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Stoke Ferry

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"STOKE-FERRY is a large village, pleasantly situated near the navigable river Wissey, 7 miles E.S.E. of Downham, 14½ miles S.S.E. of Lynn, 10 miles S.W. by W. of Swaffham, and 88 miles N. by E. of London; at the junction of roads from Thetford, Brandon, &c. It has a large fair for horses, cattle, &c., on Dec. 6th; and a Hiring for Servants on the Thursday before old Michaelmas; . . . Its corn market, formerly held on Friday, is obsolete. Its parish, which abounds in lime-stone, contains 663 inhabitants, and about 1,900 acres of land, partly a cultivated fen, and mostly belonging to J.B.S. Bradfield, Esq., the lord of the manor, who has a neat mansion here. . . . In the 32nd of Henry III., the abbot of Ely had a grant for a market and fair here.  … The CHURCH, (All Saints,) is a small neat fabric, . . . The perpetual curacy, certified at £18, and valued in 1831 at £110, was augmented 1779 and 1801, with £400 of Queen Anne's bounty. The patronage, and the impropriate tithes, belong to the Crown, and the Rev. Henry Sims, B.A., is the incumbent. G.R. Eyres, Esq., is lessee of the great tithes. The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel here.  . . .  The Free School was founded, pursuant to the will of James Bradfield Sanders, Esq., who, in 1807, left £250 for the erection of the school-house, and charged his estate here with the yearly payment of £25 to the master, for the education of 25 poor children of Stoke-Ferry and Wretton." [William White History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk (1845) - Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

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Census

See also Norfolk Parish Links: Censuses

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Church Directories

  • In 1883 the parish was in the Deanery of Fincham, in the archdeaconry of Norfolk.
    It could have been in a different deanery both before and after this date.
  • The parish church is dedicated to All Saints.
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Church History

Methodist Church
Minister, services, picture, etc.
Follow the link to the home page, then search for the church.
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Civil Registration

For the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths between 1837 and 1930 (and for the censuses from 1851 to 1901), Stoke Ferry was in Downham Registration District.

See also Norfolk Parish Links: Civil Registration

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Description & Travel

Wissey Valley Web Pages
Including Wereham, Wretton, West Dereham, Boughton, Stoke Ferry and Whittington in the Wissey Valley in West Norfolk.

See also Norfolk Parish Links: Description and Travel

You can see pictures of Stoke Ferry which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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Historical Geography

Stoke Ferry is in Clackclose Hundred.

Parish outline and location.
See Parish Map for Clackclose Hundred
Description of Clackclose Hundred
1845: White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk
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History

Coates, Doris E.
Stoke Ferry: the Story of a Norfolk Village.
[ISBN 0950687103, Harpsden Press, 1980]
List of Names, List of Photographs and Bibliography.
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Land & Property

Inclosure

Great Britain. Inclosure Commissioners
Statement of Claims: Stoke, otherwise Stoke Ferry (43), Wretton (50), Wereham and hamlet of Winnold (55).
Drawn up in pursuance of the Act of Inclosure, 1815.
[1816]
Great Britain: Statute
Stoke Ferry and other parishes Inclosure Act, 1815.
An act for inclosing lands in the parishes of Stoke otherwise Stoke Ferry, Wretton, Wereham, and hamlet of Winnold, in the county of Norfolk: 14th June 1815.
[London, George Eyre and Andrew Strahan, 1815]
[London, G. White, 1815]

Drainage

Great Britain: Statute
Stoke Ferry and other parishes drainage act, 1771.
An act for draining and preserving certain fen lands and low grounds in the parishes of Stoke Ferry, Northwold, Wretten, Wereham, West Dereham and Roxham, in the county of Norfolk.
[1771]
Great Britain: Statute
Fenland Drainage Act, 1814.
An act for more effectually draining and preserving certain fen lands, and low grounds, in the parishes of Stoke Ferry, Northwold, Wretton, Wereham, West Dereham, Roxham, Fordham, Denver, Downham Market, Wimbotsham, and Stow Bardolph, in the county of Norfolk: 28th June 1814.
[London, George Eyre and Andrew Strahan, 1814]
[London, J. Dorington, 1814]
Great Britain: Statute
Stoke Ferry and other parishes drainage act, 1834.
An act for more effectually draining and preserving certain fen lands and low grounds in the parishes of Stoke Ferry, Northwold, Wretton, Wereham, West Dereham, Roxham, Fordham, Denver, Downham Market, Wimbotsham, and Stow Bardolph, in the county of Norfolk: 16th June 1834.
[London, George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, 1834]

See also Norfolk Parish Links: Land and Property

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF702000 (Lat/Lon: 52.571134, 0.510692), Stoke Ferry which are provided by:

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Names, Personal

Helsham, Crowe, etc.
See Norfolk People and Families
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

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Population

These figures are from the population tables which were produced after the 10-yearly national censuses. The "Families" heading includes families and single occupiers.

Year   Inhabited
Houses
Families Population
1801   70 100 504
1811 105 111 557
1821 116 160 703
1831 139 139 706
1841 139   -- 663
1851 166   -- 820
Year   Inhabited
Houses
Families Population
1861 175   -- 791
1871 170 176 706
1881 156 158 684
1891 161 167 724
1901 150 151 607
1911   -- 162 652

There may be more people living in detached parts of the parish (if there were any) and, if so, the number may or may not be included in the figures above. It is quite difficult to be sure from the population tables.