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Norfolk: Sedgeford
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William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883
[Transcription copyright © Ian Wegg]
SEDGEFORD, a parish and scattered village, in the vale of a small rivulet, between Heacham and Docking, 13 miles N.N.E. of Lynn, is in Docking union, Docking polling district of West Norfolk, Lynn county court district, Lynn bankruptcy district, Heacham rural deanery, Norfolk archdeaconry, Smithdon and Brothercross petty sessional division, and Smithdon hundred. It has a rateable value of £4708, and had 779 inhabitants in 1881, living on 4180 acres of land, of which 1300 acres, with the manor and great tithes, commuted at £385, belong to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and about 1900 acres, including the Hall, a good brick mansion, now occupied by W. F. Hunt, Esq., belong to E. Neville-Rolfe, Esq. E. Green, Esq., H. le Strange, Esq., J. W. Davy, Esq., Mrs. Turner, and some smaller owners, also have estates here.
Here was anciently a hamlet called Gnatyngdon, or Nettington, held by Godwin Halden, one of the few Saxons who was allowed by the Norman conqueror to keep his land. It is now known as Eaton.
The CHURCH (St. Mary the Virgin) is a fine building of much architectural beauty. It consists of a round tower, with octagon crown, containing three bells; a lofty nave with massive arcades in fine preservation; a spacious clerestory; north and south aisles and porches; south transept and chancel. It has lately undergone careful restoration under the direction of F. Preedy., Esq. and E. Christian, Esq., architects, at a cost of about £2300. The basin of the font is solid Purbeck marble. The remains of a fine painting of St. Christopher, with curious legend, and other mural decorations of early date, are still visible. There is a fine organ by W. Mack, of Yarmouth, and three fine painted windows to the memory of Charles Neville-Rolfe and Martha his wife. The Register dates from 1560.
The vicarage, which was valued in K.B. at £8, was consolidated with the rectory of Southmere in 1874; the rent-charge in lieu of tithes are vicarage of Sedgeford £330, rectory of Southmere £320, total £650; the patronage is in the Dean and Chapter of Norwich and Eton College alternately, and the incumbency is held by the Rev. J. Ambrose Ogle, M.A., who has 7½ acres of glebe and a handsome residence.
The Wesleyans have a chapel in the parish built in 1830, and the Primitive Methodists one erected in 1861 at a cost of £180, lent by 150 persons.
The NATIONAL SCHOOL, built in 1838, and enlarged by the addition of a class-room in 1875, belongs to E. Neville-Rolfe, Esq., is attended by 140 children.
The Fuel Allotment, 30A 10P., awarded at the enclosure, was exchanged in 1856 for nine acres of arable land called Mire Close. It is now let for £27 a year, and provides 4 cwt. of coal to every inhabited cottage in Sedgeford parish, numbering at present 142. A yearly rentcharge of 10s upon property in Heacham parish, left by one Mason 'for bread for those poor who do not receive collection,' has not been collected for several years in consequence of the subdivision of the property, and the refusal of the owners to pay it. The dividends of £500 3 per cent. consols was left by Mrs. Edmund Rolfe in 1837 for the distribution of clothing among the poor at the discretion of the vicar.
A Library of 1400 vols. was given to the parishioners by the late Mrs. Rolfe, in 1843, in memory of her son Edmond, whose name it bears.
POST OFFICE at Mrs. E. Skerry's. Letters arrive at 7 a.m., and are despatched at 5.30 p.m. via Lynn.
Anthony John Nicholas fmr, West hall Binks Edward Hudson (M. & H.) Binks (M. & H.) furniture brokers Binks Mrs Maria (M. & H.) Binks Thomas coal merchant Brooke Leonard farmer Brown James horsebreaker Brown William farmer, East hall Chambers Robert baker Crisp Miss Mary Ann Crisp William carpenter Curl Thomas farmer England Barnes station master Farthing Wm. vict. Plough Inn & fmr Foster Robert gardener and sexton Goodliffe William manager Grange Jas. farmer, Hill House farm Graver Arthur vict. King William Herring Robert vermin catcher Hubbard Thomas Henry farmer Hudson John blacksmith Huggins Saml. grocer, draper, butcher, and carpenter Hunt Mr W. F. The Hall Kendall Mrs Louisa vict. Buck, and blacksmith Kirby Henry cartowner Kirby Thomas hawker Lambert James grocer and draper; and Snettisham Leggett Thomas miller and baker Marshall Thomas bootmaker Mott John butcher and carrier Ogle Rev. James Ambrose, M.A. vicar Oughton Mrs Sarah Pattingale Thomas shopkeeper Platten George farmer Raines George bootmaker Read Thomas tailor and shopkeeper Richardson Charles carpenter Rix Benjamin bootmaker Saunders John Carey schoolmaster Skerry Mrs Eliza beer retailer and postmistress Taylor Henry cattle dealer Taylor Thomas basket maker Turner Mrs Sarah Walden Robert scd. hand clothes dlr Walden William grinder Wright William carpenter Yaxley Miss Jemima Sunnybrow
CARRIER - John Mott to Lynn on Tues.
Railway station, Barnes England, station master
See also the Sedgeford parish page.
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Copyright © Pat Newby.
June 2000