DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission.
UK Genealogy Archives logo

Happisburgh (St. Mary)

HAPPISBURGH (St. Mary), a parish, in the hundred of Happing, E. division of Norfolk, 7 miles (E.) from North Walsham; containing 631 inhabitants. This parish, which is on the coast, comprises by admeasurement 1953 acres of arable and pasture land, in nearly equal portions. The tower of the church serves as a landmark for mariners; and within a mile of the village are two lighthouses erected in 1791, the one 80 and the other 100 feet high, both furnished with patent lamps and reflectors. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 6. 8.; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Norwich: the great tithes have been commuted for £620, and the vicarial for £230. The church is chiefly in the later English style, and has a lofty embattled tower; the nave, which is lighted by clerestory windows, is separated from the chancel by the remains of a beautifully carved screen, and the font is handsome and curiously sculptured. The Primitive Methodists have a place of worship. A national school is supported; and the poor have an allotment of four acres of land, made at the inclosure in 1801. In 1659, by the fall of a cliff into the sea, the skeleton of a large fish was discovered, which appeared to have lain for a very considerable time imbedded in the rock near the summit.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

Advertisement

Advertisement