GENUKI: Norfolk: Hempton, Norfolk

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

HEMPTON is a small parish and scattered village, half a mile S. of Fakenham, on the opposite side of the river Wensum, and on the Eastern and Midlands Railway. It is in Walsingham union, Fakenham county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Gallow petty sessional division and hundred, Fakenham polling district of West Norfolk, Toftrees rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It had 566 inhabitants in 1881, living on 560 acres, and has a rateable value of £1666. It is mostly the property of the Marquis Townshend, who is lord of the manor and impropriator of the tithes, which have been commuted for £97.

Hempton Priory, which stood on the Abbey farm, was founded in the reign of Henry I. for Augustine canons, to whom King John granted a fair; and in 14th Edward I. (1286) the prior claimed a market on Tuesday, but the latter has long been obsolete, and no vestiges of the priory now remain. In a tumulus on the adjoining heath an urn was dug up many years ago.

Two large fairs, held here on Whit-Tuesday and November 22, are noted for Scotch cattle; and a third is held in September for the sale of sheep.

The ancient parish CHURCH (St. Andrew) was dilapidated on the foundation of the priory, to which a chapel was attached, but some of its ruins were standing in 1497. The priory ceased on the suppression of the smaller religious houses, and although the population increased considerably, the parish was left without a church till 1856; when the present CHURCH (Holy Trinity) was opened. The new church is only partially built, the chancel alone being completed. It is in the Early English style, and all its windows are filled with stained glass of a plain pattern, that at the east end, which is of three lights surmounted by three quatrefoils, containing the emblem of the Trinity. The west window is in memory of Guybon Damant; and a small mural monument, forming the base of one of the side windows, is in memory of the family of Moxon.

The vicarage, worth £30 a year, is in the patronage of the Crown, and incumbency of the Rev. Ambrose James Johnson, M.A., who is also rector of Shereford, and who has a good residence of plain Tudor architecture, built in 1858 at a cost of £800.

Here is a National Infant School, attended by about 50 children. The poor have 4A. 2R. 12P. of land in the parish of Shereford, which is let for £12 5s., and £2 10s. yearly from the sale of a cottage which was left and invested in Consols. An Oddfellors' Lodge is held at the King's Head.

WALL LETTER BOX cleared at 5.50 p.m. POST viâ Fakenham, which is the nearest Money Order Office.

         Barley      Mr Edmund Johnson
         Bell        Mrs Susannah      schoolmistress
         Burrell     Mrs Naomi
         Butcher     James             cabinet maker
         Chaplin     Mrs Sarah Ann
         Codling     John              bootmaker
         Cooper      George            bootmaker
         Curson      Geo. Robinson     superintendent L. & F. Railway Co.
         Fisher      Isaac William     wheelwright and carpenter
         Gates       Mrs Mary          victualler, Buck
         Goggs       Thomas Richard    miller and merchant; h Fakenham
         Graves      Walter            butcher
         Horsley     Charles & Son     millers and merchants; and Fakenham
         Huggins     William           blacksmith
         Johnson     Rev. Ambrose
                       Jas. M.A.       vicar
         Lane        John              brewer, timber mert. and vict.
                                         King's Head, and tax collector
         Leverington James             baker and grocer, assistant overseer
                                         and tax collector
         Loades      Alfred            cooper
         Loades      Edmund            cooper
         Loades      Edm. jun.         cooper & parish clrk
         Lynn        Miss Lydia        grocer and draper
         Mann        John              castrator & cattle dealer
         Mann        Robert            cattle dealer and vict. Bell
         Newland     Mr James
         Pearson     Mr John
         Sharman     Mrs Martha
         Sharman     John Wright       farmer and cattle dealer, Abbey farm
         Tait        Lavater Cawkwell  general manager, E.M. Railway Co.
         Tuthill     Chas.             brickmkr.; h Fakenham
         Woodhouse   Daniel            wheelwright
         Wright      James             timber merchant

RAILWAY - Fakenham Town Station, on the Eastern & Midlands Railway; G.R. Curson, superintendent, and W.F. Bill, stationmaster

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Norfolk: Hempton

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