Norfolk: Pulham St Mary the Virgin

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

PULHAM ST. MARY THE VIRGIN is a large village on an acclivity, 8 miles N.W. of Harleston, on the Waveney Valley (G.E.R.) Railway, and its parish is in Depwade union, Earsham hundred and petty sessional division, Harleston county court district, Ipswich bankruptcy district, Harleston polling district of South Norfolk, Redenhall rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 822 inhabitants in the year 1881, and has a rateable value of £4278.

George Copeman Esq.,is lord of the manor, in which are many copyholds subject to arbitrary fines. Schofield Patten, Esq., G.F. Bevan, Esq., Lord Waveney, and others have estates here. The extensive commons here and in Pulham St. Mary Magdalen have been enclosed under an Act of Parliament, passed in 1838.

The CHURCH is an antique fabric, chiefly of Perpendicular architecture, comprising nave with clerestory, chancel, south aisle, a lofty square tower with six bells, and a handsome porch ornamented with large figures of angels, &c. The windows were enlarged in 1478; and there was formerly a spire. The stained glass in the east window was destroyed in 1818, when the south chancel window was also blown out. The nave is very wide, and contains the ancient open benches. The chancel contains a fine double piscina, supposed to be of Saxon workmanship; a credence table; sedilia for three priests; and a fine mural monument to Mary, wife of the Rev. W. Leigh, the late rector. Part of a fine rood-screen still remains, The head of a window on the north side is filled with stained glass, representing the twelve apostles.

In the nave are monuments of the Swann and Inyon families. Here is also a tombstone with a fine indent of a brass cross to Simon de Walpole, rector, brother of Ralph de Walpole, Bishop of Norwich and Ely. The shaft of the cross appears to have rested on an Agnus Dei. The church was restored in 1864, at a cost of £350.

The rectory was valued in the King's Book at £33 6s. 8d., with the perpetual curacy of Pulham St. Mary Magdalen annexed to it; but the two benefices were separated on the death of the late rector in 1858. The patronage is in the Crown, and the Rev. Richard Bond, M.A., is the present rector, and has a good residence, 34A. of glebe, and a yearly rent-charge of £662 awarded in 1837 in lieu of tithes. The Rev. A. Woodd, M.A., is the curate.

Henry de Wengham, Dean of St. Martin's-le-Grand, was presented to the rectory in 1252 by Henry III., but in 1259 he became Bishop of London, being then Chancellor of England, and he was twice ambassador to France. The celebrated William de Wykeham, Chancellor of England, and founder of New College, Oxford, and of the College at Winchester, was also presented to this rectory by Edward III. in 1357, and is said to have built the church porch. Sir Thomas Howes, chaplain to Sir John Fastolff (who left much money to repair and ornament the church), was presented by William Grey, Bishop of Ely, in 1645. Nicholas Cloggett, who died Bishop of Exeter, was made rector here in 1717; and William Browne, a learned man, and translator of notes for Pope's 'Homer,' obtained this living in 1728.

The Baptists have a small chapel here.

In 1670, William Pennoyer charged certain property, which he left to Christ's College in London, with the yearly payment of £4 for the poorest parishioners, and £5 for schooling poor children. He also directed that the future lords of the manor should pay one-fifteenth part of the rents and profits of the manors, so as to make up £20 a year for a schoolmaster, to teach 30 or 40 boys of the two parishes of Pulham and the adjacent places. The school is kept in St. James's Chapel, which was built in 1401 by the brethren and sisters of St. James' Guild. It is attended by about 120 children, and the master has, in lieu of his portion of the profits of the manor, the rent of 8¼ acres of land, which were allotted at the enclosure to the lord of the manor, and by him transferred to the school. This land is let for £24 a year, of which £4 go in expenses. The Town Farm, 16 acres, is let for about £30 a year, of which £10 is paid to the master of the Sunday school, and the remainder is applied with the church rates.

A meadow, which had been long held by the overseers, was sold about sixty years ago, for the purpose of paying off a debt that had been incurred in erecting a parish workhouse, and enclosing 9 acres of land from the South Common. The workhouse is now converted into five cottages. These and a number of allotments are let to the poor at low rents.

POST OFFICE at Alfred Palmer's. Letters, viâ Harleston, arrive at 8 a.m., and despatched at 5.30 p.m. This is also a MONEY ORDER OFFICE and SAVINGS BANK.

