DERSINGHAM is a village and parish on the Lynn and Hunstanton road, half a mile from the station on the Lynn and Hunstanton section of the Great Eastern railway, 8½ miles north-north-east from Lynn and 107 from London, in the North Western division of the county, Freebridge Lynn hundred and petty sessional division, Docking union, Lynn county court district, rural deanery of Lynn Freebridge and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Nicholas is a large and ancient structure of flint and stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave with clerestory, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with four carved angels in place of pinnacles, and containing 6 bells: the chancel is lighted by fine windows of the Decorated period, and is divided from the nave by a carved oak screen, some of the tracery of which has been restored; in the south aisle is a curious altar-tomb with a brass to John Pell esq. and Margaret (0versend) his wife, ob. 5 Feb. 1607: there are also several curious marble slabs, and an ancient font with carved oak cover: the church was thoroughly restored between 1877 and 1879 at a cost of nearly £6,000; the cost of the restoration of the nave being defrayed by the patron, Dr. Bellamy, and that of the chancel by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and by a sum of £500 raised by subscription : the building was entirely reseated with open pews of wainscot, and a new pulpit and brass lectern erected, and now affords 6oo sittings. The register dates from the year 1710. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge £163, net yearly value £247, including 165 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Rev. James Bellamy D. D. president of St. John's College, Oxford, and held since 1875 by the Rev. Edward William Penny M.A. of St. John's College, Oxford. The rectory house, erected in 1877, is of carr stone and red brick, and stands on a pleasant elevation. Here are two Wesleyan chapels, built respectively in 1851 and 1891, and a Primitive Methodist chapel built in 1878. At the inclosure of the common 75 acres of land were reserved for the benefit of the poor. There is a charity of about £21 annual value, arising from nine acres of land left by Mrs. Pell, and £5 from land at Snettisham, left by a Mr. Bummer in 1732; these amounts are expended in coals, which are distributed to the poor of the parish. Dersingham Old Hall, in the centre of the village, is a large and plain building of carr stone, stuccoed, and now the residence of Mrs. Clarkson. The parish comprises five manors, viz. Hunstanton-with-Mustrels, Ringstead-with-Holme and Northall, Holme-next-the-Sea, and Hoods-in-Holme, of which H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and the Rev. James Bellamy D. D. are lords and the principal landowners. The soil is light mixed; subsoil, principally chalk and carr stone. The crops are generally on the four-course system. The area is 8,472 acres; rateable value, £5,317; the population in 1891 was 1186.
Parish Clerk, James March Batterby.
Post, M. 0. & T. 0. & S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office.
Enoch Beckett, postmaster. London & other letters are received through Lynn by mail cart; arrive at 5.30 a. m. ; delivered at 7 a. m. & 10. 15 p.m. to callers & are dispatched at 2 & 6.20 p.m. ; sunday delivery 7 a. m.; dispatched 6. 20 p.m. There is also a WALL BOX near the Feathers hotel, cleared at 6.5 p.m. on week days only; & a WALL BOX at the Station cleared at 5.45 on week days only.
Church of England Schools (mixed), enlarged in 1875.
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales gave the site, the cost of the building being defrayed by Dr. Bellamy ; in 1881 the building was further enlarged at a cost of £240, defrayed by H.R H. the Prince of Wales and the chief landowners; the schools will hold 250 children ; average attendance, 175 ; Alfred Firth, schoolmaster ; Miss Helen Pond, infants mistress.
Railway Station, John Hall, station master
CARRIERS TO LYNN - William Flegg & George Mitchell tues. thurs. & sat. returning same day ; John Smith passes through the village to Lynn every tues. thurs. & sat. & to Hunstanton & Old Hunstanton every mon. wed. & friday.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS
Clarkson Mrs. Dersingham hall
Coe Mrs. Rose cottage
Cross Arthur Henry, Cantelupe house
Culyer Robert
Dodd Mrs. Wellswill house
Penny Rev. Edward William. M.A.Vicarage
Ringe Miss
Rix Mrs. Wellswill house
Rix-Wells George, Wellswill house
Stanton Richard, Ling house
Thwaites Samuel
Tingey Edward, Manor house
COMMERCIAL.
Asker John, broker
Balding Robert, farmer
Bird Frederick J. butcher
Boothby Alfred, farmer, coal merchant & assistant overseer
Bunn James, farmer
Bussey Maria (Miss), farmer
Chambers James Ward William James, temperance hotel
Chambers George, builder, contractor &c. ; estimates given for new buildings or repairs; gravel contractor to the Norfolk county council
Collier R. & Sons, corn & coal merchants (James Bunn, agent); & at Attleborough & Norwich
Cook James, butcher
Cross Arthur Henry, professor of music
Daniel James, fisherman
Daw Robert, jobbing gardener
Dodman William, blacksmith
Earl Robert, horse dealer, Park house
Elworthy Harry Fuller, grocer & draper
Ewer Wm. John. music seller & stationer
Fitt Matthew James, baker
Flegg William, broker & carrier
Goodings Harriet (Mrs.), lodging house
Hardy Alfred, Coach & Horses commercial inn; every accommodation for visitors; good stabling
Hudson William, builder
Jackson James, farmer
Jannoch Theodor, lily nurseryman : lily of the valley grower by special warrant to H.R H. the Prince of Wales; choice bouquets, wreaths, crosses &c. The largest grower of lilies of the valley in England. See advertisement
Jarvis James William, baker
Kiddle George, White Horse P.H
Linnell John, farmer, The Oaks
Mann Henry, farmer
Mann William Henry, postmaster at Sandringham house
Mitchell George, carrier
Playford Herbert, baker
Parker John William & Son, drapers & grocers & boot & shoe warehouse
Potter William, smith
Rainbow Joseph George, upholsterer
Ralph Frederick, usher, Victoria cottage
Reynolds Daniel shopkeeper & coal dealer
Riches George, builder
Senter Hannah (Mrs), milliner
Senter Martin, shopkeeper
Simonds Charles, Alexandra hotel ; wild fowl shooters, seaside visitors can have good accommodation
Smith John, Dun Cow P.H
Smith William Henry farmer, Hillhouse farm
Stanton Richard, farmer, Ling house
Tansley William, butcher
Taylor Enoch, Feathers family & commercial hotel & posting house ; good stabling for hunters & first class accommodation for visitors in the neighbourhood. Waggonettes to Sandringham every wed. & fri. See advert
Terrington Frederick, butcher
Terrington Henry, shoe maker
Terrington John, boot maker
Tingey Edward, farmer
Walden William, builder
Whitrod John, miller (wind)
Wright Caroline (Mrs.), beer retailer
Wyer John, shopkeeper & baker
