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White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845
WALSHAM HUNDRED
Is a long, narrow district, of an irregular figure, bounded on the south-east by the river Yare; on the north, by the river Bure, which separates it from Tunstead Hundred; and on the south and west, by Blofield and Taverham Hundreds; extending about 15 miles north-west from the confluence of the two rivers near Yarmouth, and varying from two to eight miles in breadth.
A considerable portion of the soil is low marshy land, and was frequently subject to inundation, particularly in the vale of the Bure, which extends the whole length of the Hundred; but the commons and marshes have been nearly all enclosed, and well drained, during the present century.
At the Norman Conquest, this Hundred was called Walesha, from the watery nature of its soil, and was then held by the Crown. Henry I. transferred a great part of it to Eborard, Bishop of Norwich, as a life-hold, at an annual rent of 100 shillings. In the time of Edward II., John de Clavering was seized of many manors here and in Blofield, and one court was held for both these Hundreds, which together form the Deanery of Blofield, in the Archdeaconry of Norwich.
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 Nov. 1834.
Walsham Hundred is crossed both by the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway and Turnpike, and contains thirteen parishes, of which the following is an enumeration, shewing their population, in 1841, their annual value, as assessed to the County Rate in 1843, and their territorial extent, in assessable acres.
| PARISHES. | Pop. | Annl. Value £. | Acres. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acle | 864 | 5828 | 3165 |
| Beighton | 288 | 2568 | 996 |
| Halvergate | 495 | 5722 | 2636 |
| Hemblington | 284 | 1630 | 663 |
| Moulton | 235 | 2068 | 1001 |
| Ranworth-with } Panxworth + } | 290 141 | 3614 | 2444 |
| Reedham | 614 | 5048 | 3271 |
| Tunstall | 116 | 2748 | 1598 |
| Upton-with- } Fishley } | 528 | 3936 | 2112 |
| Walsham (South) | |||
| St. Mary | 388 | 2152 | 1285 |
| St. Lawrence | 225 | 3562 | 1867 |
| Wickhampton | 139 | 2708 | 1602 |
| Woodbastwick | 283 | 2572 | 1418 |
| Total | 4890 | 44,156 | 24,058 |
[There is more information about individual parishes]
+ Fishley and Panxworth are ecclesiastically separate parishes.
The whole Hundred is in BLOFIELD UNION, and in Ludham and Loddon Police Divisions. Its population was 4525, in 1831, and its annual value, as assessed to the property tax, was £27,061, in 1815, and £49,026, in 1842.
Notes
Some placenames in the transcription (of pages 494 to 495) above are given below together with their standard spelling :-
Moulton/Moulton St Mary, Walsham (South)/South Walsham
For more information see :-
- General description and layout of Hundreds.
- Other hundred descriptions from White's 1845.
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Copyright © Mike Bristow.
April 2006