Norfolk: Haddiscoe

William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883

[Transcription copyright © Juanita Hadwin and Pat Newby]

HADDISCOE is a pleasant village, 6 miles E. by S. of Loddon, and 9 miles S.W. by S. of Yarmouth. Its parish is in Loddon and Clavering union and petty sessional division, Beccles county court district, Yarmouth bankruptcy district, Toft Monks polling district of South Norfolk, Clavering hundred, East Brooke rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 390 inhabitants in 1881, living on 2066 acres, and has a rateable value of £3659 10s. 8d.; gross rental, £4859 5s. 5d.

A great part of the parish is in low marshes in the watery vale of the Waveney. It is in several manors. Henry Septimus Grimmer, Esq., is lord of the manor of Haddiscoe and owner of a great part of the soil, and the rest belongs to Messrs. A.J. Palmer, A. Carman, and other small owners. The Manor House, a good modern residence near the banks of the Waveney, is now in the occupation of A. Carman, Esq., and the property of H.S. Grimmer, Esq., of Thorpe Hamlet, near Norwich, who has in his possession a charter granted by Charles II. exempting the inhabitants of Haddiscoe, Thorpe, and Toft Monks from serving on county juries.

The CHURCH (St. Mary) stands on an eminence above the marshes, and is a very curious building of Norman architecture, restored in 1861, at a cost of about £700, towards which the late rector contributed £200 and H.S. Grimmer, Esq., £100. It comprises nave with clerestory, chancel, north aisle, south porch, and tower. The latter, which is round and remarkable for its triangular-headed windows of Early Norman workmanship, contains five bells, which have been restored at a cost of £40.

The seats are good open benches, and the font bears carvings of the symbols of the evangelists. The chancel contains a double piscina with trefoil arches. The south doorway is a beautiful specimen of Norman workmanship, and in a niche over it is a sitting figure in the dress of a bishop. An organ was added by the late rector in 1872. In the nave is a stone incised slab to the memory of a Dutchman, by name Jan Piers Piers, who was master of the dykes in this neighbourhood. The inscription is in Dutch characters. Several mural paintings were discovered during the alterations. Here are several tablets of the Grimmers.

The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the King's Book at £12 and now at £550, with that of Toft Monks annexed to it, in the gift of King's College, Cambridge, and incumbency of the Rev. Arthur Wace, B.A., who has a good residence, built about 30 years ago.

In the reign of Henry III. here was a Preceptory of Knights Templar, who had a chapel in the church dedicated to St. John. In the wall of the churchyard, fronting the road, is a long inscription in memory of William Salter, who for many years drove the machine from Yarmouth to London. The tithes of Haddiscoe have been commuted for £348 10s. per annum, and the glebe is 20A. 2R. 32P.

Here is a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built in 1872. A SCHOOL BOARD for this parish, united with Toft Monks, was established in 1873, and the children attend that school.

The Town Lands, given by Thomas Strange, in 1556, for paying the taxes of the parishioners, repairing the church and highways, and relieving the poor, were partly exchanged at the enclosure in 1814, and now consist of 15A. 1R. 1P., let for £35 a year, the whole of which is applied towards the discharge of the land-tax levied in the parish.

The Dam Land, exchanged at the enclosure for an allotment of 2A. 2R. 28P., was given in 1614, by Thomas Battely and William Stone, for repairing the causeway across the marshes, called Haddiscoe Dam, and for the relief of the poor. About one acre of it is a gravel pit, and the rest is let for £2, which is applied in repairing the road which crosses the marshes to St. Olave's Bridge, near which is a station on the East Suffolk Railway.

The Poor's Allotment, awarded at the enclosure, consists of 4A. 2R. 16P., let for £14, which is distributed in coals. St. Olave's Bridge, which crosses the Waveney, near the site of Herringfleet Priory, in Suffolk, was founded in the reign of Edward I., and rebuilt in the reign of Henry VIII., and again in 1770.

POST OFFICE at James Bee's. Letters from Norwich, viâ Loddon, arrive at 8.15 a.m., and depart at 2.10 p.m.

         Bane      James             shopkeeper; h Hales
         Bee       James             wheelwright & postmaster
         Brown     Edward            market gardener
         Buck      James             market gardener
         Campbell  Herbert           Board schoolmastr
         Carman    Allington, jun.   farmer, Manor house, and Aldeby
         Curtis    Robert            shoemaker
         Dawson    James             market gardener
         Durrant   Mr John
         Easter    Robert            shopkeeper
         Farman    Ambrose           market gardener
         Farman    Charles           marshman
         Farman    Jacob             marshman
         Flaxman   Absalom           market gardener
         Flaxman   Benjamin          market gardener
         Flaxman   Mark              market gardener
         Garrood   Chas. Ling        overseer, surveyor, assessor
                                       and collector of taxes
         Garrood   Fredk.            blacksmith & overseer
         Garwood   James             market gardener
         Gowing    George            parish clerk
         Holt      Mr Henry
         Jarnany   William           farmer
         Keable    James             market gardener
         Kett      Samuel            market gardener
         Leman     John Spence       grocer, &c. and (h) Loddon
         Palmer    Ambrose Jno.      farmer, The Hall
         Pashley   -                 (Exors. of) manure and chemical works
         Sayer     Jacob E.          farmer, Burnt house
         Shylow    -                 manager, chemical works
         Stone     -                 stationmaster
         Wace      Rev. Arthur, B.A. rector of Haddiscoe, vicar of Toft
                                       Monks, and diocesan inspector of
                                       East Brooke, The Rectory
         Wilson    Thos. Bayles      vict. Crown Inn
         Youngman  Geo.              vict. Three Tuns Inn
 

RAILWAY (G.E.R.) - Trains to & from Beccles and Yarmouth for all parts daily; - Stone, stationmaster

See also the Haddiscoe parish page.

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Copyright © Pat Newby.
March 2006