Gazetteer page 5

Erpingham. - A village 2½ m. N. from Aylsham Town station. The church, a fine Early English building, contains the brass of John of Erpingham, and is supposed to have been partly built by Sir Thomas Erpingham, who fought at Agincourt, and is buried in Norwich Cathedral.

Fakenham. - A small market town, with two stations, 34 m. N.W. from Norwich. The church is a flint building, chiefly in the Decorated style, with a tower dating from the time of Henry VI. It contains the brass of Henry Keys, who was rector in the early part of the fifteenth century; also a richly carved screen. Formerly a light was kept burning in the church in honour of Henry VI. The chief inns are the Crown and Lion. Raynham Hall [see East Raynham), is about 4 m. from Fakenham, and m. S. from Raynham Park station.

Felbrigg. - A parish 3 m. S.W. from Cromer. The church, in the park of Felbrigg Hall, contains a fine bust by Nollekens of the Rt. Hon, William Windham, the distinguished statesman who lived at the Hall; also some exceptionally fine brasses of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The finest is that of Sir Simon Felbrigg, who died in 1443, and who was standard- bearer to Richard II. The Hall, an Early Tudor mansion, contains some good pictures, including tt Rembrandt and some sea-fights by Vandervelde.

Felmingham. - A parish, with a station, 2½ m. from North Walsham.

Felthorpe. - A scattered village 5 m. S.E, from Cawston station.

Feltwell. - A large village 3 m. N. from Lakenheath station. There are two churches here, St Mary's, which contains some sixteenth-century brasses and a carved oak screen; and St Nicholas', used only as a mortuary chapel.

Fersfield. - A village 5 m. N.W. from Diss. The birthplace, in 1705, of Francis Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, who was rector here, and is buried in the church. The rectory in which he lived is still standing; also the house in which he was born.

Field Dalling. - A scattered village 4 m. N.N.E. from Thursford station.

Filby. - A parish 2 m. S.W. from Ormesby station. The church contains a fine oak screen, part of which, however, is modern. Part of Filby Broad is in this parish.

Finch am. - A village 5 m. N.E. from Downham Market. The church, a large Perpendicular building, contains a Norman font ornamented with interesting sculptures. Fincham Hall, the ancient seat of the Finchams, was built in the reign of Edward IV., but has been modernised.

Fishley. - A parish on the Bure, m. from Acle station. The church tower is probably partly Saxon.

Flitcham-with-Appleton. - A village 1 m. N. from Hillington station. There are some remains here of an Augustinian priory founded by Sir Robert Aguillon in the reign of Henry III. The hundred court was formerly held on a barrow called " Flitcham Bury,"

Flordon. - A scattered village, with a station, 7½ m. S. by W. from Norwich.

Fordham. - A small village on the Wissey, with a station, 3 m. S. from Downham.

Forncett St Mary. - A village on the Tas, near Forncett station.

Forncett St Peter. - A large village, with a station, 7 m. S.E. from Wymondham. The church contains a fifteenth century alabaster tomb, supposed to be that of the founder; also some interesting brasses, and good fifteenth century poppy heads.

Foulden. - A scattered village on the Wissey, m. E. from Stoke Ferry station.

Foulsham. - A parish, with two stations, 12 m. W. from Aylsham. The church, chiefly Perpendicular, contains a monument to Sir Thomas Hunt, who died in 1616; also a brass dated 1424. The old Hall, once occupied by Major-General Skippon, a Parliamentary commander during the Commonwealth, is now a farmhouse.

Foxley. - A village 2 m. W. from Foulsham station.

Framingham Earl. - A village 5 m. S.E. from Norwich. The church, an ancient building in the Norman and Early English styles, contains a fine Norman chancel arch.

Framingham Pigot. - A village 4 m. S.E. from Norwich.

Fransham, Great. - A village, with a station, 6J m. W. from East Dereham. In the church are two old brasses, one a fine one, dated 1414, to Geoffry Fransham.

Fransham, Little. - A parish m. S.E. from Fransham station. The church has an ancient and curious font.

Freethorpe. - A village 2 m. from Reedham station. In the church is a fine marble tablet and bust to Edward Walpole.

