Norfolk: South Runcton

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

RUNCTON (SOUTH) parish, 4 miles N. by E. of Downham, and 2˝ miles S. of Watlington Station, is in Downham union and county court district, Clackclose hundred and petty sessional division, Lynn bankruptcy district, Downham polling district of West Norfolk, Fincham rural deanery, and archdeaconry of Norfolk. It had 153 inhabitants in 1881, living on 831 acres of land, and has a rateable value of Ł1179. It mostly belongs, with the manor, to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, by gift of Dr. Key [sic, should be Caius]; but Edmund E. Peel, Esq., T. Leigh Hare, Esq., and Dr. Allen have estates here. Runcton Bottom, a small hamlet on the Shouldham Road, some distance from the church, is in this parish.

The CHURCH (St Andrew) is a small fabric of Norman architecture, comprising nave, chancel, vestry, and a small bell turret at west end. After being long a roofless ruin, it was rebuilt in 1839 at a cost of Ł600. The chancel was restored and furnished with oak seats in 1808,, and a new cedar altar table was subsequently presented by Mrs. Bowyer-Sparke. The cross and candle-holders are cedar, and the lectern oak. At the restoration in 1839, an ancient and now very scarce metal pax, considered to be the most perfect in England, was found, and is now in possession of a former rector's family.

The children attend the school at Holme.

The rectory, valued in the King's Book at Ł12, is consolidated with those of Holme and Wallington (see p.330 [which is the entry for Runcton Holme]).

The poor have the site of a tenement, let for Ł15s. [sic] and a yearly rent-charge of Ł2, left by Thos. Taylor.

POST from Downham

	Banyard   James       farmer and beerhouse, Runcton bottom
	Cambridge Frederick   fmr. Lane's frm		
	Cambridge William     farmer, College farm
	Lambert   Wm.         frmr. Runcton bottom
	Sampson   William     farmer
	Suttaby   --          farmer