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 (Norfolk), archdeaconry of Lynn and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Nicholas is a large and ancient structure of flint and stone, chiefly 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 and a clock erected at a cost of £160, to commemorate the coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII. : the chancel is lighted by fine windows of the Decorated period, and is divided from the nave by an ancient carved oak screen, with twelve panels, six of which display painted figures, and some of the tracery has been restored : in the south aisle is a piscina and a curious altar-tomb to John Pell esq. and Margaret (Overend) his wife, ob. 5 Feb. 1607, with two effigies in marble : there are also several curious marble slabs and other memorials, mostly to the Pell and Kerrich families, including a brass in the north aisle to one of the former, dated 1636 : and memorials to Mrs. Elizabeth Pell, lady of Bosters [sic Booters] Hall manor, Cranworth, d.1732: to the Rev. Thomas Kerrich, vicar of this parish, d. 1828, and Sophia, his wife, d.1835; the oaken church chest is very finely carved and the ancient font has a 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 chapel by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and by a sum of £600 raised by subscription: the building was entirely reseated with open pews of wainscot, and a new pulpit and brass lectern provided, and now affords 600 sittings. The register dates from the year 1710. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £160, and now includes 141 acres of glebe, some lands having been sold since 1900, with residence, in the gift of the Rev. James Bellamy D.D. president of St. John's College, Oxford, and held since 1901 by the Rev. John Warren Corbould-Warren M.A. of Downing College, Cambridge. The vicarage 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. The Foresters' hall (court Motteux, No. 1465), erected on a site given by His Majesty the King, in 1893, and opened by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales K.G. Dec. 11th, 1893, is a building of carr stone with Bath stone dressings; it is also used for entertainments &c.: a court is held monthly. 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 Hall, in the centre of the village, is a large and plain building of carr stone, stuccoed, and now the property of Theodor Jannoch esq. The parish comprises four manors, viz. Pakenham, Shouldham Priory, West Hall and Brook Hall, of which His Majesty the King and the Rev. James Bellamy D.D. are lords and these are also 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 3,573 acres of land and 8 of water; rateable va1ue, £5,774; the population in 1891 was 1186, and in 1901 was 1,316.
Parish Clerk, James March Batterby.
Post, M. 0. & T. 0., T. M. 0., E. D., S. B. & A. & I. Office.-Miss Alice Maude Beckett, sub-postmistress. London & other letters are received through Lynn by mail cart; arrive at 5.30 a.m.; delivered at 7 a.m. & 10.15 a. m. & are dispatched at 10.45 a.m. & 6.20 p.m.; sunday delivery 7 a.m.; dispatched 6.20 p.m. Wall Letter Boxes- Box near the Feathers hotel, cleared at 8.40 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; sundays, 7·55 a.m.; at the Station, cleared at .9.50 a.m. & 5.35 p.m.; sundays, 8.10 a.m.
Public Elementary School (mixed), enlarged in 1875. H.M. the King gave the site, the cost of the building being defrayed by Dr. Bellamy; in 1891 the building was further enlarged at a cost of £240, defrayed by H.M. the King & the chief landowners; the schools were again enlarged in 1904 for 326 children; average attendance, 210; Alfred Firth, schoolmaster; Miss Emily Cook, infants' mistress
Railway Station, Arthur James Chilvers, station master
Carriers to Lynn - Thomas Rudd & George Mitchell, tues. thurs. & sat. returning same day
PRIVATE RESIDENTS
Balding George, Rose cottage
Brown Capt. W. Coronation villa
Bryant Ernest, Sandringham road
Chambers Jabez, Providence house
Cole Robert, The Chestnuts
Corbould-Warren Rev. John Warren M.A. (vicar), The Vicarage
Cross Arthur Harry, Cantelupe house
Freeman Miss, Blackheath lodge
Harrison Edward, Hill side
Jannoch Theodor The Hall
La Fontaine James Stephen Edward J.P. Brandenburg house
Langley William W. The Oaks
Rainbow Joseph George, The Retreat
Smith William Henry, Hill house
Stanton Richard, Ling house
Terrington Douglas, Fern villa
Tingey Edward, Manor house
Wells Miss Rose cottage
Wilkin Robert A. Wellswill house
COMMERCIAL
Alderton Herbert Edward, Alexandra hotel
Bird F. J. (Mrs), butcher
Bunn James, coal merchant, & agent for R. Coller & Sons
Chambers Bros. builders & contractors
Chambers James Ward William, temperance hotel
Clayton Emily (Miss), shopkeeper
Coller R. & Sons, corn & coal merchants (James Bunn, agent); & at Norwich
Dodman George William, blacksmith
Drew Henry James, saddler & harness maker
Ducker Alfred Ernest, carriage builder
Elworthy Harry Fuller, painter
Ewer William John music seller & stationer
Firth Alfred, schoolmaster & clerk to the Charity trustees, The Shrubbery
Fitt Matthew James, baker & corn & flour merchant
Foresters' Hall (court Molteux, No 1465) Robert G. Walton, sec)
Goodings Harriet (Mrs.), apartments
Hartley Frederick William beer retailer
Hudson William, builder & wheelwright
Jackson James, farmer & dairyman, Blackheath lodge
Jannoch Theodor, horticulturalist, Lily of the Valley grower by special warrant to their Majesties the King & Queen Alexandra. See advertisement
