GENUKI: Norfolk: Gooderstone, Norfolk

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

GOODERSTONE, commonly called Goodson, is a long village of detached houses, 4 miles N.E. of Stoke Ferry, and 6 miles S.S.W. of Swaffham, in the vale of one of the only two trout streams in the county, which flows southward to the Wissey. Its parish is in Swaffham union and county court district, Lynn bankruptcy district, South Greenhoe hundred and petty sessional division, Swaffham polling district of West Norfolk, South Cranwich rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry.

It had 587 inhabitants in 1881, and has a rateable value of £3061, and comprises 2781A. of land. The soil belongs to J.R. Mills, Esq., Sir H.P. Bedingfeld, Bart., W.A.T. Amherst, Esq., M.P., A.H.R. Micklefield, Esq., Messrs. William Ford, James Charles and Theophilus Brooke, William Carter, and others. The parish contains two windmills and one watermill, and is nearly 3 miles in length from east to west.

The CHURCH (St. George) is a fine Early English edifice, comprising nave, south aisle, south porch, chancel, and massive square embattled tower with three bells and a clock. Several of the windows contain fragments of ancient stained glass, one representing the Last Judgment [sic]. Here is a handsome painted screen with doors, in good preservation. It has full-length figures of the twelve Apostles with their appropriate emblems, on its lower panels, and above each is a sentence from the Apostles' Creed in Latin. In the chancel are some very old carved oak stalls, and the greater portion of the seats in the nave and aisle, as well as the pulpit and reading desk, are of fine old carved oak. The sedilia and piscinas still remain; and here are also a handsome stone font and a very ancient and curious alms-box.

The discharged vicarage, valued in the King's Book at £6 12s., is in the patronage of A.H.R. Micklefield, Esq., who has here a small rectorial manor, and is also impropriator of the great tithes, which have been commuted for £250 a year. The Rev. Charles William Henry Humphrey Sidney, B.A., is the incumbent, and has 3¼ acres of glebe and an annual tithe rent-charge of £133; he is non-resident, and the Rev. William Aston Blake, M.A., is curate in charge.

The SCHOOL was erected in 1846, at a cost of £150, and is attended by 57 children. The Primitive Methodist chapel was erected in 1870 at a cost of £130, and contains 100 sittings. The Wesleyans have a small chapel here.

At the enclosure in 1802, an allotment of 50A. was awarded to the poor. The occupiers of the ancient cottages cut turf upon it, and the herbage is let for 7 years at £40 a year, which is distributed among the poor who have no right of cutting fuel. The latter have an annuity of 5s. left by William Briston in 1710. The rent of the Town piece, 4A., let for 3 years at £5 5s. a year, is applied in repairing three cottages occupied by poor widows.

Some years ago, a human skeleton, several celts, half a quern, and a number of coins were found in this parish, near the watermill.

POST OFFICE at Mrs. Martha Cobbin's. Letters arrive at 8 a.m., and despatched at 5 p.m., viâ Brandon and Stoke Ferry, which is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.

         Berridge  John            victualler, Cricketers
         Blake     Rev. William
                     Aston, M.A.   curate in charge
         Brooke    James Charles   farmer, corn miller and landowner
         Brooke    Theophilus      farmer, horse dlr. and landowner
         Carter    William         farmer & landowner
         Cobbin    James           farmer; h Croughton, Northamptonshire
         Cobbin    Mrs Martha      grocer & postmists
         Dodd      Henry William   farmer
         Drew      George          bootmaker
         Dunger    Martin          corn miller
         Field     Garrod          bootmaker
         Ford      William         farmer and landowner; h Didlington hall
         Garrod    John            bootmaker
         Garrod    Mr William
         George    John            wheelwright
         Lambert   Henry           farmer
         Lambert   Jno.            carpenter & hurdle mkr
         Lambert   Josiah          victualler, Swan Inn
         Lambert   Robert          pig-killer
         Leveridge William         farm bailiff
         Marshall  George Edwd.    schoolmaster
         Morley    James           bricklayer and builder
         Muskett   Charles         beerhouse
         Pond      George          beerhouse & shopkeeper
         Sherwood  George          wheelwright
         Sherwood  William         farmer
         Sherwood  Wm.             blacksmith & farmer
         Smith     Garrod          parish clerk
         Smith     James           bootmaker
         Trundle   Robert          blacksmith
         Warner    Miss Mary Maria dressmaker and shopkeeper
         Warner    William         shopkeeper
         White     John            farmer
         Winner    Jno.            frm. bailiff to J.R. Mills, Esq

RAILWAY STATION - Stoke Ferry is the nearest.

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Norfolk: Gooderstone

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