Norfolk: Ditchingham

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

DITCHINGHAM, a large scattered village and parish extending southward to the river Waveney opposite Bungay, 13 miles S.S.E. of Norwich, is in Beccles county court district and union, Ipswich bankruptcy district, Loddon petty sessional division, hundred, and polling district of South Norfolk, East Brooke rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry.

It had 1075 inhabitants in 1881, living on 2075 acres, and has a rateable value of £5381 18s. 11d., and a gross estimated rental of £6329 4s. 11d. In the parish is a Silk Mill, erected in 1832, belonging to Messrs. Grout and Co., of Norwich, who employ here about 500 hands. The large heath in this and Broome parish was enclosed in 1812.

The manors are Ditchingham and Pirnhow, and the fines are arbitrary. The Duke of Norfolk is lord of the former, and the Trustees of the late Philip Bedingfeld, Esq., are lords of the latter and owners of Ditchingham Hall, now occupied by Mrs. G. E. Morrice, a handsome mansion, built in 1727, with picturesque grounds, near a rivulet, which is expanded into a fine broad or lake.

Ditchingham House, a substantial brick residence on a large lawn, is the seat of H. R. Haggard, Esq., who also owns The Lodge, a good residence, now occupied by A. H. Jenney, Esq., J.P. Holly Hill Lodge, a neat modern residence with pleasant grounds, is the seat and property of John Baker, Esq. Tindall Hall, now a farmhouse, belongs to the Executors of the late Sir W. F. Middleton, Bart.; and several smaller landowners have estates in the parish.

In 1862 some labourers discovered eight or ten earthenware jars or urns about 2½ feet below the surface, near the Orphanage. Only three of them were preserved entire. Many years ago an urn was found here filled with those minute late Roman coins which are supposed to have been thrown among the populace on public occasions.

The CHURCH (St. Mary) stands on an eminence, nearly 2 miles N. of Bungay, and is a handsome flint-and-stone building of Perpendicular architecture, comprising nave, chancel, a new aisle built in 1872, a vestry occupying the north porch, south porch, and lofty square tower containing six bells, and having four crocketed pinnacles. The rood-screen is of the date of Henry II. The reredos is modern, and beautifully carved. In the chancel is a brass dated 1490, representing Philip Bosard; and in the nave is another to Roger Bosard, dated 1505. The east window is of three lights, and is filled with stained glass by O'Conor, of London, to the memory of Captain Samuel Ives Sutton. It represents the Lord's Supper, the Ascension, and the three Marys with the Angel at the Sepulchre. The church contains a harmonium, purchased by subscription. Mural paintings representing the Resurrection and the legend of 'les trois vifs et les trois morts` were discovered on the north wall in 1848.

A neat Chapel of Ease, in the Early English style, was built in 1863, at a cost of about £1400, in that part of the parish which was anciently the parish of Pirnhow.

The Rectory, valued in K.B. at £12, is now in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. John Charles Scudamore, M.A., who has a commodious red-brick residence in the Elizabethan style, built in 1803. The tithes were commuted in 1839 for £560 per annum, and here are 30 acres of glebe.

Ditchingham Burial Board was established in 1876, and the Cemetery, comprising 1½ acres of ground, two thirds consecrated, was opened June 25, 1880. Messrs. Hartcup and Son, of Bungay, are the solicitors and clerks.

The National School, erected in 1830, was enlarged in 1871, at a cost of £200, and is attended by 120 children.

The House of Mercy, or Female Reformatory, was founded in 1858 by the late rector, the Rev. William Edward Scudamore, M.A., and has a Refuge at Norwich in connection with it. It is a large red-brick building, with room for 30 inmates, and surrounded with a high wall, in the precincts of which is a Community House, erected in 1868 for the use of the sisters, who have a small chapel, built in 1864. It is conducted by the Church of England Sisterhood, who have also, at a short distance from the Reformatory, an Orphanage for daughters of clergymen and others, built in 1864, at a cost of £2000, to accommodate 30 children, and enlarged in 1881, at a further cost of £700, as a School for Boarders of a higher class. Attached to it will be an Industrial Training School for 16 girls, now in course of erection, at a cost of £600. Between the Orphanage and the Reformatory is the chaplain's house, a neat Gothic building, built in 1873 at a cost of £600; also a gardener's house and other lodges.

In connection with the Sisterhood, but situated in another part of the parish, is the All Hallows County Hospital, opened July 8, 1873, with room for 20 patients, which cost £3500. A. Frere, Esq., of London, is the architect, and Mr. Robert Morriss, of Ditchingham, the builder, The Sisterhood also occupy the Grange Farm. The Rev. E. P. Williams, of Barsham, Suffolk, is the warden, The Rev. A. H. Ferris, M.A., chaplain, and Miss Lavinia Cross, superioress.

