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Introduction

There is much material available for researching. here are some pieces that you may find helpful when researching.

The following list is taken from Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk - 1929 and is a direct translation of the hundreds with the parishes contained in them:

The Registration districts were:-

Norwich Photographs Norwich Cathedral Norwich Elm Hill

This extract is from "Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk 1929". The highlighted links lead to other Web pages external to this. Each link is unique.

Windmill in the Downham Market area.

NORFOLK is a seacoast county, in the East of England. on the shores of the North Sea, close to the Great Wash ; it took its name from the East English settlers, who called their people in these parts the "North folk," now Norfolk, and in the southern parts of their kingdom "South folk," now Suffolk. The county is an egg shape, the ends lying east and west; the northern half being bound by the Wash and the North Sea, with a small part to the west joining Cambridgeshire. The boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk is the river Waveney, from its mouth at Yarmouth, south-westerly, to near its spring, and then by the Thet, or Little Ouse, flowing north-westerly. From Cambridgeshire, Norfolk is divided by the Nene. The greatest length is 67 miles and the greatest breadth 43. The area is 1,315,064 acres, the boundary having been altered by the addition, for administration purposes, of Gorleston, from Suffolk, with 2,166 acres, and 1,817 from Welney, Cambs., and the transfer of 1,925 acres, part of Central Wingland, to Lincolnshire, and 23 acres of Brandon to Suffolk; it is the fourth shire in size, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Devonshire larger. The population was in 1801, 273,479; in 1811, 291,947; in 1821, 344,368; in 1831, 390,654; in 1841, 412,664; in 1851, 442,714; in 1861, 434,798; in 1871, 438,656; in 1881, 444,749; in 1891, 468,287 and in 1901, 476,553.

The population in 1911 of the county and county boroughs of Norwich and Great Yarmouth was 499,116, and in 1921, 504,293, viz.:- Males, 239,697; females, 264,596.

Norfolk seems it have been first occupied by an Iberian race, afterwards by Britons, and then by Belgi; in Cæsar's it was held by the powerful tribe of the Iceni, who were finally subdued by the Romans; afterwards it was settled by several commonwealths of the East English, who seemed to have been of the same clans or tribes as those who settled in Middlesex and Surrey.

The duchy of Norfolk has for a long time been held by the house of Howard, who descend from the several ancient princes who inherited the earldom and duchy. The Duke of Norfolk still exercises a peculiar and permanent jurisdiction over his large domains in this county, and appoints two coroners for his liberties.

The county is very level, containing no prominent elevations, while the coast only rises into cliffs of any height at Hunstanton and Cromer. Chalk forms the foundation of nearly the whole county, but except in the west it is covered by beds of clay so that it can only be reached in deep wells and borings.

