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Norfolk - Fakenham

Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, pp. 310-313.

FAKENHAM (otherwise FAKENHAM-LANCASTER) is a parish, small well-built market town, with two stations, one on the Wymondham and Wells branch of the Great Eastern railway, the other on the Eastern and Midlands line, and is a polling place of the Western division of the county, distant 130 miles by rail from London, 12¼ north from East Dereham, 33¾ north-west from Norwich, 38¾ north-east from Lynn and 16 north from Swaffham, in Gallow hundred, Walsingham union and county court district, rural deanery of Burnham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The town is pleasantly situated on a declivity north of the river Wensum, and contains many good houses and shops, and is surrounded by a rich and fertile district. The Wensum is here crossed by a brick bridge of three arches, built in 1833. The Lynn and Fakenham Railway Company, incorporated July 13th, 1876, which constructed a line between Fakenham and King's Lynn, is now merged in the Eastern and Midlands Railway Company. The church of SS. Peter and Paul is a handsome structure, chiefly in Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave with aisles, and a lofty embattled tower of the Perpendicular period containing 8 musical bells: over the western doorway is a large six-light window; on each side is a canopied niche, and above are symbols representing the dedication of the church to SS. Peter and Paul, and the initial letters of the Duchy of Lancaster: the sedilia are fine transitions from Decorated to Perpendicular: the font is octagonal, of the Perpendicular period, adorned with emblems representing the Four Evangelists, The Trinity and the Passion: in 1864 the church was thoroughly restored by subscription, the unsightly galleries removed, and the nave and aisles re-roofed and re-seated with open seats: the rector restored the chancel, furnished it with new oak stalls, re-glazed the windows with cathedral glass with enriched borders, and erected a carved reredos of Caen stone. The register dates from the year 1720. The living is a rectory, with Alethorpe annexed, tithe rent-charge from Fakenham £760, and from Alethorpe £60 10s 9d. besides 80 acres of glebe, in the gift of the master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, and held since 1855 by the Rev. Michael Angelo Atkinson M.A. formerly fellow and tutor of that college. Here are Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist chapels. The Cemetery is situated on an eminence in the northern suburbs of the town, and contains a mortuary chapel: it is 4 acres in extent, and is under the control of a Burial Board of nine members. A nurses' home, for supplying trained nurses for sick and indigent persons, is due to and under the superintendence of Mrs. Robert Hamond. Miss Anne Harrison bequeathed, in 1794, the sum of £1,666 13s. 4d. in the £3 per Cent. Consols, to which the late Mr. Peckover, banker, added £333 6s. 8d. producing together £60 annually, this amount to be distributed in blankets, wearing apparel, coals and education, agreeably to the will of the former. Lady Townshend's charity now produces £24 yearly to bind apprentices, a boy and girl alternately each year, by course for ever. Shedrake's charity produces £13 yearly, and Salmon's charity, of 3 acres, produces £5 a year. Wortley's charity gives £1 a year, and is paid by Caius College, Cambridge. The Corn Hall, situated in the Market place, is a handsome brick building with stone dressings, erected in 1855, at a cost of £3,000, raised in shares: it contains a spacious corn exchange, assembly rooms, and a library of 6,000 volumes. The cattle market was formed in 1857, and is situated a little east of Bridge street. The market for corn and cattle in on Thursday, and is well supplied. A weekly cattle sale for stock is held in the market by Messrs. Beck and Long. Two fairs on Whit-Tuesday and November 22nd, principally for cattle, are held on Hempton Green, about one-third of a mile from the town. There are three banks. The Free Library, formerly in Bridge street, has been removed to the Boys' National School. Here is a brewery, and there are some maltings, and an extensive flour mill on the Wensum. Among the provident institutions of the town are several Friendly Societies and two Lodges of Foresters, both held at the Bell inn, and one of Odd Fellows, of the Manchester Unity, held at the King's Head inn, Hempton. Sir Willoughby Jones bart. of Cranmer Hall, is lord of the manor, and courts leet and baron are held annually. The chief landed proprietors are Lord Hastings, the Rev. James Lee-Warner, of Thorpland Hall, Henry James Lee-Warner esq. of Walsingham Abbey, and George Weston esq. The area is 2,140A. 3R. 28P.: rateable value, £12,052; and the population in 1881 was 2,756 of the parish.

Parish Clerk, John William Smith.

Official Establishments, Local Institutions &c.

POST, MONEY ORDER & TELEGRAPH OFFICE, Savings Bank & Government Annuity & Insurance Office, Market place.—Martin Bambridge, postmaster. London & cross mails received at 4.45 a.m. & 2,30 p.m..; dispatched at 10 & 7 p.m. A mail from Wells & Walsingham arrives at 7 a.m.; dispatched at 4.45 a.m. The Letter Box closes at 6.45 p.m. Money orders are granted & paid from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

COUNTY MAGISTRATES FOR GALLOW PETTY SESSIONAL DIVISION.

M.A., D.L.

chairman,

M.A.

M.A.

Clerk to the Magistrates, George Anthony Watson, Market place, Fakenham
Petty Sessions are held at the Corn Hall the 1st and 3rd thursday of every month at 11 a.m.