The poor have four tenements occupied rent free, and 3A. 1R. 32P. of land, let for £12 18s. 6d., left by John Gowing and John Towers in 1668: and a yearly rent-charge of £2, left by Robert Davy in 1725, out of a meadow now belonging to J. L. Bedingfeld, Esq. The Town Lands consist of a farm, two cottages, and meadow-lands containing 68A. 1R. 9P., let for £147 9s. Davy's Gift, a rent-charge of £2, paid by the Trustees of the late Philip Bedingfeld, Esq., charged upon a meadow in Ditchingham.

There are four cottages under one roof in Free Lane, occupied (rent free) by old people. The income from the Town Lands is expended in repairs and other expenses connected with the church, grants to the National School and Sick Fund, gifts in coal to the poor, and payment of salaries of parish officers. The feoffees are Wm. Hartcup, Esq., Richard Day French, Esq., Herbert James Hartcup, Esq., and the Rev. Samuel French. Receiver and manager, William Clutten.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Frederick Bellamy's. Letters, viâ Bungay, arrive at 7.30 a.m., and are despatched at 5.15 p.m.

Aldgate       --               shoemaker
Allen         Alfred           stationmaster
Allen         Thomas           victualler, Duke of York Inn
Baker         George           shoemaker
Baker         Mr John          landowner, Holly Hill lodge
Baker         Mrs Sarah        dyer, &c.
Bellamy       Frederick        shoemaker and postmaster
Bellamy       Miss Matilda     National schoolmistress
Blackburn     Mr George
Boulter       Isaac            clerk and parish assistant overseer
Boulter       Mrs Mary Ann     grocer
Boulter       Thomas Henry     grocer
Boulter       Thomas Henry     manager of Silk Mills
Brock         Joseph Oliver    farmer and overseer
Brooks        Mr John Robert
Chase         Robert           farmer; h Bungay
Catchpole     Joseph           foreman
Cornaby       John             plumber, glazier, painter, &c.
Collet        Robert           beerhouse
Crick         Thomas           manager and lodgings
Cross         Miss Lavinia     lady superioress, House of Mercy
Crowfoot & Co.                 brewers and ale and porter agents
Cuddon        Thomas           corn dealer, maltster, and brewer's agent
Davies        Mr John
Dutt          William Henry    coach builder
Fairhead      Daniel           farm bailiff
Ferris        Rev. Alfred      chaplain to House of Mercy, The Presbytery
                Henry, M.A.
Folkard       Henry James      blacksmith
Foreman       Robert           cooper
Garrould      William James    grocer and baker
Grout & Co.                    silk crape mfrs.; and Norwich & Yarmouth
Hammond       John L.          farmer, Tindall hall
Haggard       Mr Henry Rider   landowner, Ditchingham house
High          James            wheelwright
Hood          Robert           grocer
Hunting       John             blacksmith
Jenney        Arthur Henry,    (for Suffolk), The Lodge
               Esq., J.P.
Kent          Benjamin         cowkeeper
Knights       Henry            shopkeeper and general dealer
Latter        Miss Caroline    sister superior, The Orphanage
Laws          John             cowkeeper
More          Thos.            miller & merchant, Wainford Mills;
                                h Broome
Mann          R. & W. (Robert  maltsters, merchants, & agents for Barclay,
               & William)       Perkins, & Co.'s stout, Wainford Staithe
Morrice       Mrs Georgiana    The Hall
               Elizabeth 
Morrice       Fredk. Lancelot  barrister-at-law
               Hamilton, B.A.
Morriss       Robert           builder and contracter
Peck          Mrs
Peck          Robert           victualler, Falcon Inn
Pipe          James            beerhouse
Pipe          Mr John Watson
Robson        Jonathan         wheelwright
Rotch         Miss Catherine   sister-in-charge, House of Mercy
Rust          John William     timber and slate merchant at Bungay,
                                The Grove; and Diss and Harleston
Scudamore     Rev. John        rector, The Rectory
               Charles, M.A.
Smith         Robert Rogers    millers and bakers
               & Sons
Smith         Thomas           maltster; and at Bungay
Tibnam        Miss Emma        shoe dealer
Todd          James            marine store dealer
Todd          James David      marine store dealer and sack maker
Tunney        John Robert
               William         landowner, The Grange
Wales         Mr George
               Richard
Walker        Wm. David        coal, corn, and manure merchant,
                                Railway depôt; and Bungay
Watson        John             blacksmith
Wilson        Misses           The Cottage
Woods         Charles          shoemaker, registrar of births and deaths
                                for Woodton district, vaccination
                                officer and parish clerk
Woods         James            butcher and farmer

RAILWAY -- G. E. R. (Waveney Valley) trains to Norwich, Beccles &c. for all parts daily. Alfred Allen, statnmstr

From ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS on pages 13-16:

In the first paragraph, for 'and union, Ipswich,' read 'Loddon union, Yarmouth,'