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Copyright © Pat Newby.
December 1997
SMALLBURGH, 5½ miles S.E. by S. of North Walsham, and 12 miles N.E. by N of Norwich, is a village and parish in Smallburgh union, Tunstead hundred, Happing and Tunstead petty sessional division, North Walsham county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Stalham polling district of North Norfolk, Tunstead division of Waxham rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 504 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1255 acres, and has a rateable value of £2476.
The soil belongs chiefly to W.F. Windham, Robert Cooke, and John Postle, Esqrs.; but Sir J.H. Preston, Bart., is lord of the manor, in which the fines are certain. The Old Hall is now occupied by a farm bailiff. The spacious white brick mansion called the New Hall, about a mile south of the village, now the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Postle, was built by William Postle, Esq., in 1837. Holly House, another neat modern mansion, is the residence of Mr. John Postle. Nearly a mile E. of the village is Wayford Bridge, on the river Ant. near which there is supposed to have been a Roman Station, and where there is a wharf for corn, coal, malt, &c.
The CHURCH (St. Peter) comprises nave, chancel, and south porch. It has a brick belfry with one bell, and formerly had a tower, which fell down in 1677. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the King's Book at £10.4s., in the gift of the Bishop of Norwich, and incumbency of the Rev. Henry Thomas Griffith, B.A., who has a good brick residence. The glebe is 28A.1R.17P., and the tithes were commuted in 1838 for £430 per annum.
The Primitive Methodists and Wesleyan Reformers have chapels here.
The National School is a brick building, erected in 1855. The Church Land is 11A.2R.27P let for £24, to which is added £1, from part of an allotment set out as a common staith. The Poor's Allotment, awarded in 1820, is 43A.21P., on which fuel is cut. Petty Sessions are held at the Workhouse, every alternate Tuesday, for the division, and the magistrates usually sitting here are Sir J.H. Preston, Beeston; J. Preston, Esq., Beeston; Robert Rising, Esq., Horsey; John Lubbock, Esq., Catfield; Robert Baker, Esq., North Walsham; and Edward Cubitt Esq., Honing.
The parishes of Happing and Tunstead, with the exception of North Walsham, were incorporated for the support of their poor in 1785, when they erected a HOUSE OF INDUSTRY, at Smallburgh, which was altered and enlarged in 1836 and subsequent years, and has now room for about 800 paupers, but averages only 73. Attached to this large workhouse are 24 acres of arable land. The expenditure of the 41 incorporated parishes, on their in and out-door poor, was £4367 in 1839, and £4381 in 1842; and their total average annual expenditure at the present time is nearly £3976. They comprise an area of about [blank] acres, and a population of 14,328. Thomas Wells, Esq., of Sco-Ruston, is chairman; and Mr. Hy. Riches Barnard of Worstead, is clerk to the Board of Guardians of Smallburgh union, and superintendent registrar.
Messrs. George Gedge, of Honing, and Lewis Myhill, of Ingham are registrars of marriages; and Messrs. J.A. Gordon, of Ludham, William Fredk. Dix, of Smallburgh, John Clowes, of Stalham, and George Ward, of Worstead, are registrars of births and deaths. The relieving officers are Mr. Lewis Myhill, for Happing district, and Mr. George Ward, of Worstead, for Tunstead district. Mr. George Amies and Mrs. Elizabeth Amies are master and matron; and the Rev. John B. Vale, M.A., of Crostwight, chaplain to the workhouse.
[Omitted: list of parishes in Smallburgh Union]
POST OFFICE at Mr. Edward Gibson's. Letters via Norwich, arrive at 6.10 a.m., and depart at 4.10 p.m. Neatishead and Stalham are the two nearest Money Order Offices, the latter is the nearest Railway Station on the Y. & N.N.Railway, and Telegraph Office, distance three miles; and Worstead Station, on the G. E. Railway.
Amies George & Mrs. Elizabeth master and matron of Union workhouse Baldwin Robert bricklayer, builder, contractor and brickmaker Bristow John plumber & glazier Cole Walter Joseph farmer Coman Miss Ann National schoolmistress Cooke Robert farmer, &c. Manor hs Dix Miss Schoolmistress, Workhouse Dix Wm. Frederic, M.R.C.S.,L.S.A. surgeon, registrar of births & deaths, medical officer to Smallburgh union & workhouse & public vaccinator Empson George blacksmith Gibson Edward postmaster Grand William Saul shopkeeper Griffith Rev. Henry Thomas, B.A. rector, Rectory Hillersdon Mr. S.G. Jones Samuel beerhs. & bricklayer Knights Elijah farmer Knights Henry shopkeeper & Beersllr. Lacy Mrs. shopkeeper & beer retailer Long George shoemaker Long James vict. Crown Inn Long William parish clerk Lowne Edmund wheelwright, &c Postle John farmer and owner Postle Mrs. Elizabeth The Hall Postle William farmer Yaxley James shopkeeper