Norfolk - Guist

Francis White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory, of Norfolk 1854, pp. 439-440

[Complete entry. Transcription Copyright © A.J. Carter, March 2001]

GUIST, or Geiste, a pleasant village on the northern acclivity of the vale of the Wensum, 2 miles W. of Foulsham, and 6 miles S.E. of Fakenham, has in its parish 83 houses, 368 souls, and 1,670 acres of land, mostly belonging to William Norris, Esq., lord of the manor, impropriator, and patron of the Church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, and has recently undergone considerable repairs at the expense of the parishioners; a neat east window has also been added to the chancel, by William Norris, Esq. Here are memorials to the Norris, Wiggett, Bulwer, and other families. The vicarage, valued in the King's book at £5 15s. 5d., and in 1831, at £160, has been augmented with £600 Queen Anne's bounty, laid out in 38a. of land at Elmham and Sprowston. The Rev. J. Spurgeon, M.A., is the incumbent. The Poor's Allotment, 30a., awarded at the enclosure in 1813, has 6a. in garden plots, let for about £21, and the remainder is used by the poor for cutting fuel. There are eleven cottages on the garden plots, nine built by the tenants, and two by the overseers. There are also two houses divided into nine or ten tenements, and about 2½a. of land held by the overseers, who also receive £5 5s. from E. Wodehouse, Esq., as an acknowledgment for 8a. which his father was permitted to enclose from the waste, about 1785. The Church and poor have a yearly rent-charge of 20s., out of Miss Munhall's estate, left by Robert Wicks in 1569. Post Office at Edward Eggett's; letters arrive at 7.30 a.m., and are despatched at 5.40 p.m.