1891 Census Names Index
White's 1883 [GENUKI-NFK]
Holt Archeology [Norfolk Heritage Explorer]
George DAWSON Will, 1803
Holt towermill, Cromer Road postmill, Holt Heath postmill and Thornage Road postmill [Jonathan Neville]
Our Daily Bread (Introduction to the churches of Bale, Bayfield, Field Dalling, Glandford, Holt and Saxlingham [Simon Knott]
About Norfolk, on Holt
More on Holt [GENUKI-NFK]
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Norfolk - Holt

Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, pp.350-352.

HOLT is a small market town and parish and station on Eastern and Midlands railway, head of a county court district, and a polling place for the Northern division of the county, situate at the junction of several public roads, 23 miles north-north-west from Norwich, 18 north-by-east from East Dereham, 12 north-east from Fakenham, 10 west-by-south from Cromer and 123 from London by road, in Erpingham union, Holt hundred, rural deanery of Holt and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. The word holt, in Saxon, signifies a wood, whence it is inferred that the town was surrounded by timber. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it was held in royal demesne, and after the Conquest the lordship belonged to the family of De Vaux, or De Vallibus. The town is pleasantly situated on rising ground, in the midst of fertile district, remarkable for the purity of its air, and commands a delightful prospect of the surrounding country: in the year 1708 a destructive fire consumed a considerable number of houses and market stalls: the houses are built of brick and stone, and the streets are macadamised, paved, and lighted with gas, supplied by a limited liability company, and the town generally bears a clean appearance. The inhabitants are supplied with water from a spring on Spout Common, which is considered remarkably pure, and peculiarly adapted for the manufacture of aerated waters. The church of St. Andrew is in the Decorated and Later English styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and north gallery, and had formerly upon its tower a lofty steeple which was a useful landmark: it contains several mural monuments, one John Holmes, for more than thirty years master of the Grammar school, and author of a Greek Grammar: also to Edmund Hobart, the Newdegate and Briggs families: in 1864 the church was re-seated under the directions of William Butterfield esq. architect: a new communion table has just been presented (1883) by Sir Alfred Jodrell bart. of Bayfield Hall, in memory of his brother, the late Edward Jodrell esq.: it is made of cedar-wood grown on the Bayfield estate, and olive-wood brought by his late brother from Italy: the communion plate is also very interesting and good; the flagon was presented by King George the Second when Prince of Wales, and one paten by Sir R. Walpole and one by the Marquis of Townshend of that period: a fine organ added 1882, stands at the south-west corner of the chancel; the cost, including organ-chamber, was about £500, which was defrayed by public subscription. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, yearly value £563, with residence and 57 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Master and fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, and held since 1853 by the Rev. Edward Brumell B.D. formerly fellow and tutor of that college, rural dean of Holt. Here are places of worship for the Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, The United Methodist Free Church is a handsome Gothic building of white and red brick and blue flints, and was erected in 1862 at a cost of about £2,000, with an organ gallery at the south end of the building, containing good organ: there are 500 sittings: the site was given by W. H. Cozens-Hardy esq. J.P. of Letheringsett Hall. Holt Hall, the seat of John Rogers esq. M.A., J.P. is a brick mansion in the Elizabethan style, situated a mile east of the town, in grounds tastefully laid out, containing a fine piece water. Here is a Literary Institute, with a library of good useful and instructive books, numbering.over 2,000 volumes, and is well supported. The market for corn is held on Wednesday, and there is a cattle sale every alternate Wednesday. The fairs, chiefly for stock, are held on April 25th and November 25th and the following days; and a statute for hiring servants is held at Michaelmas. Thomas Girdlestone, an eminent physician, and author of several medical works, and William Withers esq. who wrote several works on the planting and rearing of forest trees, were natives. Thomas Cooper, master of the Grammar school, was hanged in front of the school-house for his adherence to the cause of Charles I. In 1810 the commons and heaths that surrounded the town were enclosed for cultivation: 120 acres were allotted for the supply of fuel and pasturage to certain householders whose yearly rent is under £10, and on the east side, towards Cromer, are now handsome and thriving plantations of forest trees, interspersed with dwelling houses. Constables and other officers are chosen at the court-leet of the lord of the manor, held on December 21st. The chief landed proprietors are the lords of the four manors, viz. Holt, Holt-Market, and Holt-Hales, belonging to John Henry Gurney esq. and Holt-Pereers, of which the Fishmongers' Company, as trustees of the Grammar school, are owners; G. Barker esq. and J. Rogers esq. are also owners. The soil is light and the land in a high state of cultivation. The area is 2,991 acres; rateable value £6,225; the population in 1881 was 1,535.

Parish Clerk

POST, MONEY ORDER & TELEGRAPH OFFICE Savings Bank & Government Annuity & Insurance Office.—Samuel Critoph Clare, postmaster. Letters are received from Dereham at 6.15 a.m. & are dispatched at 5.45 p.m. The box closes at 5.30 p.m; sundays box closes at 5 p.m