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Norfolk: Weeting with Broomhill

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

WEETING-WITH-BROOMHILL form one parish near the Little Ouse river, from 1 to 2 miles N. of Brandon Station, and 9 miles S.E. by S. of Stoke Ferry. They are in Thetford union and county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Grimshoe petty sessional division and hundred, Methwold polling district of West Norfolk, Cranwich rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. The parish had 333 inhabitants in 1881, living on 6187 acres of land, including 1500 acres of woods and plantations, and has a rateable value of £4799.

The soil is the property of Wm. Angerstein, Esq., of Weeting Hall, a large and handsome mansion, in a well-wooded park, founded by the late Earl of Montrath, from whom it passed to Lord Bradford, who sold it and the estate to the late John Julius Angerstein, Esq., who was born at St. Petersburg in 1735, came to England in 1749, under the patronage of A. Thompson, Esq., an eminent Russian merchant, and became a celebrated and wealthy stock-broker and underwriter at Lloyd's. He planted here upwards of 1000 acres, was a distinguished patron and connoisseur of ancient and modern art, and the first proposer of State lotteries in England. He resided chiefly in Pall Mall, and at the Woodlands, on Blackheath. At his death in 1823, his valuable collection of paintings was purchased for the National Gallery at a cost of nearly £60,000.

Thomas Shadwell, the poet, who died in 1691, is said to have been born at Weeting, which is a small village of scattered houses, and formerly had two CHURCHES standing at a little distance from each other, but St. Mary's became a ruin by the fall of the tower more than a century ago. Its burial ground is, however, still used. All Saints is a small church comprising nave, north aisle, chancel, and wooden turret with two bells. It is in the Perpendicular style, but one of the chancel windows is Decorated. The Registers date from 1558.

The rectories of Weeting All Saints and St. Mary (the former valued in the King's Book at £10 8s. 1½d., and the latter at £8 1s. 8d.) are consolidated, in the patronage of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and incumbency of the Rev. Stephen Hanson, M.A., non-resident, who has 127 acres of glebe and a good residence, which is occupied by the curate in charge, the Rev. Charles Thomas Ward, M.A. The tithes were commuted in 1845 for £503.

The school is supported by Mr. Angerstein, and is attended by about 60 children.

BROOMHILL, or Bromehill, is a manor and farm 1 mile S. of Weeting, on the north bank of the navigable Little Ouse, near Brandon Bridge. It has a cattle fair on July 7, and had a Priory of Augustine monks, founded by Sir Hugh de Plaiz, about the reign of King John, but suppressed in 1528 by Pope Clement VII., and afterwards granted to Cardinal Wolsey.

Fen-Dike, Grimes-Graves, and other earthworks in or near this parish, are noticed at page 56 [which is the entry for Antiquities in the History of Norfolk]. Grimes-Graves underwent a scientific examination in 1870, under the superintendence of the Rev. Canon Greenwell, of Durham, who came to the conclusion that they were ancient flint quarries of pre-historic times. Animals' bones, and other objects of interest, were found at depths varying from ten to thirty feet below the surface.

Weeting sends four poor boys to the Free School at Brandon.

The interest of £45, left to the poor of Weeting by several donors, is now entirely lost, but they have about £27 every fifth year from Atmere's Charity, as noticed with Foulden.

POST OFFICE at Miss Lydia Arnold's. Letters arrive at 8 a.m., and are despatched at 8.45 p.m., viâ Brandon.

         Angerstein William, Esq.
                      J.P.         Weeting hall
         Arnold     Miss Lydia     postmistress
         Clark      Edward         farm bailiff to Mr. William
                                     Musgrave, Fengate
         Jacob      William        farmer
         Leach      William        estate carpenter
         Luck       Edgar          farm bailiff to William
                                     Angerstein, Esq.
         Newton     John           parish clerk
         Smith      Alfred John    schoolmaster
         Steele     Mrs Ellen      blacksmith
         Ward       Rev. Charles
                      Thos. M.A.   curate in charge, The Rectory
 

See also the Weeting with Broomhill parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
July 2009