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Norfolk: Mulbarton

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

MULBARTON, a pleasant village, scattered round a verdant common of 47 acres, 5 miles S.S.W. of Norwich, has its parish in Henstead union, Humbleyard hundred, Swainsthorpe petty sessional division, Norwich county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Norwich polling district of South Norfolk, Humbleyard rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 518 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1348 acres, and has a rateable value of £2715.

The soil belongs chiefly to John Steward, Esq., W.H. Hackblock, Esq., James Turner, Esq., Miss Muskett, and the Rev. T. Berney, M.A. The first is lord of the manor, for which Thomas de St. Omer obtained from Henry III. the privilege of a fair (obsolete), free warren, view of frankpledge, &c. Kenningham estate, belonging to Miss Muskett, was anciently a parish, but was consolidated with Mulbarton in 1452; and the site of its church is now occupied by a plantation. Sir Thomas Richardson, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1626, was born in this parish, of which his father was rector.

The Old Hall belongs to the lord of the manor, and is now occupied by Mr. John Riches Draper as a farmhouse. It is an ancient brick and plaster building, and the manor courts are held in it. A great part of the moat by which it was once surrounded still remains. The present house called the Hall is a good brick building of considerable antiquity, and is the seat and property of Mrs. Charles Winfield [sic], widow of General Charles Wingfield, R.A., who died April 2, 1872.

The Lodge, a handsome modern residence, is the property of W.H. Hackblock, Esq., and occupied by Misses Burroughes. At the World's End Inn there is a good bowling-green, and extensive gardens and pleasure-grounds, tastefully laid out, much resorted to in summer by company from Norwich.

The CHURCH (St. Mary Magdalen) was built by Sir William de Hoo, a great warrior, who died in 1410. It comprises nave, chancel, north aisle, porch, and square tower with five bells. It was reseated with benches in 1872, and a new north aisle was added in 1875, when the church was thoroughly restored, and the gallery at the west end removed, the tower thrown open, and a stained glass window inserted. There is a good stained memorial window in the chancel to Caroline Elizabeth Lucas, wife of the present rector, who died in 1876. A vestry was built in 1875, and a chiming apparatus was attached to the bells in 1876, made by Rogers, of Maidenhead. The chancel windows are in the Perpendicular style, but the two side windows have square heads, and are filled with ancient and beautiful stained glass. The rest of the church is of the Early Decorated period. There is a piscina in the chancel, and another in the nave, near an arch which probably covered an altar-tomb. The holy water stoup still remains near the door. Here marble tablets of the Rich, Gay, Balls, Norris, Lany, and Spurgeon families, and a curious copper tablet, dated 1680, to the memory of Daniel Scargill and his wife. The churchyard was enclosed in 1868.

The rectory, valued in the King's Book at £14, and now at £632, is in the gift of John Steward, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Richard Gay Lucas, B.A., who has a good brick residence. The tithes were commuted in 1841 for £531 3s. 3d. per annum. The Church Lands, &c., consist of 2A. 2R., and four old tenements, now let for £13 10s.

In 1670 Sir Edwin Rich bequeathed to the poor of this parish £100, of which £90 were laid out in the purchase of 10A. 2R. 24P. of land, now let for £19, which is distributed on New Year's Day, along with 30s., the rent of a house built on land in 1829 and converted into a school in 1847. The house built in 1829, and used as a school, was pulled down in 1865, and the land is now let as garden land for 10s. a year. The new National School was built in 1865, and has an average attendance of 82 mixed scholars. Benjamin Bennett, late of Swainsthorpe, who died in 1879, left £1100 to be invested in the funds, the dividends to be distributed amongst the poor in bread during the winter months, by the minister and churchwarden.

POST and MONEY ORDER OFFICE at Mr. Samuel Gowing's. Letters arrive at 7.45 a.m., and are despatched at 5.5 p.m. on week days, and 10.20 a.m. on Sundays, viâ Norwich, which is the nearest Telegraph Office.

         Banham     Alfred             builder and contractor
         Bignall    Edward and John    farmers
         Blake      Misses E.A. & A.   butchers
         Burroughes Misses P.C. & A.   The Lodge
         Catchpole  John               cucumber grower
         Church     Wm.                florist and nurseryman,
                                         Floral nursery
         Cullum     William            butcher
         Draper     John Riches        farmer, Hall farm
         Dye        Mrs Charlotte
                      Sarah West       wheelwright and beerhouse
         Fiddiment  Samuel             farmer
         Gowing     Jeremiah           market gardener
         Gowing     Samuel             shoemaker, parish clerk,
                                         and sub-postmaster
         Green      Wilson Smith       miller
         Hardingham Miss Alice Elnr.   schoolmrs.
         King       Randall            farmer, Lodge farm
         Lucas      Rev. Rhd. Gay,
                      M.A., J.P.       rector
         Mallitt    Wm.                farmer and pork butcher
         Mitchell   Miss Elnr. Ward    grcr. & drpr.
         Mitchell   Isaac              tailor
         Rice       Robert             blacksmith
         Sayer      Benjamin           vermin destroyer
         Thompson   Geo. Wm.           farmer & miller
         Todd       Wm.                pleasure-ground proprietor
                                         and victualler, World's end
         Turner     James              farmer
         Whittaker  John               market gardener
         Wingfield  Mrs Charles        Mulbarton hall
 

Mulbarton Cricket Club, Mr Jeffries King, secretary

CARRIERS from Forncett, Carlton Rode, and New Buckenham, pass through to Norwich on Mon. Wed. and Sat


See also the Mulbarton parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
October 2008