DENVER ia a parish, village and station (for goods only), on the Lynn and Ely and Downham and Stoke Ferry railways, which here form a junction, and is situated on the navigable river Ouse, 86½ miles from London, 1 mile south from Downham Market, in the Western division of the county, in Clackclose hundred, Downham union and county court district, rural deanery of Fincham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Mary, of great antiquity, was restored in 1870, at a cost of about £1,000, re-roofed and re-seated, with the addition of a north aisle; at the same time a clock was erected, at a cost of £100, through the munificence of Mr. John Palmer of Lynn : on the south side of the chancel is a double arched piscina in the Decorated style, dating from the 14th century; at the west end of the nave stands a square tower, in the Early English style, surmounted by a spire. and containing 5 bells : a handsome carved stone font was added in 1870. The register dates from the year 1653. The living is a rectory, the tithes commuted at £889 a year, with nearly 95 acres of glebe. in the gift of Caius College, Cambridge, and held since 1852 by the Rev. William Haughton Stokes M.A. late fellow of that college. Here is a Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1854. There are 45 acres of land, producing an average rental of £65 a year, j half of which is applied to the repairs of the church, and the remainder to the poor, and 3 acres belonging to the church let for £8 yearly. Edward Rogers Murray Pratt esq. of Ryston Hall, who is lord of the manor, Col. W. E. G. Lytton-Bulwer, of East Dereham, and Caius College, Cambridge, are the principal landowners. The soil is strong and light clay, and fen land ; subsoil, lower green sand and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley, peas, beans and roots. The area is 3,149 acres; rateable value, £5,633; the population in 1881 was 836.
POST OFFICE—Ollett William Ambrose, receiver. Letters arrive from Downham at 6.20 a.m. & are dispatched at 6.40 p.m.; and on sunday dispatched at 11.55 a.m. The nearest money order & Telegraph office is at Downham
This parish is contributory to Downham Market School Board sending one member
Church of England School, erected by the Rev. W. H. Stokes M.A. the present rector, & opened May 1876; to hold 120; Alfred Williams, master
Railway (Denver Junction) Station, Francis Perry, station master
CARRIER.—James Sharpe, to and from Lynn, on tues & sat
© Transcribed by E.C. ("Paddy") Apling, July, 2009
1891 Census Names Index
Index of Marriages (1725-1812) [Alan Gresley]
White's 1854
Lewis' Topographical Dictionary, 1831 [S. A. Whittle-Bruce]
White's 1883 [GENUKI-NFK]
Denver Windmill [Local web-site]
Denver Windmill [A Place in History - Eastern Daily Press]
Denver windmill [Norfolk Windmills Trust]
Denver tower-mill and postmill and Salter's Lode smockmill [all Jonathan Neville]
Carpemter's Arms [Norfolk Pubs Index]
More on Denver [GENUKI-NFK]
Parish information [Geoff Lowe & Andrew Rivett]
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