Griston (St. Peter and St. Paul)
GRISTON (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union and hundred of Wayland, W. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (S. E.) from Watton; containing 227 inhabitants. The parish comprises by admeasurement 1360a. 10p., of which 950 acres are arable, 315 meadow and pasture, and 30 woodland. The popular story of the "Children in the Wood" had its origin here; the house in which the infants (who were exposed in the wood of Wailing) lived still exists, and until within the last few years, the hall was ornamented with carved oak and wax-work representing the various incidents of the metrical tale. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 8. 9.; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Ely, who is lord of the rectory manor. Certain tithes were commuted for land in 1806; and under a recent commutation a rentcharge of £255 is paid to the bishop, and one of £168. 10. to the vicar. The glebe comprises 15 acres, with a small parsonage-house. The church was anciently dedicated to St. Margaret, and had four guilds; but in 1477 the nave and tower were rebuilt, and it was then dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, whose emblems, cross keys and swords, adorn the edifice; it is in the early, decorated, and later styles, and a fine carved screen separates the chancel from the nave. At the inclosure, in 1806, sixty acres were allotted to the poor for fuel. The Rev. Messrs. Borret, father and son, eminent antiquaries of the county, were successively vicars here.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.