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Norfolk: Stoke Holy Cross

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

[Transcription copyright © Juanita Hadwin]

STOKE-HOLY-CROSS, on the east side of the river Tase, nearly 5 miles S. of Norwich, is a parish in Henstead union and hundred, Swainsthorpe petty sessional division, Norwich county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Norwich polling district of South Norfolk, West Brooke rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It has 414 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1659 acres, and has a rateable value of £2933. Robt. Fellowes, Esq., is lord of the manor; but Hy. Birkbeck and R.K. Long, Esqs., and Mrs. Arthy Caistor own most of the soil, and Hy. Birkbeck, Esq., is impropriator of the great tithes.

The CHURCH is a plain building, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, and comprises nave, chancel, south porch, and square tower with three bells. The church was thoroughly restored in 1871 by subscription, aided by grants from the church building societies, and an organ chamber was erected in 1881 at the expense of Hy. Birkbeck, Esq., who also gave the organ. The east window contains some fragments of stained glass, representing our Saviour, the Evangelists, &c.; and here are a double piscina and tablets of the Mann and Shearing families. The parish register dates from 1538.

Outside the south wall of the nave is a curious monument to the Rev. Thos. Havers, who died in 1719, and was not only a divine but remarkable for his skill as an operative surgeon, more particularly excelling in lithotomy, or cutting for the stone. The instruments used in this fearful operation are faithfully represented on the monument.

The Dean and Chapter of Norwich are patrons of the vicarage, which is now in the incumbency of the Rev. John Bailey, M.A., for whom a handsome new residence was built in 1841, at a cost of £1200. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £211 a year.

The BOARD SCHOOL, erected in 1876 at a cost of £700, has accommodation for 50 children, and is for the parishes of Stoke-Holy-Cross, Caistor, and Markshall. It is now attended by 45 children, and is regulated by the same board as at Framlingham East, of which it is a branch school. The following now constitute the board: -- Rev. L.C. Wallich, B.A., rector of Poringland Great, chairman; Mr. J.H. Christie, Mrs. Henry Birkbeck, Rev. Chas. Turner, Mr. Jeremiah Seago, Mr. Edward Walters, and Mr. Thomas Allen. Mr. Jeremiah Chaplin, of Framlingham East, is clerk to the board. [See note below].

Here is also an Orphans' Home established in 1861, and supported by the same gentleman, who resides at the Hall, a handsome brick Elizabethan mansion on a commanding eminence.

A Baptist chapel was built here about 40 years ago by Messrs. J. and J. Colman, but it is now used as a kind of chapel of ease and reading room, evening service being performed in it every Sunday by the vicar.

The Fuel Allotment, 13A. 1R. 10P., is let for £13.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Wm. Horne's. Letters arrive at 6 A.M., and despatched at 6 p.m., viâ Norwich, which is nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         ANDREWS   Mrs Harriet      Highfield
         BAILEY    Rev. John, M.A.  vicar
         BAXTER    John             parish clerk
         BEVERLEY  William          corn miller
         BIRKBECK  Mr Henry         The Hall
         BRIGHTY   Robert           thrashing machine owner
                                      and market gardener
         BROOKS    John             farmer
         BUCK      Robert           joiner and wheelwright,
                                      and victualler, Lion
         DIX       Mrs Margaret     farmer
         DOWE      John             farmer
         DUNN      Matthew          vict. Rummer Inn
         DURRANT   Jas. Wm.         farmer & manufctr. of pheasant food
         EDWARDS   George           farmer
         EGLINGTON Elijah           miller's foreman
         HAWES     David            market gardener
         LINCOLN   Robert           bricklayer & builder
         LEGGETT   Geo.             shpkpr. brcklyr. & bldr
         MURRAY    Miss             The Woodlands
         PERROTT   Rev. Henry, B.A. curate
         PITTS     Samuel           farmer
         REEVE     Mr Henry
         RIX       Miss Lydia       Board schoolmistress
         SEAGO     Jeremiah         farmer, & at Yelverton and Waxham
         WEBSTER   William          farmer
         WHITTAKER Sml.             farmer & lime burner;
                                      and Thorpe St. Andrew
         WILLGRASS Charles          cowkeeper
 

CARRIERS from Pulham, Shottesham, Hempnall and Saxlingham pass through to Norwich on Wed. & Sat


Note: "Framlingham" should probably be "Framingham", which is just 3 miles away. "Framlingham" is in Suffolk.

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See also the Stoke Holy Cross parish page.

Copyright © Pat Newby.
November 2003