GENUKI: Norfolk: Wolterton, Norfolk

Hide

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

WOLTERTON parish, 4 miles N.N.W. of Aylsham, and 9 miles S.S.W. of Cromer, is in Aylsham union and county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, South Erpingham hundred and petty sessional division, Aldborough polling district of North Norfolk, Ingworth rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It has a rateable value of £1134, and had 47 inhabitants in 1881, living on 722 acres.

Nearly all the parish is in the beautiful park of Wolterton Hall, the now deserted seat of the Earl of Orford (see Mannington), who is lord of the manor and owner of all the soil. 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 burned 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 on the park and pleasure-grounds. The building is of brick, with quoins, cornices, door and window frames, chimneys, &c., of Portland stone. The interior has many spacious apartments, but the elegant furniture, valuable paintings, and fine Gobelin tapestry with which they were formerly adorned were sold by auction in 1859, together with the extensive library; and the present earl has removed to Mannington Hall, which he has recently considerably enlarged.

The park is of great extent, and thickly studded with beech and oak trees, 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. Robert William Beauchamp, M.A., who has a good residence and 36A. 2R. 14P. of glebe in Wickmere, and a yearly rent-charge 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 are for an anniversary sermon, 6s. for the clerk, and £1 16s. for the poor.

POST from Norwich, viâ Aylsham. Aylsham is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         Davison    William        gardener
         Le Grice   Saul           farmer
         Shepherd   Robert         farmer
         Walker     Thomas Archer  steward to the Earl of Orford
         Wilminson  Henry          gamekeeper
           [sic]

Hide

Norfolk: Wolterton

hide

Hide

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