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ACLE is a parish and a pleasant and well-built village, on two opposite acclivities, 11 miles E. of Norwich, and eight miles W. by N. of Yarmouth. It is in Blofield union, Walsham hundred, Norwich county court and bankruptcy district, Blofield and Walsham petty sessional division, Blofield polling district of South Norfolk, Blofield rural deanery and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. It had 910 inhabitants in 1881, living on 3459A. 2R. 25P., and has a rateable value of £6868 10s.
The greater part of the parish is marsh. It has a detached member, lying near Yarmouth, allotted at the enclosure in 1797. The new line of rail from Brundall to Yarmouth, by which the distance from Norwich to the latter town is considerably shortened, passes through Acle and has a station there.
At the Conquest, the parish was a fief of the Crown, and was granted by the Conqueror to Roger Bigod, who obtained for it a market and fair. These are now obsolete. Richard II. granted the inhabitants freedom from all tolls, suits of shire and of hundreds, with other immunities.
Lord Calthorpe is the principal owner, and lord of the manor; but the trustees of the late H.N. Burroughes, Esq., have land here. Acle bridge, on the Bure, a mile east of the village, is called in all legal documents Weybridge; and a little below it, a short canal branches to a staithe or wharf. At a short distance east of the church are some small remains of Weybridge Priory, founded in the reign of Edward I., by Roger Bigod, for regular canons of the order of St. Augustine. At the Dissolution, it was valued at £7 13s. 4d., and granted to the Duke of Norfolk.
A House of Industry was erected at Acle, in 1788, for seven parishes, to which ten other parishes were afterwards united, but the house was burnt down in November, 1834.
The CHURCH, dedicated to St. Edmund the King, consists of nave, chancel, north and south porches, and tower. Each of the porches has a parvise or chamber over it; the tower, which contains five bells, is round at the base but octagonal above. The building is of rubble and flint with stone quoins, the roof of the nave is thatched, and that of the chancel is slated.
The font is octagonal, and bears upon its sides representions of the symbols of the Evangelists, the Trinity, the patron saint, &c. The chancel, which is separated from the nave by a handsome screen, was restored in 1860, at a cost of £400; and on its south side are sedilia for three priests. Here is a brass to the Rev. Thomas Stones, a former minister; and many tombs still remain, but their brasses are gone. The church contains an organ presented by the patron in 1837. In the churchyard is a number of fine lime trees.
Lord Calthorpe is patron of the rectory, which is valued in the King's Book at £20, and is now in the incumbency of the Rev. Robert Winter Kennion, M.A., who has a flint and brick residence in the Tudor style, built in 1858; a yearly rent-charge of £693 in lieu of tithes; and 13A. 3R. 27P. of glebe.
The Primitive Methodists are building a new chapel here. A National School was established about fifty years ago. A lodge of Oddfellows is held at the Queen's Head Inn.
About an acre of land left by an unknown donor, and called the Poor's Acre, is let for 30s. a year, of which 10s. 6d. is paid for a sermon, 1s. goes to the clerk, and the remainder is distributed in bread on Good Friday. The poor have also two other plots of land which are let for small sums; and they had a sand pit till 1861, when, the sand being exhausted, it was sold, and the money invested in the Post Office Savings Bank to accumulate till another sand pit could be purchased.
POST OFFICE, TELEGRAPH, MONEY ORDER and POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK at Mr. Richard Leeder's. Letters arrive at 5.50 a.m., and are despatched at 4.50 p.m., via Norwich.
Arnup James beerhouse Baker Miss Harriet Baker Mrs Sophia B Barwood Joseph grocer and draper Basham William police superintndnt Benns James wherryowner & coal dlr Bessey Mr James Green Briggs Samuel cutler Brown Robt. carpenter & wheelwright Bunn Mr George Capon Henry Thomas registrar and relieving officer Church Joseph tailor Church Mrs Only boarding school Church Thomas shoemaker Church Thomas, jun. shoemaker Coman William painter, plumber and glazier Cufuade Frank, M.D., M.R.C.S. physician and surgeon [see note below] Cufuade W. H. surgeon [see note below] Daniels George farmer & landowner Daniels George jun. grocer and draper Dunt Mr James Durrant Daniel shoemaker Ellis Joseph thatcher Evans Mrs Mary Anne Felmingham Mr James Fowler Benjamin farmer Fowler William & George carpenters and wheelwrights Furrance Thos. bricklayer and builder Fynch Eugenia photographer Gale Mr Daniel George Wm. carpenter & wheelwright Gissing William watch maker Green Mr Samuel Greenacre Simon farmer and owner Hacon Mrs Martha Hall Henry shoemaker Harrison Daniel farmer and carrier Hinchcliffe John butcher Holmes Charles market gardener Holmes John farmer and parish clerk Holmes William carrier Hunn Jas. vict. & frmr, The 'Hermitage' Hunn Mr Joseph James Charles schoolmaster Kennion Rev. Robert Winter, M.A. rector, The Rectory Knights Mr William Lark Daniel (outfitter) Yarmouth Leeder Richd. postmastr. grcr. & draper Lemmon Thomas coach painter and surveyor Mainprice John farmer Miller Mrs Anne baker & confectioner Mitchley Jarvis farmer and victualler, The 'King's Head' Moore Thomas carpenter Parry Wm. farmer & cattle salesman Pearce William vict. (and posting) The 'Queen's Hotel' Riches Mrs Bessy Rix George grocer and draper Rix William saddler and harnessmaker; and at South Walsham Rose Edward victualler, The 'Angel' Squire John & Albert millers, merchants and farmers Squire Robert farmer Squire William farmer Tills Charles farmer; h Moulton Tungate Mrs Mary Ann grcr. & draper Utting Walter stone mason, glass and china dealer Waters William farmer & landowner Wilkinson Reuben blacksmith Winfield Mr James Wright Samuel farmer; and MoultonCARRIERS.--
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Copyright © Pat Newby.
October 2001