West Acre Norfolk Family History Guide
West Acre is an Ancient Parish in the county of Norfolk.
Alternative names: Westacre
Parish church: All Saints
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1665
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1600
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- East Walton
- Gayton Thorpe
- South Acre
- Narford
- Great Massingham
- Castleacre
Parish History
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
WEST-ACRE (All Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Freebridge-Lynn, W. division of Norfolk, 5¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Swaffham; containing 490 inhabitants.
It is the property of A. Hamond, Esq., whose seat here, High House, is a handsome mansion in the Italian style, finely situated in a well-wooded park. The river Nar intersects the parish.
The living is a donative; net income, £31; patron and impropriator, Mr. Hamond. The church is partly in the early and partly in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, and contains the mausoleum of the Hamond family, and many beautiful monuments to several of its members.
A priory of Black canons, in honour of St. Mary and All Saints, was founded at West-Acre in the time of William Rufus, by Ralph de Toney, and at the Dissolution had a revenue of £308. 19. 11.: the remains of this once celebrated house exhibit specimens of the early and later English styles.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Directories
West Acre Norfolk Post Office Directory of Norfolk & Suffolk 1865
West Acre is a small parish and village, lying in a deep valley, on the north side of the river Nar: it is in Freebridge Lynn hundred and union, West Norfolk, 2 miles north-east from Narborough station and the navigable Nar, 109½ from London, and 5 north-west from Swaffham. The church of All Saints is in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, north porch and western tower, with 1 bell.
The living is a donative, annual value, £31: Anthony Hamond, Esq., is impropriator and patron, and the incumbent is the Rev. Edward Manners Dillman Pyne, B.A., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Near the church are ruins of an old priory. There is a National school. West Acre High House is the seat of A. Hamond, Esq., D.L., who Is lord of the manor and principal landowner: the house is well situated. The soil is sandy and clay. The acreage is 3,400 ; and the population in 1861 was 415.
Parish Clerk, John Spooner.
Post Office. — Letters received through Brandon. Letter box cleared at 6 p.m.; on sunday at 11.30 a.m.
Swaffham is the nearest money order office
National School, Miss Ann Elizabeth Smith, mistress
Hamond Anthony, esq. D.L. High house
Commercial.
Aylmer Robert Boughen, farmer
Curtis Richard, miller & farmer, West Acre mills
Floyd Henry, shopkeeper
Joyce Stephen, farm steward
Softly John, blacksmith
Thomas James, farmer & lime burner
Winearls Henry, farmer
Youngman James William, farmer
Source: Post Office Directory of Norfolk & Suffolk; Kelly & Co.; London; 1865.
Administration
- County: Norfolk
- Civil Registration District: Freebridge Lynn
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Norwich
- Diocese: Norwich
- Rural Deanery: Lynn
- Poor Law Union: Freebridge Lynn
- Hundred: Freebridge Lynn
- Province: Canterbury