GENUKI: Norfolk: Wolterton, Norfolk

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William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845

WOLTERTON parish, 4 miles N.N.W. of Aylsham, and 9 miles S.S.W. of Cromer, has only 43 inhabitants, and 722 acres of land, nearly all comprised in the beautiful park of WOLTERTON HALL, the seat of the owner and lord of the manor, - the Right Hon. Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, and Baron Walpole, of Walpole and Wolterton.

The ancient family of Walpole derives its name from Walpole St. Peter, in Marshland, where its progenitors were settled even before the Norman conquest. The title of Earl of Orford, which had been granted to the celebrated Sir Robert Walpole, of Houghton, in 1742, became extinct in 1797, on the death of Horatio, the third Earl of his family; but was revived in 1806, in the person of his cousin, Horatio, second Baron Walpole, of Wolterton, whose father (the first baron,) purchased this estate about 1725.

The old Hall being burnt down, he commenced the present mansion in 1727, and finished it in 1741, under the direction of Ripley, the architect. It is nearly a square pile, three sides of which have views of the park and pleasure grounds; and to the fourth, eastward, is appended a large quadrangle of kitchen offices, &c.; with a handsome domestic chapel to the south. The building is of brick, with quoins, cornices, door and window frames, chimneys, &c., of Portland stone. The interior has many spacious apartments elegantly furnished, containing a valuable collection of paintings, and some of them hung with fine Gobelin tapestry.

The park is of great extent, and thickly studded with beech and oak, planted by the first Lord Walpole. On the south side of the hall, is a bold terrace with a parapet, surmounted by urns; adjacent to which is a beautiful garden, laid out under the direction of Mr. Gilpin, and sloping to the margin of an extensive lake, the opposite banks of which are richly clothed with wood, - the whole forming, with the distant view of Blickling, one of the most striking pieces of park scenery in the county.

The venerable ruins of the parish CHURCH (St. Margaret,) stand on the north side of the hall, embowered in lofty hollies. This building has long been deserted, and scarcely anything but the tower now remains. The rectory, valued in the King's Book at £8, is consolidated with that of Wickmere, in the patronage of the Earl of Orford, and incumbency of the Rev. Stephen Allen, M.A., of Erpingham, who has 36A. 2R. 14P. of glebe in Wickmere, and a yearly rent of £564, awarded in 1840, in lieu of the tithes of the two parishes.

In 1682, James Scambler charged his estates with several yearly payments, to the undermentioned parishes. His nephew, James Grey, in 1718, left Hickling Priory Farm, (40 acres,) charged with these payments, and directed that the remainder of the yearly rents thereof should be divided among the poor of Wolterton, at Christmas. By an indenture, improperly agreed to by the trustees, in 1802, Lord Walpole obtained a settlement of the farm, subject only to the yearly payments of £6. 2s. to Wolterton, £8. 1s. 8d. to Briston, £5. 10s. 2d. to Happisburgh, and £2. 14s. to Hickling, for the ministers, the poor, and the clerks of those parishes. Of the sum paid to Wolterton, £4 is for an anniversary sermon, 6s. for the clerk, and £1. 16s. for the poor

DIRECTORY:

         Orford  Earl of      Wolterton Hall
 
         Crow    Edmund       farmer
         Cubitt  Saml.        farmer
         Lemmon  William      house steward
         West    Mrs. Hannah  housekeeper

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Norfolk: Wolterton

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William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845