Norfolk: Bawsey

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

BAWSEY is a decayed parish, 2½ miles E. by N. of Lynn, in Freebridge Lynn union, hundred, and petty sessional division, Lynn county court district, bankruptcy district, Lynn polling district of West Norwich [sic], Lynn rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It had 70 inhabitants in 1881, living in 12 houses, on 1,000 acres. The rateable value is £742.

The parish includes about 300A. of sandy heath, forming an ancient rabbit warren, in which great quantities of grey sand are got, and sent to the glass houses in various parts of the kingdom. For every cart load of this sand, 1s. 6d. is paid to the lord of the manor, A. Hamond, Esq., who owns most of the soil.

Sir W.H. Ffolkes, Bart., has 160 acres of land here, occupied by himself and Mr. Thomas Driver. Here is only one farm-house, occupied by Mr. John Gray, in whose possession are the parish Register, a small octavo volume of parchment, which commences in 1530 and ends in 1773; the church bible (in very good preservation) printed in old English and published in 1617; and the communion plate, on the chalice of which is pricked "For the Town of Bawsey."

The CHURCH has been a roofless ruin for more than a century, and appears to have originally consisted of nave, chancel, bold central tower, and south transept, but the latter has entirely disappeared. It is mostly of Norman architecture, but Decorated windows have been inserted in the chancel, and buttresses appear to have been added at the same period. The windows of the tower are good specimens of the Norman style, being of two lights, separated by the usual small column, under one semicircular arch. Traces of the piscina, sedilia, and aumbry may still be seen in the chancel.

A. Hamond, Esq., is patron of the sinecure rectory, valued in the King's Book at £4, and now at £90, in the incumbency of the Rev. E.M.D. Pyne, B.A.

POST from Lynn.

         Bardell             brick, tile, and drain
           Brothers            pipe manufacturers; and Lynn
         Gray       John     farmer
         Sadler     Walter   foreman
 

See also the Bawsey parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
April 2006