Norfolk: Mendham

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845

MENDHAM parish contains 823 souls, and upwards of 3000 acres of land, of which only 257 souls, and 1200 acres are in Norfolk, adjoining Harleston, and all the rest, with the village, church, (All Saints,) and some vestiges of a Priory, are in Hoxne Hundred, Suffolk, on the south side of the river Waveney, 2 miles S.E. of Harleston. (See our Suffolk Vol.) The whole is in Hoxne Union.

The Rev. Geo. Ayton Whitaker, of Knodishall, is patron and rector, and also owner of Dove House, a pleasant seat, now occupied by the Rev. J.W.S. Donnison. This and several other scattered houses, near Shotford Bridge, are in the Norfolk part of the parish.

Wm. S. Holmes, Esq., of Gawdy Hall, is lord of the manor of Walsham Hall, and Sir Robert Shafto Adair, Bart., is lord of the manors of Mendham King's Hall and Priory, and owner of Shotford Hall estate, &c. The copyholds are subject to arbitrary fines. Part of the great tithes have been purchased by the landowners, and Sir R.S. Adair is impropriator of the remainder, which have been commuted for £270 per annum.

An Independent Chapel, endowed with an estate at Topcroft, is in the Norfolk part of the parish, the chief inhabitants of which will be found in Harleston Directory at page 730.