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Norfolk: Woodbastwick

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

WOODBASTWICK, 8 miles N.E. by E. of Norwich, has in its parish 2162 acres, but only 1418 acres are assessable, there being in the marshes several large broads or lakes, near the river Bure. It is in Blofield union, Walsham hundred, Blofield and Walsham petty sessional division, Norwich county court district and bankruptcy court district, Blofield polling district of South Norfolk, Blofield rural deanery, and Norwich archdeaconry. It had 210 inhabitants in 1881, and has a rateable value of £2424.

Albemarle Cator, Esq., who owns the greater part of the soil, is lord of the manor. The Hall, a large mansion, situated in extensive and park-like grounds, about a mile from the church, is the seat of A. Cator, Esq, and was much enlarged some years ago, but was destroyed by fire on December 29, 1882.

The CHURCH (St. Fabian and St. Sebastian) is a fabric of Early English architecture, covered with thatch, and consisting of nave, chancel, south porch, and square embattled tower with two bells. The church was thoroughly restored by A. Cator, Esq., in 1880, from designs of the late Sir Gilbert Scott. During the restoration a piscina and sedilia were discovered, which had been blocked up and are now open, and at the same time the new windows of stained glass were put in throughout the edifice; those in the chancel, in memory of the Cator family, are by Clayton & Bell, and those in the nave by Lavers & Baraud.

A. Cator, Esq., is impropriator of the great tithes, and patron of the vicarage, which is valued in the King's Book at £6, and has been united with the rectory of Panxworth since 1699. The joint benefices are valued at £206 per annum, and the Rev. Henry Peter Dunster, M.A., is the incumbent. The vicarage-house is a thatched residence of red brick, with pleasant grounds, near the church; and there are 26 acres of glebe here, and 32 acres at Panxworth.

A new school was built at the cost of A. Cator, Esq., and is supported by rate. It has an attendance of 40 children. The poor have £7 13s. a year, as the rent of 2 acres called 'Town Land,' and 5 acres allotted to them at the enclosure of Mousehold Heath in 1810.

POST OFFICE at Mr. William Fryer's. Letters arrive at 8.20 a.m., and are despatched at 3.45 p.m. week days, and 9.20 a.m. on Sundays, viâ Norwich. Blofield is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         Cator     Albemarle, Esq., J.P.  Woodbastwick hall
         Coe       Joseph                 farmer
         Dunster   Rev. Henry P., M.A.    vicar
         Fryer     William                parish clerk and sub-postmaster
         Fryer     William, jun.          joiner
         Gibbs     Charles                blacksmith
         Goulder   Harry                  farmer, Ferry farm
         Goulder   Samuel                 farmer, Street farm, and Heath farm
         Harriss   William                farmer
         Herwin    Samuel                 farmer, Old Hall farm
         Long      John                   bricklayer
         Lowndes   Henry Wm. Selby        steward to A. Cator, Esq.
         Rushbrook William                woodman
         Stone     Richard                estate carpenter
         Winter    William                tailor
 

See also the Woodbastwick parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
December 2015