Frenze. -A parish m. N.E. from Diss station. In the church are several brasses to the Blennerhassets, the earliest dated 1475.

Frettenham. - A village 3 m. W. from Coltishall station.

Fring. - A village m. S.W. from Docking station. In the church are some curious but dilapidated mural paintings.

Fritton. - A village 4½ in. E. from Forncett station. The church contains a fine screen, some good frescoes, and a Norman doorway. This place must not be confused with Fritton in Broadland, which is in Suffolk.

Fulmodeston and Croxton. - United parishes and villages 2 m. - S. E. from Thursford station.

Fundenhall. - A scattered village 1 m. S. from Ashwellthorpe station. The church, an ancient flint building with a massive central tower, has a Norman doorway.

Garboldisham. - A village 5 m. S. from Harling Road station. The church of St John the Baptist is a fine Perpendicular building, with some Latin inscriptions over the south porch. Of another church (All Saints) only the tower remains.

Garvestone. - A village near Thuxton station, 5 m. S. from Dereham.

Gasthorpe. - A village 5 m. S. from Harling Road station. The church is in ruins.

Gateley. - A parish 2 m. S. from Ryburgh station. The Hall, built in 1726, has its interior elaborately ornamented with plasterwork.

Gayton. - A large village 2½ m. N.E. from East Winch station. The church tower has four statues of the Evangelists in place of pinnacles.

Gayton Thorpe. - A village 2½ m. N.E. from East Winch station.

Gaywood. - A village partly within the borough of Lynn. The church, a cruciform building in the Early English style, has a good Norman doorway, and contains two old Dutch paintings, one of Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury Fort, the other of Gunpowder Plot. The Hospital of St Mary Magdalene was first founded here in 1174 by Peter the Chaplain. It was re-founded in the reign of James I., burnt down at the siege of Lynn, and rebuilt in 1649. An old gabled house in the village street has some ancient ornamental ironwork in front.

Geldeston. - A village on the Waveney, with a station, m. N.W. from Beccles.

Gillingham. - A village 1 m. N.E. from Beccles. The church of St Mary is curiously constructed, and contains some Early Norman work and a Perpendicular screen. All Saints' Church is in ruins. The Hall was built in the reign of James I.

Gimingham, - A village 3 m. N.E. from Gunton station.

Gissing. - A village 2 m. N. from Burston station. Its church, chiefly in the Decorated style, has a fine Norman doorway, a carved oak roof, and contains some curious monuments to the Kemp family, one dated 1612.

GlANDFORD. - A village 3½ m. N.W. from Holt station. The church is partly in ruins.

Gooderstone. - A village 4 m. N.E. from Stoke Ferry station. The church, a large building in the Early English style, contains some ancient stained glass and a carved and painted rood screen.

Gresham. - A parish 5 m. S.W. from Cromer. This place is believed to have given its name to the family of Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the Royal Exchange and Gresham College. The church, an ancient building with a good south porch, contains a curiously sculptured font. A son of the poet Chaucer formerly held the manor. There are some remains here of the large castellated house which Sir Edmund Bacon held in 1318, and which Margaret Paston and her household defended against the attacks of Lord Molynes and a thousand men-at-arms. The remains, however, are scanty. "At the further end (of a meadow) the trees form a circle, and coming closer one finds that the little mount on which they grow is surrounded by water dark with reeds, and that the moss and ivy are thick upon the tree trunks. As yet, though, there is no castle in sight, and it is not until one pushes a way through the tangled ferns and reeds, and the masses of ivy and meadow-sweet, that the first indications of what must once have been a fine stronghold are discovered. The trees shut it in completely, the mosses and hart's-tongues and grasses, the spiky loosestrife and the ivy cover the fragments that remain of the four huge towers originally standing in the great square of the castle." - Sunrise-land.

Gressenhall, - A village 3 m. N.W. from Dereham. The church, a large cruciform flint building, contains a painted screen.

Grimstone. - A large parish 1 3/4 m. E. from Grimstone Road station. The church is chiefly Early English. An anvil marks the grave of a blacksmith buried in the churchyard. The rectory occupies the site of a moated manor house. In the reign of Edward II. the manor was held by Benedict de Breecles, who possessed a right called " lovebene," to the effect that " all residents in Grim- ston, having horses with a cart, shall work for the lord redeeming the common of Grimston, one day's journey of barley seed time; and all keeping cows on the common shall do a day's work in harvest time, and at three o'clock they shall have flesh to eat and ale to drink, and three loaves in the evening."

