Bessingham is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, now in the parish of

Sustead Sustead is a small village and parish in the county of Norfolk, England, about four miles south-west of Cromer. The parish also includes the villages of Bessingham and Metton. The parish is bounded by Aldborough and Hanworth to the south, Roug ...

, in the

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer. The population at the 2011 Census was 101,149. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It was a ...

district of the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. It lies north-north-west of Aylsham and south-south-west of Cromer. In 1931 the parish had a population of 122. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Sustead. The village's name means 'Homestead/village of Basa's people'. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin (and for a short while after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

to St. Andrew), is one of the oldest round tower churches in England and was restored in 1869. Many of its stained glass windows were installed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and designed by C. E. Kempe and Co. and

James Powell and Sons The firm of James Powell and Sons, also known as Whitefriars Glass, were London-based English glassmakers, leadlighters and stained glass window manufacturers. As ''Whitefriars Glass'', the company existed from the 17th century, but became well ...

. The manor was acquired by the Paston family, who are chiefly remembered for their fifteenth-century

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

, and later the

Anson family ) , type = , country = * , estates = Shugborough HallBirch Hall , titles = * Earl of Lichfield * Viscount Anson * Baronet Anson , founded = , founder = George Anson , current head ...

, and in 1766 the village's main estate was purchased by

John Spurrell John Spurrell (1681/1682–3 January 1763) was mayor of Norwich in 1737. He served as alderman of South Consiford ward for nearly 40 years and was also sheriff of Norwich in 1728. His portrait by William Smith, dated 1758, hangs at St. Andrew's a ...

, a yeoman farmer from neighbouring

Thurgarton Thurgarton is a small village in rural Nottinghamshire, England. The village is close to Southwell, and Newark-on-Trent and still within commuting distance to Nottingham. It is served by Thurgarton railway station. According to the 2001 censu ...

. The Spurrells expanded the estate, benefiting from the

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

in the 1820s, and in 1870 Daniel Spurrell built a new Manor House, with lawns, a walled garden and parkland laid out around it. Daniel's daughter Katherine Anne Spurrell bred daffodils in the grounds of the Manor House, some of which received the

Award of Merit The Award of Merit, or AM, is a mark of quality awarded to plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The award was instituted in 1888, and given on the recommendation of Plant Committees to plants deemed "of great merit for exhibitio ...

from the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

, and the daffodil Narcissus 'Katherine Spurrell' was named after her by Edward Leeds. Another famous resident of the Manor House in the late nineteenth century was a bear, brought to Bessingham from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

by Daniel's son Robert, a cavalry officer. Bessingham was described as a 'ghost village' in the 1960s when most of its cottages stood empty or in ruins. The Manor House became derelict after the estate was sold in 1970. It has since been restored and now operates as self-catering holiday accommodation. St. Mary's Church holds a small plaque to the two Bessingham men who gave their lives in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. They are listed as: * Private Charles J. Tuck (1894-1917), 5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private Herbert E. Roper (d.1918), Royal Sussex Regiment Smith, L. (2003). Retrieved November 2, 2022. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Bessingham.html

References

External links

St Mary's on the European Round Tower Churches Website
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk