GENUKI: Norfolk: Raveningham, Norfolk

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

RAVENINGHAM, a parish of scattered dwellings, 3½ miles E.S.E. of Loddon, in Loddon and Clavering union and petty sessional division, Clavering hundred, Beccles county court district, Yarmouth bankruptcy district, Loddon polling district of South Norfolk, Norfolk archdeaconry, and East Brooke rural deanery. The rateable value is £3784, and the gross rental £4031. It had 240 inhabitants in 1881, and comprises 2393 acres of land.

The principal owner of the soil and lord of the manor is Nicholas Bacon, Esq., who resides at the Hall, a large modern brick mansion, standing in a verdant park. The Castell family, now extinct, formerly owned the parish, and their property, which devolved upon two co-heiresses, passed by marriage to the Bacon and Kerrich families.

A square moat by the roadside shows the site of an old large building, long since removed.

The CHURCH (St. Andrew) stands in the park, and is an interesting edifice, comprising nave with north aisle and clerestory, chancel, south porch, and tower. The latter is round at the base and octagonal above, and contains three bells. The windows of the nave are Perpendicular.

On both sides of the chancel are four recesses under highly-finished canopies, in which are monumental tablets to the Bacon families. On the floor is a brass on which is engraved the portrait of Margaret Castell, with a dragon peeping from under her flounce. On the south side of the chancel, under an arch, is the tomb of the founder, Roger Castell. There is also in the north aisle a large square white marble monument, to the memory of Major Edward Hodge, of the 7th Hussars, who was killed at Waterloo.

Mr. Nicholas E. Bacon is impropriator of the tithes, and patron of the vicarage, which was certified at £30, and is now valued at £100 a year; it was augmented in 1817 and 1819 with £400 of royal bounty, and is now in the incumbency of the Rev. Frederick George Goodwin, M.A., of Thurlton, who has eight acres of glebe here.

A college was founded here in 1350, by Sir John de Norwich, for a master and eight secular priests to officiate in the church. The impropriate tithes were commuted in 1840 for £519 2s. 10d. per annum. At the Dissolution, the college and tithes were granted to Sir Anthony Denny, from whose descendants they passed to the Bacons, of which family were those illustrious characters, Friar Roger Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth, and the celebrated Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Lord Chancellor in the time of James I.

The NATIONAL SCHOOL was erected and is supported by the lord of the manor. It is attended by 45 children.

POST OFFICE at James Cudden's. Letters from Norwich, viâ Loddon, arrive at 7.30 a.m. and depart at 3.30 p.m.

         Blunderfield Francis          farmer, College farm
         Buck         Miss Laurina     schoolmistress
         Cossey       John             farmer, Cottage farm
         Cuddon       James            postmaster
         Darell       Mr Edward        The Hall
         Easter       William          farmer, Brunish farm
         Farrow       Benjamin         farmer, Red house
         Farrow       Edmund           farmer, North farm
         Frost        John             farm bailiff, Hill house
         Goodwin      Rev. Frederick
                        George, M.A.   vicar; h Thurlton Rectory
         Grice        Henry            parish clerk and sexton
         Grice        William          blacksmith
         Harrod       James            farmer
         Mendham      Jno.             farm steward, Hall frm
         Read         Robt. Russell    fmr. Grove farm
         West         Robert Thos.     farmer and owner, Sycamore farm
         White        William          shoemaker

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Norfolk: Raveningham

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