On the west, the Cambridgeshire border is very low, and much of the land is fen, belonging to the Bedford Level. This part is watered by the Great Ouse and the Nene, and is drained by many fen dykes. in the parish of Hilgay, near Downham, is a pumping station and dam, constructed near Hunt's sluice for the Feltwell and Methwold drainage commissioners and opened in 1884 : from these works about 100 tons of water per minute can be pumped into the river Ouse. At Ten Mile Bank are two powerful centrifugal pumps, owned by the Littleport and Downham drainage commissioners, working in connection with an engine nine miles distant, in the Isle of Ely; these together drain 30,000 acres, emptying water into the River Ouse at the rate of about 130 tons a minute; at Denver is a sluice, in connection with the Hundred Feet river, to carry off the flood waters from 800,000 acres of land; this sluice is under the joint control of the South Level commissioners and the Denver Sluice commissioners. Wisbech, the port for the extreme western portion of this county, is in Cambridgeshire, on the Nene; Lynn, on the Great Ouse and the navigable Nar, close to the wash, is the great port for the western parts of the county and all the neighbouring fen lands. The interior of the county is intersected by spreading streams, which water a wide district and flow to the sea at Yarmouth, where in former times was a great estuary, now filled up. These rivers are the Bure, the Ant, the Wensum, passing Norwich, the Yare and the Waveney; near the sea they expand into large pools, called broads or meres, forming excellent preserves for fishing, which are a peculiar characteristic of this county. In the south-west the county is watered by the Thet, the Little Ouse and the Wissey, feeders of the Great Ouse. About a mile east of South Lopham, in the fen or low lands, is Lopham Gate, where there are two springs, from which flow the Little Ouse and Waveney; the former takes a course through Thetford, Brandon and Lynn, and the latter flows to Yarmouth, and both divide the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The northern shore has no large rivers. Hunstanton, Burnham, Blakeney, Cley, Cromer and Wells are small ports, fishing towns or bathing places; there are also landing and shipping places at Brancaster Staithe, Mundesley, and some other places; the shore is thickly set with fishing stations. Yarmouth is one of the chief towns in England for the herring and other fisheries, which are carried on all along the Norfolk coast. Yarmouth is a popular bathing place and the port of the manufacturing district of Norwich. Lowestoft harbour, in Suffolk, serves the south-eastern corner of the county.

The names of the Norfolk rivers - the Ouse, the Nene, the Nar, the Thet, the Glavan, the Thurn, the Bure, the Yare, the Waveney, the Wensum, the Exe, the Ant - are mostly Euskardian or Iberian, while those of the towns and hamlets are English, except in the east, where they are generally Danish; the population was largely mixed with the latter race, and the dialect differs from that of the other English by the frequent adoption of Danish words, accents and pronunciations.

The Great Ouse, Nene, Wissey, Little Ouse and Nar are navigable, as are also the Yare, Bure, Ant, Thurn, Wensum and Waveney. There are no canal works of importance, except dykes in the fens.

In the North Sea the flood tide wave enters from the Atlantic Ocean between the coast of Norway and the British Isles, and passing through various channels enters the Pentland Firth, on quitting which it divides into two branches, of which the western swells along the Scottish and English coasts, making high water in all their rivers and harbours successively until it arrives in the Thames. Near the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts the streams of tide run nearly parallel to the shore : off Wells the flood runs to the eastward till 9 o'clock, or three hours after high water on the shore; 4 miles off Cromer, and the same distance off Hasborough, the flood stream runs alongshore to the southward till 10h. 15m. or 1h. 45m. before high water at Harwich, and the ebb in a contrary direction. At 2½ miles off Lowestoft the flood stream continues to run to the S.S.W. till 1h. 30m. before high water at Harwich, and at Orfordness till about high water at Harwich; the flood setting W.S.W. and the ebb E.N.E.

Time of High Water at Full and Change Days at the principal places on the Coast of Norfolk, arranged according to the apparent progress of the Tide Wave, with the rise of the tide at Neaps and Springs.*

* By the rise of the tide is meant its vertical rise above the mean low-water mark level of spring tide.

The climate of Norfolk is on the average decidedly dry. Observations of the amount of rainfall are taken at over 50 stations in the county. The average rainfall may be taken at 23½ inches yearly, i.e. 2,350 tons of rain-water on every acre in the county in the course of an ordinary year. The average rainfall for the whole of England is about 36 inches yearly. In 1878, however, the rainfall at Norwich was 31½ inches, or 35 per cent. above the average. The cold, dry easterly winds which blow in winter and spring form a marked feature in the meteorology of Norfolk. They owe their nature to the great extent of the land - the plains of North Germany and Russia - which these winds have passed over before coming to this country, their brief passage over the North Sea not having been sufficient to mitigate their piercing character. There can be no doubt that the extensive planting of trees, which have been a marked feature in the cultivation of Norfolk during recent years, will exercise a favourable influence on the climate, both in increasing the rainfall and diminishing the evil effects of cold winds.

