WEST ACRE is a parish and village, 3 miles north-east from Narborough station on the Lynn and Dereham railway, and 5 north-west of Swaffham, lying in a deep valley, on the north side of the river Nar, in the Western division of the county, Freebridge Lynn hundred and union, and Swaffham county court district. The church of All Saints is in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and western tower with 1 bell. The register dates from the year 1668. The living is a donative, yearly value £31, in the gift of Anthony Hamond esq. impropriator, and held since 1853 by the Rev. Edward Manners Dillman Pyne B.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Near the church are the remains of an old priory. West Acre High House, the seat of Anthony Hamond esq. D.L., J.P. the lord of the manor and principal landowner, is a massive stone building, in the Italian style, situated on an eminence in an extensive park, commanding fine views of the surrounding country. The soil is sandy and clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips and pasture. The area is 3,433 acres' rateable value, £3,463; and the population in 1881 was 415.
Parish Clerk
, John Reynolds.
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LETTER BOX cleared at 6.10 p.m.; on Sunday at 12 noon. Castle Acre is the nearest money order & telegraph office
National School, built in 1876; James Geo. Inglis, master
© Transcribed by E.C.Apling, February 1999
1891 Census Names Index
White's 1854
West Acre watermill [Jonathan Neville]
West Acre postmill [Jonathan Neville]
More Parish Information [Geoff Lowe & Andrew Rivett]
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