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Exclusive of this insulated member, it averages from 6 to 8 miles in length and breadth, except at the north-east end, where it is crossed by the Norwich and Lowestoft Ship Canal, and terminated by a narrow peninsular slip, three miles in length, ending at the confluence of the navigable rivers -- Yare and Waveney. The soil is generally rich and fertile, though a great part of it is in wet marshes.
The Deanery of Brooke, in the Archdeaconry of Norfolk, comprehends all the parishes in the Hundreds of Clavering, Loddon, and Henstead.
Petty Sessions for this, and Loddon Hundred, are held at the Swan Inn, Loddon, (see page 796. [description of Loddon Hundred]) The following enumeration of the 20 parishes of Clavering Hundred, shews their population in 1841, the annual value of their lands and buildings, as assessed to the County Rate in 1843, and their territorial extent, in assessable acres:-
+========================================================+ | | | Annl. | | | PARISHES. | Pop. | Valu[e] | Acres. | +--------------------------------------------------------+ | Aldeby 496 £4,236 3,041 | | Brooke 756 3,676 2,049 | | Burgh-Apton 564 3,380 1,924 | | Burgh St. Peter 312 3,024 1,979 | | Ellingham 398 2,338 1,302 | | Geldeston 386 1,932 819 | | Gillingham All Sts.} | | and St. Mary } 404 3,194 1,962 | | Haddiscoe 424 3,320 2,066 | | Hales 302 1,646 912 | | * Heckingham 309 1,480 1,084 | | Howe 92 1,100 766 | | Kirby Cane 458 2,352 1,467 | | Norton Subcourse 356 2,674 1,849 | | Raveningham 281 3,140 2,288 | | Stockton 129 1,412 1,023 | | Thorp-next-Hadsco. 101 1,252 807 | | Thurlton 405 2,074 1,170 | | Toft-Monks 349 3,898 2,195 | | Wheatacre All Saints 176 1,526 1,141 | +--------------------------------------------------------+ | TOTAL + 6,698 47,641 29,844 | +========================================================+[There is more information about individual parishes]
* Heckingham return included 138 persons in the Union Workhouse.
+ This Hundred had 6611 inhabitants in 1831. Its annual value,
as assessed to the property tax, was £43,318, in 1815, and
£53,486, in 1842. It is in Loddon Police Division.
LODDON and CLAVERING UNION comprises all the 40 parishes of Loddon and Clavering Hundreds, and also Yelverton, in Henstead Hundred. These 41 parishes were incorporated, for the support of their poor, by act of parliament, in 1763, when they built a large House of Industry at Heckingham, with room for about 500 paupers.
This was adopted as the Union Workhouse, in 1836, when it was much injured by fire, supposed to have been occasioned by an incendiary. It was repaired, altered, and enlarged, at the cost of £3145, and has now room for 600 paupers, but it has seldom more than half that number, and in summer only about 150.
The Union comprises an area of 89 square miles, and had 14,472 inhabitants, in 1841, of whom 7121 were males, and 7351 females. The average annual expenditure of its 41 parishes, from 1832 to 1835, was £6494. In 1838, it was £4474; in 1839, £5230; in 1842, £4348; and for the quarter ending Michaelmas, 1844, £1872.
J. Kerrich, Esq., is chairman of the Board of Guardians; James Copeman, Esq., of Loddon, is union clerk and superintendent registrar; Mr. Wm. Hoddy, of Loddon, is registrar of marriages; the Rev. W. Hobson is chaplain; Messrs. J.H.Wooltorton and E. Easter are the relieving officers; and Mr. John Brigham and wife are master and matron of the Workhouse.
Five surgeons are employed by the Union, and the average weekly cost per week, per head, of the in-door poor, is 2s 4d. for food, and 5½d. for clothing.
© Mike Bristow
April 2006