The soil of Norfolk is of a very varied character; that of the north and west may be said to be sandy, while loams and clays predominate in the centre and east. If left in a natural condition, much of the ground would be poor and light; but the Norfolk farmers have long been famous for their skill in agriculture, and by mixing the soils, by digging clays and marls, and adding these to the sandy soils, together with a liberal use of manure, they have rendered this county among the most fertile and fruitful in England. The Norfolk system of husbandry is the four-course, i.e. wheat, then root crop, then barley, then clover or mixed seed ley : on the heavy land the crop of barley every eighth year is followed by beans or peas, then wheat, and so on, so that the hay crop comes once in eight years.

The mineral productions of Norfolk, according to the Mines Department Report and Statistics for 1927, consist of chalk, of which 9,291 tons were raised in 1927; chert and flint, 45,045 tons; clay, 20,879 tons; gravel and sand, 216,654 tons; moulding and pig-bed sand, 7,124 tons and sandstone, 404 tons.

The produce of Norfolk consists of wheat and other cereals, fruit and cider, turnips, mangold-wurtzel, flax seeds; horses, oxen, sheep, pigs, rabbits, turkeys, game and butter. The fisheries are of vast importance : mackerel, cod, soles, turbot, lobsters and crabs are caught, but the herring fishery is that for which this county is famous. Yarmouth, the head quarters, has a large fleet of smacks engaged. The Season is from September to end of November; many persons are employed on shore in the curing of this for the supply of distant markets. The manufactures are bombazine, silk crape, silk, woollen and linen fabrics, gloves, boots and shoes (principally at Norwich), coarse pottery and tobacco pipes. The exports of most of these are large. There is also some shipbuilding.

Railways. - The London and North Eastern railway serves the larger portion of the county, the Great Eastern section main line from Ely, entering the county a little south of Brandon, passes by Thetford, Roudham Junction, Wymondham, Norwich (Thorpe station), Brundall and Acle to Yarmouth direct; from Brundall is a line to Reedham, where it branches to Yarmouth to the north-east and Lowestoft to the south-east; from Roudham Junction is a branch line to Watton, Swaffham and Lynn; from Wymondham is a branch through Dereham and Fakenham to Wells. Besides the main line already mentioned three other branches enter from the south, viz., from Bury St. Edmunds to Thetford, Ipswich via Haughley direct to Norwich and Ipswich via Beccles to Yarmouth, and these two latter lines are connected by that from Tivetshall junction to Lowestoft; the main line is connected with that from Haughley by a short branch from Wymondham to Forncett. From the Norwich terminus a line goes north to Cromer, throwing off a branch at Wroxham through Reepham to the Wells line; a line from east Dereham to Swaffham connects the Wymondham and Roudham branch lines and another line from Ely, entering the county at Hilgay, passes through Denver (with a branch to Stoke Ferry), Lynn, Heacham (with a branch line to Hunstanton) to Burnham Market and Wells, where it connects with the Dereham and Fakenham line, having previously connected with Wisbech at Magdalen road.

The Midland and Great Northern joint railway stretches throughout Norfolk. Its extreme eastern limit is Lowestoft, whence through Yarmouth and the Norfolk Broads it serves Norwich, Cromer, Sheringham, Mundesley and other "Poppyland" resorts, proceeding onward through Fakenham to King's Lynn and Wisbech on its way to Peterborough, Spalding and Bourne, at which points connection is made with the London and North Eastern and London, Midland and Scottish railways.

