Norfolk - Thorpe-next-Norwich (Thorpe St. Andrew)

Francis White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory, of Norfolk 1854, pp. 336-338

THORPE NEXT NORWICH, or Thorpe St. Andrew, two miles E. of Norwich, is a delightfully situated village on the side of a declivity, which commands pleasing views of the city, the river Yare, and the railway. The picturesque beauty of this vicinity, has caused many handsome mansions to be built here, which are ornamented with tasteful pleasure grounds, and shrubberies. Thorpe St. Andrew contains 212 houses, 1,189 inhabitants, and 1,882a. 2r. 26p. of land, including the Hamlet of Thorpe, which maintains its own poor, as a member of the city, and county of the city of Norwich, and ecclesiastically a part of this parish, contains 606 houses, and a population of 3000 souls. The principal land owners are the Harvey, Wodehouse, Jecks, Frost, Blackiston and other families, but Jas. Cuddon, Esq., is lord of the manor. The copyholds are subject to arbitrary fines, and the manor extends, into Great and Little Plumstead, Brundall, Thorpe-Hamlet, and over a large portion of Mousehold Heath. The Bishop of Norwich had anciently a palace here, some remains of which are still to be seen. A small priory formerly stood on Mousehold Heath. The parish Church is a thatched structure, with an embattled tower, and the living is a rectory valued in the King's book at £8, and in 1831, at £421. The Rev. Armine Herring is patron, and the Rev. James Maxwell incumbent. The Norfolk County Lunatic Asylum, situated a little south-east of the village is a spacious structure of white brick, with stone finishings, erected in 1814. It is 430 feet long, with a Grecian portico, supported by four columns. The stone staircase is particularly worthy of notice, from the lightness and strength of its construction, and is lighted at the top with a lantern. The cost of erection, with the adjacent grounds, was £40,000, paid out of the county rates, and upwards of £2,300 was expended in 1842, in its enlargement : 30a. of land have recently been added, which is cultivated by the inmates by spade husbandry. There are 137 males, and 166 females in the establishment. The Asylum is under the control of a committee of the county magistrates. R. F. Foote, M.D. is the Physician ; Geo. W. W. Firth, Surgeon ; Mr. Jno. Blake, Clerk and Treasurer ; Rev. E. Cole, Chaplain ; and Mr. and Mrs. Owen, Governor and Matron. Charities—The Rev. Saml. Chapman in 1706, left 45a. of land at Brundall, now let for £43 a-year, and directed 13s. 4d. to be paid yearly for a sermon, 1s. 8d. to the clerk, 11s. for the poor, and the residue of the yearly produce for the education of six poor children. Mr. Newman in 1750 left £50 for schooling children, which has been laid out in land, now let for £3 16s. Thos. Vere in 1706 left £350 to be invested, and the dividends to be applied as follows:—£3 for a sermon ; £3 for a distribution of bread, 30s. for the parish clerk, 40s. for schooling two children, and 20s. for repairing the school. Two additional children are now educated from this charity. The Master of the Free School, now conducted on the National system, receives from the above charities about £46 per annum, for educating twelve poor children. In 1813, the Rev. R. Humphrey left £100 towards building a house for the schoolmaster. Wm. Johnson left a rent charge of 20s. a-year to the poor, who have the dividends of £130 stock, purchased with £40 given by John Boycott, and £90 by Jas Rice. The Fuel Allotment, 57a. 2r. 15p., awarded at the inclosure[sic], is let for £45 a-year, and expended in coals for the poor. The churchland, 5a. with five tennements[sic], and a piece of garden ground, is let to Joseph Day, Esq., for a term of 35 years, at £20 per annum, which is applied with the church rates.

Post Office at Wm. Plew's ; letters arrive at 7.30 a.m. and are despatched at 6.30 p.m.