Baconsthorpe is a village and

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 authorit ...

in the North Norfolk district of the English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 is 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Holt, 5 miles (8 km) south of

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is an English seaside town within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban Distr ...

and 20 miles (32 km) north of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Population and governance

The civil parish has an area of 5.53 km². In the 2001 census it had a population of 232 in 105 households. This eased to 215 at the Census 2011, and was estimated at 216 in 2019. For local government, the parish is in the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of North Norfolk.

Heritage

The village's name derives from "Bacon's outlying farm/settlement", Bacon being the surname of the local landowner in Norman times. The ruins of the 15th-century Baconsthorpe Castle lie about one mile (1.6 km) to the north of the village. The medieval Anglican Church of St Mary was restored in 1868 and 1958. It contains monuments from the 15th–18th centuries and some 16th-century glass saved from the castle.

Accommodation

There is a tourist campsite with full amenities at Pitt Farm near the west end of the village. Some bed-and-breakfast accommodation and holiday lets are also available. Other facilities and services can be found in the nearby town of Holt.

Notable residents

In order of birth: * John Baconthorpe '' ic' or Bacon (c. 1290–1347), Carmelite monk and

scholastic philosopher Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translat ...

, born at Baconsthorpe * John Heydon or Baxter (died 1479) rose from the

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

ry to become prominent as a lawyer. *Sir

Henry Heydon Sir Henry Heydon (died 1504) was the son of John Heydon of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk, 'the well-known opponent of the Paston family'. He married Anne Boleyn, the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, great-grandfather of Henry VIII's queen Anne Boleyn ...

(died 1504), lawyer, courtier and landowner, died at Baconsthorpe. *Sir

Christopher Heydon Sir Christopher Heydon (14 August 1561 – 1 January 1623) was an English soldier, Member of Parliament, and writer on astrology. He quarrelled with his family over its estates in Norfolk. Background Born in Surrey, Heydon was the eldest son ...

(1561–1623), soldier, astrologer, and a county member of Parliament for Norfolk, ran his Norfolk estates from Baconsthorpe Castle. * Robert Brightiffe (c. 1666–1749), a barrister and a member of Parliament for Norwich and

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

there, was born at his father's house in Baconsthorpe.John Venn, "Brightiffe, Robert", in ''

Alumni Cantabrigienses ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...

'' (Part I, from earliest times to 1751, vol. i Abbas–Cutts; Cambridge University Press, 1922)

War Memorial

Baconsthorpe's War Memorials take the form of two plaques in St. Mary's Church, they hold the following names for 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 ...

: * Corporal Horace E. Dew (d.1916), 7th Battalion,

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

* Gunner George R. Cooper (1891-1917), 'A' Depot,

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

* Rifleman Robert Jermy (d.1918), 9th (London) Battalion,

Queen Victoria's Rifles The 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles) was a Territorial Army infantry battalion of the British Army. The London Regiment was formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions ...

* Private E. F. Frank Thursby (1896-1917), 2nd Battalion,

Border Regiment The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. After service i ...

* Private Henry J. Smith (d.1917), 2nd Battalion,

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers R ...

* Private Frederick B. Dew (1893-1916), 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private Frederick Knowles (d.1916), 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private A. W. Richard Cletheroe (1896-1917), 5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private William T. Jarvis (1897-1917), 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * William J. Barnes And, the following for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

: * Corporal Leslie F. Smith (d.1944), 1st Battalion,

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

* Ordinary-Seaman Geoffrey D. Grout (1919-1940), '' HMS Forfar (F30)''

References

External links

*
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Baconsthorpe * {{authority control Baconsthorpe, Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk