GENUKI: Norfolk: Carbrooke, Norfolk

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

CARBROOKE, a long village with several neat houses, 2½ miles E. of Watton, is in Wayland union, Attleborough county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Wayland petty sessional division, Wayland hundred, Watton polling district of West Norfolk, Beccles [sic] rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It had 612 inhabitants in 1881, living on 3026 acres, and has a rateable value of £5367. The soil belongs to Sir William Robert Clayton, Bart., and Edward May Dewing, Esq., and lies in the manors of Carbrooke, Woodhall, and Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, of which Edward Robert Grigson is lord. The Hall was enlarged about fifty-eight years ago, and is the property of Edward May Dewing, Esq.

The CHURCH (St. Peter and St. Paul) was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VI., and is a handsome, lofty edifice in the Perpendicular style, comprising nave with aisles, north and south porches, chancel, and square tower 33 yards high, containing five bells. The roof of the nave is richly carved, and the fine ancient rood screen still remains. The nave is furnished with handsome open benches of oak, and the chancel with stalls.

The discharged vicarage, valued in the King's Book at £7 12s. 6d., and now worth £170 a year, is in the patronage of Edward May Dewing, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. John Fletcher Burrell, T.A.K.C.L., who has a good vicarage house. It was augmented in 1729 with £200 of royal bounty, and £200 given by the Rev. J. Carter; and in 1810 and 1815 with £400 in Parliamentary grants; and in 1868 with about 10 acres of glebe given by Richard Dewing, Esq. The tithes of the impropriate rectory were commuted in 1844 for £482 4s., and the vicarial tithes for £74 4s. per annum. Besides the latter, the vicar has the tithes of 200 acres of land in Great Ellingham.

The Independents and the Primitive Methodists have chapels here.

The National School is attended by about 60 children, and is a neat Elizabethan building of flint and brick. It was built in 1846 by the patron, on land given by Sir W.R. Clayton, Bart., the impropriator of the great tithes. The Church Land, 16A. 1R. 3P., is let on lease for eight years, out of which the poor have 21s. There are also 2A. 2R. of land for the maintenance and repair of roads. The Fuel Allotment, awarded to the poor in 1801, is 56A. 2R. 32P.

Another church anciently stood in an exempt jurisdiction, called Carbrooke Parva, belonging to the commandery or preceptory of Knights Templar, founded here by Roger, Earl of Clare (who died in 1173), and more amply endowed in 1182 by his widow, who gave it to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. This house was sometimes called the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, but commonly 'the Commandery of Kerbrook,' and was the only institution of the kind in Norfolk. It was endowed with numerous farms and vassals.

All persons who enjoyed the privileges of this order were allowed to fix a cross upon their houses and lands, which exempted them from the payment of tithes, taxes, and many customary dues. These privileges the Knights, by granting their name and the use of the cross, conferred upon others; and they received in return numbers of small annual payments out of lands and tenements in this and the adjoining counties. But this abuse growing enormous, by many presuming to put a cross upon their property, a statute was enacted in the reign of Edward I. for the confiscation of all property on which crosses were falsely afixed.

On the Dissolution of the Carbrooke preceptory, its revenues were valued at £65 2s. 9d. per annum, and were granted, with the house and its church, to Sir Richard Gresham and Sir Richard Southwell, Knights. No vestiges of the buildings now remain, but the burial ground is still known; and in digging in it in 1737 a curious cross was found, having an oaken stem ornamented with brass bosses.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Samuel Skipper's. Letters from Watton arrive at 7.30 a.m. and are despatched at 5.25 p.m.; Sundays, 10.55 a.m. Watton is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         Bird       John                farmer, Low farm
         Buck       Henry               shoemaker
         Bullen     Daniel              miller and farmer
         Burrell    Rev. Jno. Fletcher,
                      T.A.C.K.L.        The Vicarage
         Caddy      Charles             farmer, South moor
         Caddy      George              beerhouse & carpenter
         Caddy      Wm.                 frmr. assistant overseer &
                                         surveyor of highways, Broadmoor
         Catton     Miss Elizabeth      beerhouse
         Charlton   George              cattle dealer and farmer,
                                          Carbrooke house
         Claxton    William             charcoal burner
         Coleman    Mrs Mary Ann        blacksmith and wheelwright
         Eggling    Perry               farmer, Red Barn
         Field      Mr William          Carbrooke hall
         Goddard    Samuel              miller and farmer
         Greengrass Wm.                 bricklayer & shopkpr
         Haylock    John                hawker
         Hunton     John & Son (Henry)  smiths, ironfounders & agricltl.
                                          machinists
         Hunton     Fras.               thrashing machine ownr
         Johnson    James               butcher & flour seller
         Knights    Chas.               dlr. & vict. White Hart
         Lock       Wm.                 farmer, The Hall farm
         Minns      James               baker and butcher
         Murrell    Matthew             joiner and builder, painter, plmbr.
                                          glazr. & parish clk
         Pittard    Mr Charles          Carbrooke villa
         Playe      Henry               blacksmith, wheelwright and farmer
         Richardson Wm.                 farmer, Ovington rd
         Saunders   John T.             farmer, Broadmoor
         Sayer      James               shoemaker
         Skipper    Saml.               grcr. & drpr. Post Office
         Wace       Leonard Jno.        frmr. Wood farm
         Ward       William             farmer, Fen
         Welcher    William Robert      farmer
         Wheals     Edmund              gardnr. & vict. Crown
         White      John                fowl dealer and farmer
         Whittle    Miss Emma           Natl. schlmstrss
         Woods      William             yeoman
         Wright     John                farmer
         Wright     Robert              farmer, Manor farm

From ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS on pages 13-16:

In the first paragraph, "for 'Beccles,' read 'Breccles.'"

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Norfolk: Carbrooke

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