Griston. - A village 2 m. S.E. from Watton station. The church bears an inscription to the effect that "An. Do. 1568 was thys steple tope newe set up to the greate coste of landed men." The pulpit has a fine canopy.

Guestwick. - A scattered village, with a station, 4 m. N.W. from Reepham. The church is Early English and stands on the site of an earlier one of which the tower and two Norman arches remain. It contains some old brasses.

Guist. - A parish 2 m. N. from Foulsham station.

Gunthorpe. - A village m. from Thursford station. The church, a fine building in the Early English style, contains a memorial window to Henry Astley Sparke, killed in the Balaclava Charge.

Gunton. - A parish 2½ m. from Gunton station and 4½ m. S. from Cromer. Gunton Hall, the seat of Lord Suffield, stands in a park of 1000 acres. The road, at the N.E. corner of the park, passes under the arch of a tower 120 feet high, commanding a wide view. Park and gardens are thrown open to the public on certain days of the week.

Hackford. - A village 1 m. S. from Kimberley station. The church contains remains of a rood loft and some traces of mural paintings.

Haddiscoe. - a village, with a station m. from the houses, 5½ m. N. from Beccles (Suffolk). The church has one of the finest round towers in the county and contains other Norman portions, a fine font, and the remains of some frescoes. The long " dam " across the marshes from the station to the village was constructed by Dame Margaret Hobart in the reign of Henry VII.

Hales. - A village 4 m. S.W. from Reedham station. The church contains Norman work.

Halvergate. - A village 3 m. N. from Reedham station. The church tower has figures of the four Evangelists in place of pinnacles.

Han worth. - A village 3 m. W. from Gunton station.

Happisburgh (Haseboro'). - A coast village 5 m. N. from Stalham station. The church, which stands in a high position, has a lofty embattled tower, and contains a fine font and carved oak screen. There is a lighthouse here, 100 feet high, for the guidance of mariners in the neighbourhood of the dreaded Happisburgh or Haseboro' Sands. The cliffs here give way to sandhills which extend to Yarmouth. There is accommodation for visitors at the Hill House, the Swan, and elsewhere in the village.

Hapton. - A village 1½ m. W. from Flordon Station.

Hardingham. - A scattered parish, with a station, 5½ m. W. from Wymondham. The Hall, erected toward the end of the seventeenth century, has been much altered.

Hardley. - A parish 2 m. S.E. from Cantley station. In this parish the river Chet enters the Yare.

Hardwick. - A village 4½ m. N.W. from Harleston station. The church contains two fine altar tombs, one to Sir Peter Gleane, who armed two companies of foot on behalf of Charles I. during the Civil War.

Hargham. - A parish 1 m. N. from Eccles Road station.

Harleston. - A market town on the Waveney, 19 m. S. from Norwich. It contains the parish of Redenhall, where there is a fine Perpendicular church, re-built by Thomas Plantagenet, eldest son of Edward I. In the church are some stained glass armorial bearings from the old chapel of Gawdy Hall; also some good monuments. Gawdy Hall, an Elizabethan moated mansion, is within easy walking distance of the town. The principal hotels are the Swan and the Magpie.

Harling, East. - A small market "town," with a station called " Harling Road," 9 m. N.E. from Thetford. The church, a Perpendicular building with two chancel chapels, contains, in the Harling Chapel, an altar-tomb with effigies to Sir Robert Harling, who was slain in the defence of Paris in 1435; also a very fine altar-tomb, with recumbent effigies, to Sir Thomas Lovell, who died in 1600; and the tomb of Sir William Chamberlain, K.G., who built the church, and died in 1462. There are some remains of carved screens, and in the vestry is a very old wooden chest. The principal inn is the Swan.

Harling, West. - A parish 2½ m. S. from Harling Road station. The church contains some fifteenth century brasses, and a tomb, with effigy, to William Berdwell, whose old hall was pulled down at the beginning of the eighteenth century.