Norfolk: Ingoldisthorpe

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

INGOLDISTHORPE, on the Hunstanton road, 1½ mile S.E. of Snettisham Station, and 10 miles N.N.E. of Lynn, is a small scattered village, seated in a picturesque vale, finely clothed with wood and watered by a small rivulet, which flows westward across the salt marshes to the Wash, after forming a beautiful cascade at the new bridge, near Snettisham. It is in Docking union, Smithdon and Brothercross petty sessional division, Smithdon hundred, Lynn county court and bankruptcy district, Docking polling district of West Norfolk, Heacham rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. The parish contains 309 inhabitants, living on 1393 acres of land, and has a rateable value of £2498 2s. 7d.

The Rev. James Bellamy, D.D., owns the manor and a great part of the soil. He occasionally resides at the manor house, an ancient brick mansion, enlarged by him during the last few years, and situated near the church. John William Davy, Esq., Mrs. Catherine Davy, John B. Goggs, Esq., Henry James Coldham, Esq., Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a few smaller owners, have estates here. On an eminence, commanding an extensive view of the ocean and the adjacent country, is Ingoldisthorpe Hall, the delightful seat of Mrs. Catherine Davy, built by John Davy, Esq., in 1745. The Old Hall, an Elizabethan house, formerly surrounded by a moat, is now a farm house.

In the reign of King John, John Chamberlain sued Henry de Patesle and Thomas de Ingoldisthorpe, for the murder of his brother Drugo, and both being convicted, the former was banished to Jerusalem for seven years to serve God for the soul of Drugo, and the latter was to find a priest and to found a chantry in the church for the same purpose, and to pay Drugo's parents the sum of forty marks.

The CHURCH (St. Michael) is a handsome structure, comprising nave with aisles and clerestory, south porch, chancel, and square tower with two bells. The ancient screen remains, and at the east end of the south aisle is a piscina. The east and west windows, and the south windows of the chancel have been filled with stained glass by the rector. That at the east end is to the memory of the late T. Beckett, Esq., and his wife, and represents the Nativity, Crucifixion, Ascension, and Descent of the Spirit, and is the work of O'Connor. The window at the east end of the south aisle is filled with stained glass, by Preedy, in memory of Captain John Davy, R.N., who died in 1876, and was inserted by his family.

The nave was thoroughly restored, reroofed, paved with tiles, and fitted with open poppy-headed benches, in 1857, at the expense of the parishioners and their friends, the chancel having been restored a few years previously by the rector, the Rev. W.T. Beckett. The new roof is of high pitch, and the spandrils rest on richly-carved stone corbels by Farmer of London. Opposite the south porch stands an ancient cross; and over the entrance is a figure of the patron saint.

In the north aisle lies interred Richard Gardiner, Esq., commonly called 'Dick Merry Fellow,' who died, after a short residence at Ingoldisthorpe Hall, in 1781; and at the west end of the church is a tablet to his memory. He was a busy partisan at elections, and left behind him a great variety of jeu d'esprit, songs, and inscriptions, full of wit and humour. Here are also several tablets of the Davy and Hoste families.

The rectory, valued in the King's Book at £12, is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. William Thomas Beckett, M.A., who has 45 acres of glebe, a yearly tithe rent charge of £312, awarded in 1839; and a handsome Elizabethan residence, built in 1856-8, at a cost of £2000.

The School, with teacher's house adjoining, was built in 1858 by the rector, is supported by voluntary subscriptions, school pence, and Government grant, and attended by about 60 children.

The sum of £15 left to the church and poor by Agnes Bigge, was laid out in the purchase of about 3 acres of land, now let for £4, which is given to the poor on St. Thomas's day. The common of 200 acres, was enclosed in 1858, when 30 acres were allotted to the poor for fuel, 8 acres for garden plots, and 3 acres as a recreation ground.

POST OFFICE at Mr. John Townshend's. Letters arrive at 7 a.m., and are despatched at 6 p.m., viâ Lynn. Snettisham is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         Askham     Wm.               coal dealer & shopkeeper
         Beckett    Rev. William
                      Thomas, M.A.    rector, the Rectory
         Bellamy    Rev. James, D.D.  president of St. John's Col.
                                        Oxford, Manor house
         Brown      Miss Martha       dressmaker
         Cater      Robert            victualler, Ship Inn
         Davy       Mrs Catherine     Ingoldisthorpe hl
         Earl       Robert            beerhouse & cattle dlr.
         Fayers     Thomas            cooper and coal dlr.
         Grange     Robt.             frmr. horse & cattle dlr.
         Griffin    Wm. Thompson      frmr. Old hall
         Hatch      Edwin             whitesmith
         Hodgetts   John Thomas       farmer
         Kendall    Edward            blacksmith
         Lewis      Richard           farmer
         Marrington David             carpenter
         Martins    John              butcher & cattle dealer
         Swann      Miss Agatha       schoolmistress
         Townshend  Jno.              parish clk. & postmstr.
         Utting     William           fish dealer
         Ward       Humphrey          tailor & shopkeeper
 

CARRIERS pass through to Lynn several times a week.

See also the Ingoldisthorpe parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
August 2007