GREAT MASSINGHAM is a parish and small town, 12 miles east-by-north from Lynn and 9 from Swaffham railway station, in the Western division of the county, hundred and union of Freebridge Lynn, county court district of Lynn, rural deanery of Lynn, Norfolk archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Mary is a stone building in the Perpendicular style, and concists of chancel, nave, aisles, with square tower containing a clock and 3 bells; it was repaired and re-seated with cedar-wood in 1872, at a cost of about £2,000. The register dates from the year 1564. The living is a rectory, yearly value £900 with good residence and 94 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Marquis of Cholmondeley and held since 1872 by the Rev. Edward Gladwin Arnold M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. There are two chapels for Wesleyans and one for Primitive Methodists, The charities are six penny loaves weekly and £4 3s. yearly for distribution. Here was anciently a market, a three-day fair and a priory. The West Norfolk fox hounds are kenneled here; A. C. Fountaine esq. master. The Marquis of Cholmondeley is lord of the manor of Great Massingham, and the Earl of Leicester of the manors of Monks and Felthams. The Marquid of Cholmondley, the Earl of Leicester and Anthony Hamond esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is light loam; subsoil, gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley and turnips. The area is 5,117 acres; rateable value, £4,141; the population in 1881 was 884.
Arnold Rev. Edward Gladwin M.A. & Lady Charlotte, The Rectory
Smith John
Barrett John, grocer & draper
Bartle Jacob, farmer
Buckenham James, miller (wind)
Carlton John, carrier
Coker James, shoe maker
Co-operative Stores (William Wright, maneger)
Foster Wharton, Swan inn, & veterinary surgeon
Fysh James, cooper, & parish clerk
Gage Robert, beer retailer
George James, blacksmith
Glaswell Charles, blacksmith
Hammond john, baker
Herdman George & James, farmers
Hodson James, bricklayer
Johnson Joseph, farmer
Kidall John, saddler & beer retailer
Mallows William, boot & shoe m aker
Mason James, Fox & Pheasant
Morris Daniel, butcher
Ockley John, baker
Ringer Herbet, farmer
Rowe James, registrar of births & deaths for the Hillington sub-district
Smith Charles, farmer, grocer & draper
West John, grocer, & post office
West William, blacksmith, & Royal Oak
Whistler Henry, farmer
1891 Census Names Index
Index to Massingham Wills [Janice Tostevin]
White's 1845 [GENUKI-NFK]
Local web-site
Great Massingham postmill [Jonathan Neville]
More on Great Massingham [GENUKI-NFK]
and see Little Massingham
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