ASHMANHAUGH is a parish 2 miles from Wroxham station on the East Norfolk railway, 7 south-east from North Walsham, and 10 north-east from Norwich, in the Northern division of the county, Tunstead hundred, Smallburgh union, North Walsham county court district, rural deanery of Waxham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Swithin is an ancient building of flint and stone (the first church is supposed to have been erected in the year 600; it consists of chancel, nave, and round tower: the old tower having fallen, the present tower was erected, and the fabric repared in 1849, and was again restored in 1867. The register dates from the year 1562. The living is a vicarage, consolidated with the rectory of the adjoining parish of Beeston St. Lawrence, joint yearly value £300, with house, in the gift of Sir Jacob Henry Preston bat. of Beeston Hall, and held since 1877 by the Rev. Thomas Edward Hankinson Cox M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: the rectory house in this parish was erected in 1865. The charities are £10 10s. yearly. Sir Jacob Henry Preston bart. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is mixed: subsoil, sand and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and beans. The area is 654 acres; rateable value, £800; and the population i 1881 was 162.
Parish Clerk, John Bird
Letters through Norwich, viâ; Neatishead. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Wroxham.
A day school is supported by Sir Jacob Henry Preston bart.; Miss Alice Turner, mistress
Cox Rev. Thomas Edward Hankinson M.A. Rectory
Baldwin Herbert, farmer
Felstead William, blacksmith
Mason William, farmer
Neal John, farmer
Sharp Benjamin, farmer
