Fakenham, Norfolk

Historical Description

Fakenham, a market-town and a parish in Norfolk. The town stands on the slope of a hill, at the river Wensum, which is here crossed by a three-arched bridge of brick, 10 miles S from Wells. It has stations on the Midland and Great Northern Joint railway, and on the Wymondham and Wells branch of the G.E.R., a head post office, has of late years undergone much improvement, is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place for the NW division of the county, and has three banks, a spacious market-place, a corn hall, erected in 1855 at a cost of £3000, and a cattle market. The church is fine Later English with a handsome tower, was beautifully restored in 1864, and has an octagonal font. There are also Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels. A weekly market is held on Thursday, and fairs on Whit-Tuesday, first week in Sept., and 22 Nov. at Hempton. The parish is sometimes called Fakenham Lancaster. Acreage, 2231; population of civil parish, 2900; of the ecclesiastical, 2909. A good trade is done in corn and cattle, and the industries include malting, flour milling, and a very large steam printing works. The living is a rectory, with Alethorpe annexed, in the diocese of Norwich; joint value, £524 with residence. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The charities are worth rather over £100 a year.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Norfolk Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers for Norfolk online.

Findmypast, in conjunction with Norfolk Record Office have the following parish records online for Fakenham:

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Fakenham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Fakenham (St. Peter))

Maps

Online maps of Fakenham are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Norfolk newspapers online:

• Norwich Mercury
• Norfolk Chronicle
• Diss Express
• Thetford & Watton Times and People's Weekly Journal
• Norfolk News

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Norfolk 1563, 1589, and 1613 is available on the Heraldry page.