Norfolk: East Lexham

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1864

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

LEXHAM (EAST), 2 miles W. of Litcham, has in its parish 226 inhabitants, and 1190 acres of land, nearly all the property of the Rev. W. Arnold Walpole Keppel, B.A., rector of Hainford and lord of the manor, who resides occasionally at the Hall, a neat mansion pleasantly seated in a small park, within a mile of Litcham.

The Church (St. Andrew) is a small structure, comprising nave, chancel, south porch, and round ivy-mantled tower with one bell. It has a neat open timber roof; and contains a piscina and several tablets of the Keppel family. One of the windows was filled with stained glass by Mrs. Keppel in 1861, in memory of her husband and his brother. The discharged rectory, valued in the King's Book at £8. 6s., is annexed to that of Litcham.

The Poor's Allotments, awarded in 1797, comprise 26A., let for £26; and 2A., on which the poor turn geese and cattle. In 1629, Wm. Allee charged lands, now belonging to the lord of the manor, with the yearly payments of 40s. to each of the parishes of East and West Lexham, Great Dunham, Beeston-juxta-Mileham, Litcham, and Castleacre; and 20s. to Newton-by-Castleacre, for the poor.

Here is a small National School, built by the late E.W. Keppel, Esq., attended by about 40 children, and supported by the lord of the manor.

The chief residents are -

         Keppel   Rev. W.A.W., B.A.  Hall
         Beck     Elizabeth          schoolmistress
         Bishop   Samuel             bricklayer
         Burton   Edward             shoemaker
         Franklin Fredk.             shoemaker
         Smith    Wm.                victualler, Chequers
         Watts    Sarah              shopkeeper
 
                              farmers
 
         Ashley   John Turner        Childs   Henry
         Bird     Frederick          Johnson  Charles
 

Here is a Pillar Letter Box, cleared at 4-30 p.m. POST from Brandon, via Swaffham.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
February 2009