         Adcock    Robt.              farmer, miller, & owner
         Adcock    Wm.                farmer, Bridge farm
         Alexander Samuel             miller
         Baldry    Robert             farmer
         Bennett   Colonel Adrian     The Grange
         Bilby     Walter             fmr. & owner, Church frm
         Bishop    Bertram & Co.      stocking mfrs
         Bond      Mrs Ellen          The Hall
         Bond      Rev. Richard, M.A. rector, The Rectory
         Bond      Robert             farmer, The Hall
         Bond      Thos. Edward       farmer, The Hall
         Boyce     William            bricklayer
         Brown     Chas. Hy.          saddler & carriage brkr
         Brown     Daniel             farmer
         Chaney    Robert             farmer
         Chapman   Charles            farmer
         Chapman   William            farmer
         Chase     Chas.              brickmkr, &c.; h Weybread
         Calby     Mrs Hannah         farmer
         Crisp     William            shoemaker
         Ebbage    Mrs Sarah          farmer
         Edwards   George             farmer
         Fish      Osborn             btchr. & vict. King's Head
         Fisk      Frederick          stationmaster
         Futter    Edward John        farmer
         Garrod    Robert             foreman
         Goodram   -                  farmer
         Harris    James              pigdealer
         Hood      George             miller and merchant
         Howell    Miss Susan Amelia  shopkpr
         Johnson   James              market gardener
         Lefley    William            farmer
         Liest     Miss Fanny         dressmaker
         Lincoln   Wm.                farmer & coal merchant
         Long      Albert Thomas      baker
         Long      Miss Laura         shopkeeper
         Mayes     Edward             farmer
         Mills     Mr Charles Andrew
         Mullinger James              parish clerk
         Mullinger Mrs Sophia         tailoress
         Mullinger Wm.                whlwright. & blksmth
         Page      George             farmer
         Palmer    Alfred             joiner, builder, shopkeeper,
                                        general dlr. & postmaster
         Parke     William            farmer
         Reeve     James              farmer
         Riches    Samuel             carrier and beerhouse
         Roberts   Robert             farmer
         Robinson  Hy.                (W. & Sons), Hill House
         Robinson  James B.           (W. & Sons); h Botesdale
         Robinson  W. & Sons          maltsters, corn & coal merts. 
                                        & fmrs; & at Botesdale
         Saunders  Robt. David        grocer & drapr
         Seaman    William            farmer
         Stanton   Miss Leonora       dressmaker
         Steward   John               farmer
         Taylor    Rev. Benjamin      (Baptist)
         Tink      Nehemiah & Emily   Pennoyers' Free School
         Townsend  Richard            vict. Maid's Head
         Tubbey    James              farmer
         Tubby     Charles            farmer
         Tubby     Mrs Charlotte      farmer
         Tye       Henry              coal merchant
         Vipond    Jeremiah           shoemaker
         Woodd     Rev. Alex. M.A.    curate
         Yeuell    Henry              bricklayer
 

CARRIER - Samuel Riches to Norwich, Wednesday and Saturday

From ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS on pages 13-16:

Paragraph beginning "In 1670, William Pennoyer charged certain property":

- for 'College,' read 'Hospital;'
- take out 'and £5 for schooling poor children;'
- for '£24 a year . . . church rates,' read
'£18 a year, and Mr. Pennoyer directed that if the land did not produce £20 a year, the Governors of Christ's Hospital were to make up £20 a year out of the rent of Vaunce's Farm. The Governors of Christ's Hospital accordingly pay annually £5, considering this sum would fairly represent their obligation. The master has £10 a year for Sunday school, and £10 a year for the choirs, &c., but neither the one nor the other is inalienable; both are matters of choice, one subject to the vestry, the other to the incumbent. The Town Farm, 16 acres, is let for £42 a year, which sum is applied by the town warden to defray parish expenses under the order of vestry.'

In Directory,

omit 'Bilby Walter;'
for 'Calby,' read 'Coleby';
for 'Goodram,' read 'Gooderham;'
for Mills Mr Chas. 'Andrew,' read 'André;'
for 'Mullinger,' read 'Mullenger' in each case;
and for Mullenger James, 'parish clerk,' read 'sexton;'
for 'Seaman,' read 'Semmens;'
insert 'Saunders -, bailiff, Church farm;'
for 'Tubbey,' read 'Tubby;'
for 'Yeuell,' read 'Youell;'
insert 'White Henry, carpenter.'

See also the Pulham St Mary the Virgin parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
June 2011