Norfolk is in the South Eastern circuit; the county and assize town is Norwich; quarter sessions are holden at Norwich, and by adjournment also at Swaffham, Norwich, Yarmouth, Lynn and Thetford have separate courts of quarter sessions, and the county is divided into 24 petty sessional divisions, viz. - Blofield and Walsham (sittings at Blofield), Clackclose (sittings at Downham), Depwade (sittings at Long Stratton), Diss (sittings at Diss), Earsham (sittings at Harleston), North Erpingham (sittings at Cromer), South Erpingham (sittings at Aylsham), Eynsford (sittings at Reepham), East and West Flegg (sittings at Rollesby), Forehoe (sittings at Wymondham), Freebridge Lynn (sittings at Grimston), Freebridge Marshland (sittings at Terrington), Gallow (sittings at Fakenham), North Greenhoe (sittings at Little Walsingham), South Greenhoe (sittings at Swaffham), Grimshoe (sittings at Methwold), Guiltcross and Shropham (sittings at East Harling), Holt (sittings at Holt), Loddon and Clavering (sittings at Loddon), Mitford and Launditch (sittings at Dereham), Smithdon and Brothercross (sittings at Docking and Hunstanton), Taverham (sittings at Norwich), Tunstead and Happing (sittings at North Walsham) and Wayland (sittings at Watton).

County Courts are held at Aylsham, Downham Market, east Dereham, Fakenham, Harleston, Holt, King's Lynn, North Walsham, Norwich, Swaffham, Thetford, Wymondham and Great Yarmouth, all in Circuit No. 32. King's Lynn, Norwich and Great Yarmouth have jurisdiction in Bankruptcy, and King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth have also jurisdiction in Admiralty.

Norfolk includes the county of the city of Norwich, and contains 700 civil parishes, and is in the province of Canterbury, diocese of Norwich and Ely. Norwich diocese is divided into the archdeaconries of Lynn, Norfolk and Norwich. Lynn archdeaconry is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Breccles, Brisley, Burnham, Elmham, Heacham, Holt, Lynn, Rising, Swaffham, Thetford and Walsingham. Norfolk archdeaconry is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Brooke, Depwade, Harling, Hingham, Humbleyard, Loddon, Lothingland, Mitford, Redenhall and Rockland. Norwich archdeaconry is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Blofield, Flegg, Ingworth, Norwich, Repps, Sparham, Taverham, Tunstead and Waxham.

The parishes in Ely diocese are in the archdeaconry of Wisbech and rural deaneries of Fincham, Feltwell and Lynn Marshland.

This county is remarkable for the number of churches that have entirely disappeared or are in more or less ruinous condition; of these we herewith give a list, and particulars will be found under each place:- Alprington, Anthingham, Ashby near Yarmouth, Attleborough, Babingley, Barwick, Barton Bendish, Bawsey, Bayfield, East Beckham, Beeston St. Andrew, Billockby, Bowthorpe, Buckenham Tofts, Burgh near Yarmouth, Burnham Sutton, Caldecote, East Carleton, Cley-next-Sea, Colveston, Little Cressingham, Eccles-by-Sea, Egmere, Flitcham, Foulden, Garboldisham, Gasthorpe, Gillingham, Glandford, Hackford-next-Reepham, Hargham, Hautbois, Hindolveston, Holverstone, Irmingland, Keswick, Letton, Leziatte, Lynford, Lynn (North), Mannington, Markshall, Mintlyn, Oby near Yarmouth, Ormesby, Overstrand, Pattesley, Pensthorpe, Pudding Norton, Quarles, Raynham West, Ringstead Parva, Rockland St. Margaret, Roudham, Roxham, Ryburgh (Little), Saxingham Thorpe, Shotesham, Somerton East, Stiffkey, Struston, Testerton, Thorpe Parva, Tunstall, Wallington, Waxham, Weeting, Whitlingham, Wolterton, Wretham West.

The municipal boroughs are:-

Other towns are Cromer, population in 1921, 5,436; East Dereham, 5,661; Diss, 3,513; Downham, 2,342; New Hunstanton, 4,289; Swaffham, 2,913; North Walsham, 4,155; Wells-next-Sea, 2,649.

The population of the parliamentary boroughs in 1921 was:- Great Yarmouth, 60,700; Norwich, 120,653.