Norfolk - Yaxham

Entry in Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, p.692.

YAXHAM is a parish, village and station on the Wymondham and Dereham railway, 2 miles south of East Dereham, in the Southern division of the county, Mitford hundred, Mitford and Launditch union, East Dereham county court district, rural deanery of Hingham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Peter is a structure of flint, with stone dressings, and consists of chancel, nave, south aisle and round tower, the base of the latter, with the tower arch, is of Early Norman date; the building, with this exception is Decorated workmanship, with Perpendicular insertions: its very beautiful octagonal font is Perpendicular: a copy taken from it may be seen in Cromer church: the windows of this church have been enriched with coloured glass by the landed proprietors of the parish and by others, and the whole is carefully kept. The register dates from the year 1686. The living is a rectory, yearly value £500, with residence and 36 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Rev. William Cowper Johnson M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, Rector of Northwold, hon. canon of Norwich cathedral, and is held by the Rev. William Cowper Johnson, jun. M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. Here is a Congregational chapel, in connection with Mattishall. The doles belonging to the poor of Yaxham are as follows:— Hardy's gift, per annum, 3s. 4d.; Whood's, 10s.; Mountain's Dole, £1 6s.; Burr's Dole, 6s.; total, £2 5s. 4d. The only land belonging to the poor is 3R. 27P. yearly rent £1 12s. 6d.; and the fuel allotment of 20 acres, 13 of which are rented for grazing purposes, which yields a yearly rent of £20: the rent of the remaining lands, about 7 acres, is carried to the churchwardens' account, and applied to the same purposes as the church rate formerly was. Sir W. R. Clayton bart. is lord of the manor. Henry Collison esq. and John Marcon esq. are the chief landowners. The soil is heavy and very productive; subsoil, clay and brick earth. The chief crops are wheat, barley, roots and hay. The area is 1,596 acres; rateable value, £3,600; and the population in 1881 was 489.

Sexton, Henry Baxter.