of the steeple in 1739, but was thoroughly repaired and beautified, chiefly at the expense of the Rev. Wm. Hewitt, in 1779. It is of Perpendicular architecture, and comprises nave with aisles, chancel, porch, and square tower with one bell. In the south aisle are two stained glass windows, inserted in 1863 in memory of John Clarke and his wife; and a handsome new window has been put in the south wall of the chancel by John Hales, Esq., of Holt. The east window is filled with stained glass in memory of the Rev. J.A. Partridge, rector, who died in 1861; the west window is in memory of his predecessor, the Rev. H.J. Mott, and was the gift of his brother J.T. Mott, Esq. The church was restored in the year 1869 at a cost of £1,300, through the exertions of the then rector, the Rev. J.R. Feilden. Here are several fine monuments and brasses of the sixteenth century. A new organ has been recently placed in the church at a cost of £145.

The rectory, valued in the King's Book at £9. 1s., is in the patronage of J.T. Mott, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. S.R. Coxe. The glebe is 33 acres, and the tithes were commuted, in 1842, for £349 per annum. The rectory-house was nearly destroyed by lightning in 1692 and by fire in 1754; after which it continued in ruins till 1770, when it was repaired, at considerable expense, by the rector and parishioners.

Here is a school, built in 1816; and the poor have £5 a year out of land left by Thomas Newman in 1698. The Wesleyans have a small chapel, built in 1863. A Working Men's Club, established in 1880, has a library of 200 volumes, and is held at the coffee house.

POST OFFICE at Mrs. Baybutt's, the Coffee House. Letters are received at 8 A.M. and are despatched via Holt at 3.50 P.M.

         Baybutt    Mrs Martha       grocer, draper, postmistress,
                                     and proprietor of coffee tavern
         Burton     Wm.              vict, Jolly Farmers Inn
         Cooper     James            farmer
         Coxe       Rev. Seymour
                      Richard, M.A.  rector, Rectory
         Dixon      Grandison        farmer
         Everett    Mrs Ann
         Fisher     Philip           shoemaker
         Girling    Mrs Sarah Maria  farmer
         Gray       John             blacksmith
         Harrison   Robert           farmer
         King       Richard          farmer
         Mack       Mrs Harriet Ann  farmer
         Mack       Richard          farmer and churchwarden and
                                     guardian; h Hempstead
         Mann       John             shoemaker
         Moorhouse  Jno.             National schoolmaster
         Neale      Robert           wheelwright, carpenter, and farmer
         Rowe       Matthew          parish clerk
         Seaman     George Richard   farmer
         Silence    Alfred           wheelwright
         Smith      George           farmer
         Warnes     Grigson          shopkeeper
 

From ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS on pages 13-16:

"for 'letters ... via Holt,' read 'Dereham.'"


See also the Baconsthorpe parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
January 1999