GENUKI: Norfolk: Cockthorpe, Norfolk

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

COCKTHORPE, a small parish and hamlet, 6 miles W.N.W. of Holt, is in Walsingham union, Fakenham county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, North Greenhoe hundred and petty sessional division, Wells polling district of North Norfolk, Walsingham rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It had 62 inhabitants in 1881, living on 514 acres, and has a rateable value of £639. It is occupied by Messrs. Edward and James Case, and belongs to Lord Calthorpe, the lord of the manor.

The CHURCH (All Saints) comprises nave, south aisle and clerestory, south porch, chancel, and square tower with one bell. The windows are in the Perpendicular style, but the walls are of older date, and the church was once larger, as appears from some ruins at the east end. Several of the old open seats remain, but the nave is mostly filled with square pews. The aisle contains an altar tomb, a piscina, and a tablet to Sir John Calthorpe and his lady, the latter of whom lived to see 193 of her descendants.

The living is a rectory, in the patronage of Lord Calthorpe, valued in the King's Book at £5, and consolidated with Blakeney rectory, Little Langham vicarage, and Glanford [sic] curacy, in the incumbency of the Rev. Richard Henry Tillard, of Blakeney, who has here 26A. of glebe. The joint livings are now valued at £506 per annum.

Cockthorpe is supposed to have given birth to those three valiant admirals of the 17th century - Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Sir John Narborough, and Sir Christopher Minns; but some say that the first was a native of Cockley Cley (see above [which is the entry for Cockley Cley]), and that the last was the son of a shoemaker of London, though both spent the early parts of their lives at Cockthorpe. Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the commander-in-chief of Queen Anne's fleet, is said to have been the son of a poor man, and his name certainly appears in the church Register. He was lost on the coast of Scilly in 1705, together with several distinguished officers and 900 men.

The old parish whipping post still exists.

POST viâ Wells, which is the nearest Money Order Office.

         Case     Edward    farmer, Manor house
         Case     James     farmer, Sea view
         Newstead James     parish clerk

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Norfolk: Cockthorpe

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