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Clackclose hundred
Downham Union
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Norfolk - Stoke Ferry

Francis White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk 1854, pp. 638-639

STOKE-FERRY is a pleasant village, 7 miles E.S E. of Downham, at the junction of the roads from Thetford to Brandon, and has a large fair for cattle and horses on Dec. 6th, and a Hiring for servants on the Thursday before Old Michaelmas. The corn market formerly held on Friday has long been obsolete. The parish contains 170 houses, 820 inhabitants, 2,059a. 3r. 11p. of land, mostly belonging to J.B.S. Bradfield, Esq , the lord of the manor, who has a neat mansion here. The Abbot of Ely had the grant of a fair and market here, from Henry III. The profits of the ferry belonged to the Abbot, who broke down the bridge soon after its erection; but the Hundred Court compelled him to rebuild it. The bridge was repaired and widened in 1803. The CHURCH, dedicated to All Saints, is a neat edifice, but the tower fell down in 1778. It was thoroughly restored and beautified in 1848, when neat oak sittings were put in the chancel, at a cost of £1,300; one of the windows is ornamented with stained glass. The perpetual curacy has been augmented with £400 Queen Anne's Bounty, and is now valued at £100. The Lord Chancellor is patron, and the Rev. H. Mc Gill, incumbent. The Poor Land, obtained in exchange at the enclosure, consists of 2r. 26p. and 22p. used as a chalk pit. The Fuel Allotment, 25a. 3r. 6p. is let, and the proceeds given among the poor. The Free School was founded pursuant to the will of J. B. Sanders, Esq., who, in 1807, left £250 for building a school, and charged his estate here with the payment of £25 per annum to the master, for the education of 25 poor children of Stoke-Ferry and Wretton. Post Office at Robt. Thompson's; letters arrive 4.30 a.m., and are despatched at 7 p.m. Money orders granted at the office.