Norfolk: Riddlesworth

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

[Transcription copyright © Pat Newby]

RIDDLESWORTH parish, 3½ miles S.W. of East Harling, and 6½ miles E. by S. of Thetford, is in Guiltcross union and hundred, Guiltcross and Shropham petty sessional division, Thetford county court district, Norwich bankruptcy district, Harling polling district of South Norfolk, Rockland rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 96 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1157 acres, and had a rateable value of £795. It is situated in the vale of the Little Ouse, all except the glebe (14 acres) belonging to Thomas Thornhill, Esq., J.P., and M.P. for Suffolk.

Riddlesworth Hall is a white mansion, in a pleasant park, erected on the site of the old manor house, by Sylvanus Bevan, Esq., who purchased the estate of Sir William Wake, Bart., of Courteen Hall, North Hants, about 1780, and sold it to the present owner's grandfather about 1809. J. Behrens, Esq., London, in 1862, took the Hall as a shooting-box. The Hall had previously for a long period been the seat of the knightly family of Drury, which ended in female issue.

The whole of the parish is farmed by William Mathews, Esq., who resides at Knettishall.

The CHURCH (St. Peter), which has a tower and one bell, was restored in 1856 at the patron's expense, and contains a fine monument of Sir Drue Drury, with his effigy in armour, and two angels kneeling under a canopy. The tithes of this parish have been commuted for £116 per annum. The rectory, valued in the King's Book at £11 2s. 8½d., and now at £239, with that of Gasthorpe annexed, is in the patronage of T. Thornhill, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. John Robinson Wells, who has a small residence.

POST from East Harling, viâ Thetford, arrives at 7.30 a.m. Pillar-Box cleared at 4.35 p.m. Hopton is the nearest Money Order Office.

         Behrens  Mr Julius           The Hall, & 19 Park st.
                                        Grosvenor sq. London
         Wells    Rev. John Robinson  The Rectory
 

From ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS on pages 13-16:

"line 9 [ie paragraph 2], for '1862,' read '1882.'"

See also the Riddlesworth parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
August 2009