Norfolk: Stoke Holy Cross

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

STOKE-HOLY-CROSS, on the east side of the river Tase, nearly 5 miles S. of Norwich, is a parish in Henstead union and hundred, Swainsthorpe petty sessional division, Norwich county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Norwich polling district of South Norfolk, West Brooke rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It has 414 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1659 acres, and has a rateable value of £2933. Robt. Fellowes, Esq., is lord of the manor; but Hy. Birkbeck and R.K. Long, Esqs., and Mrs. Arthy Caistor own most of the soil, and Hy. Birkbeck, Esq., is impropriator of the great tithes.

The CHURCH is a plain building, chiefly in the Perpendicular style, and comprises nave, chancel, south porch, and square tower with three bells. The church was thoroughly restored in 1871 by subscription, aided by grants from the church building societies, and an organ chamber was erected in 1881 at the expense of Hy. Birkbeck, Esq., who also gave the organ. The east window contains some fragments of stained glass, representing our Saviour, the Evangelists, &c.; and here are a double piscina and tablets of the Mann and Shearing families. The parish register dates from 1538.

Outside the south wall of the nave is a curious monument to the Rev. Thos. Havers, who died in 1719, and was not only a divine but remarkable for his skill as an operative surgeon, more particularly excelling in lithotomy, or cutting for the stone. The instruments used in this fearful operation are faithfully represented on the monument.

The Dean and Chapter of Norwich are patrons of the vicarage, which is now in the incumbency of the Rev. John Bailey, M.A., for whom a handsome new residence was built in 1841, at a cost of £1200. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £211 a year.

The BOARD SCHOOL, erected in 1876 at a cost of £700, has accommodation for 50 children, and is for the parishes of Stoke-Holy-Cross, Caistor, and Markshall. It is now attended by 45 children, and is regulated by the same board as at Framlingham East, of which it is a branch school. The following now constitute the board: -- Rev. L.C. Wallich, B.A., rector of Poringland Great, chairman; Mr. J.H. Christie, Mrs. Henry Birkbeck, Rev. Chas. Turner, Mr. Jeremiah Seago, Mr. Edward Walters, and Mr. Thomas Allen. Mr. Jeremiah Chaplin, of Framlingham East, is clerk to the board. [See note below].

Here is also an Orphans' Home established in 1861, and supported by the same gentleman, who resides at the Hall, a handsome brick Elizabethan mansion on a commanding eminence.

A Baptist chapel was built here about 40 years ago by Messrs. J. and J. Colman, but it is now used as a kind of chapel of ease and reading room, evening service being performed in it every Sunday by the vicar.

The Fuel Allotment, 13A. 1R. 10P., is let for £13.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Wm. Horne's. Letters arrive at 6 A.M., and despatched at 6 p.m., viâ Norwich, which is nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

	ANDREWS   Mrs Harriet      Highfield
	BAILEY    Rev. John, M.A.  vicar
	BAXTER    John             parish clerk
	BEVERLEY  William          corn miller
	BIRKBECK  Mr Henry         The Hall
	BRIGHTY   Robert           thrashing machine owner
	                             and market gardener
	BROOKS    John             farmer
	BUCK      Robert           joiner and wheelwright,
	                             and victualler, Lion
	DIX       Mrs Margaret     farmer
	DOWE      John             farmer
	DUNN      Matthew          vict. Rummer Inn
	DURRANT   Jas. Wm.         farmer & manufctr. of pheasant food
	EDWARDS   George           farmer
	EGLINGTON Elijah           miller's foreman
	HAWES     David            market gardener
	LINCOLN   Robert           bricklayer & builder
	LEGGETT   Geo.             shpkpr. brcklyr. & bldr
	MURRAY    Miss             The Woodlands
	PERROTT   Rev. Henry, B.A. curate
	PITTS     Samuel           farmer
	REEVE     Mr Henry
	RIX       Miss Lydia       Board schoolmistress
	SEAGO     Jeremiah         farmer, & at Yelverton and Waxham
	WEBSTER   William          farmer
	WHITTAKER Sml.             farmer & lime burner;
	                             and Thorpe St. Andrew
	WILLGRASS Charles          cowkeeper

CARRIERS from Pulham, Shottesham, Hempnall and Saxlingham pass through to Norwich on Wed. & Sat

Note: "Framlingham" should probably be "Framingham", which is just 3 miles away. "Framlingham" is in Suffolk.

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See also the Stoke Holy Cross parish page.