Norfolk - Whissonsett

Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, p.554.

WHISSONSETT is a parish 5 miles south from Fakenham, in the Western division of the county, Launditch hundred, Mitford union, East Dereham county court district, rural deanery of Brisley and archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a large Gothic building, consisting of chancel and nave, and square tower containing 4 bells: a handsome stone pulpit and screen have been presented by the present rector; a vestry (in which are two stained windows) has been added; and the chancel and interior were restored in 1873: in the church are memorials to the families of Guybon, Bozoin, and Hopton, and a memorial window to Mrs. Douglas Lane: the church is heated by a hot-air apparatus. The register dates from the year 1700. The living is a rectory, consolidated with that of Horningtoft, nett joint yearly value £714, with 90 acres of glebe and a residence, in the gift of Capt. Lane and held since 1865 by the Rev. Francis Charles de Lona Lane M.A. Cantuar. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel here. Messrs. Winter and Francis are joint lords of the manor. Nicholas Dunham, in 1591, left a yearly rent-charge to this parish. A small fair is held here on Whit-wednesday. The parish is the property of a number of small landownes. The soil is mixed; subsoil, gravel. The land is tilled on the usual four-course shift. The area is 1,344 acres; rateable value £2,587; the population in 1881 was 608.

Parish Clerk, James Neal Thing.

POST & MONEY ORDER OFFICE & SAVINGS BANK.—James Thing, receiver. Letters arrive from Dereham at 8 a.m. & are disatched at 5 p.m. The nearest telegraph office is at Litcham

INSURANCE AGENT—County Fire, A. Stangroom

A School Board of 5 members was formed in 1873; Alfred Stangroom, clerk to the Board

Board School, erected in 1868 for 200 children, average attendance 140; William Bailey, master

CARRIER to FAKENHAM.—James Thing, to the Bull inn, tuesday, thurday & saturday, returning same days