Crostwight is a small 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 Honing, 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, in the north-east of the 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 ...

, England. In the past, it was sometimes called Crostwick, but this should be avoided, for fear of confusion with the different village of

Crostwick Crostwick is a village in the English county of Norfolk. The village is part of the civil parish of Horstead with Stanninghall. Crostwick is located 2.6 miles from Wroxham and 5.2 miles from Norwich. History Crostwick's name is of Viking origi ...

, also in Norfolk. In 1931 the parish had a population of 61. Apart from the church, the village consists of Crostwight Hall, its cottages and outbuildings, an old

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

, and a few other houses.

Name

The name of Crostwight is considered to be

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

in origin (''kross'', 'cross' + þveit, 'clearing'). There are seven such names in Norfolk ending in -thwaite, and one in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, showing early

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n settlement. While the suffix -thwaite was familiar north of the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...

and has survived there, it has been corrupted elsewhere. Forms of Crostwight's name recorded include Crostwit in 1086, Crosthueit in 1198, and Crostweyt in 1810.

History

Crostwight is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, which spells its name 'Crostwit'. At that time, it was held by Geoffrey Baynard under Ralph Baynard. Tempore Regis Eduardi (in the time of

King Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æthe ...

), twelve freemen at Crostwit had one hundred and of land, and there were twelve borderers, with of

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

. The whole was described as one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

(''leuca'') in length and seven

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hors ...

s broad.Parkin, Rev. Charles, ''An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk'' Volume XI (London, William Miller, 1810
pages 8-13
online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) There is a reference to the church of St Benet's of Hulme, and the people mentioned include Esger the staller and Geoffrey Baynard. At the time of the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...

of 1381, the area of

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...

was "the cradle, the supreme fortress, and the tomb of the Norfolk rebels", generating surveys of households, and Crostwight is one of the few places for which complete records survive. Its heads of households were found to consist of nine cultivators, three weavers, two

spinsters ''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...

, one dyer and one fuller. Crostwight Seven Deadly Sins

According to William White's Gazetteer of 1845:White, William, ''History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, 1845'' More was said in the 1883 edition of White's Gazetteer:''William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, 1883'' At the time of the 1841 census, the surnames recorded for Crostwight are Atkins, Bacon, Burton, Cinlon, Colman, Crowe, Flowerday, Frary, Furnace, Hubbard, Lane, Jarvis, Mays, Salmon, Reed, Shephard, Webster and Wright. At the census of 1921, the parish's population was seventy-one, and by 1931 it had fallen to sixty-one. On 1 April 1935, Crostwight was abolished as a

and incorporated into its larger neighbour, Honing. The parish records, dating from 1698 to 1988, are held by the Norfolk Record Office at its Archive Centre in Martineau Lane,

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 ...

Church of All Saints

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

stands on its own not far from the Old Rectory, but is distant from the rest of the village.All Saints, Crostwight
at norfolkchurches.co.uk (accessed 26 March 2008) It is grade I

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

. In 1810, Charles Parkin wrote of the church: John Marius Wilson's '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (1870–1872) says of it: "The living is a rectory in the

diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the Eas ...

. Value, £66. Patron, M. Shephard, Esq. The church is old but good, and has a tower." The church has a series of late medieval wall-paintings (see below). Its massive tower of flint and local stone was reduced in height in 1910, after ivy had made part of it unsafe, and the bells were hung lower. Inside the church is a rood screen carved with

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

s, wild men, and flying hearts, but the carving may be modern or restored. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

arch, like some walls, is decorated with paintings, but not the screen. There is an octagonal

Purbeck stone Purbeck stone refers to building stone taken from a series of limestone beds found in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Group, found on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset in southern England. The best known variety of this stone is Purbeck ...

font, which stands on pillars and on a substantial two-tier octagonal base. The church has no electricity and is lit by oil lamps. The church is a Grade I listed buildin

Crostwight lost only one man during 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 opposin ...

, and he is commemorated by his own memorial inside the church, which reads: "In honoured memory of HUBERT ARTHUR FRANCIS, who gave his life aboard H.M.S. Royal Oak at Scapa Flow 14th October 1939 ''Faithful unto death''". Despite the smallness of its ecclesiastical parish, the church is still used. Crostwight is now part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

united benefice of 'Smallburgh with Dilham with Honing and Crostwight', which has a rector.

The Crostwight Passion Cycle

The medieval wall paintings on the church's north wall date from the late 14th or early 15th century and have been called the Crostwight Passion Cycle. An article at paintedchurch.org considers that this is "...despite its fragmentary condition, one of the most interesting Passion Cycles in England".Crostwight, Norfolk (‡Norwich) Late C.14/Early C.15
online at paintedchurch.org (accessed 21 March 2008) All of the scenes are in fragments and few are clear. The order of the scenes is illogical, beginning on the bottom left with Christ's Entry into

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. To the right of that is the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

, and further right comes the Washing of Feet. Above is the Arrest in

Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

, and to the right of that a scene which may be Christ before Herod or Pilate, then the

Crowning with Thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or grc, ἀκάνθινος στέφανος, akanthinos stephanos, label=none) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instru ...

, above which is the Crucifixion. This includes one of the crucified thieves, and behind him is the Roman Stephaton with a bucket of vinegar and a spear. On a lower tier, underneath the

, is the Ascension. In the splay of a window is the Agony in the Garden, with Christ kneeling in the foreground, St Peter, St James and St John the Apostle behind him. Above this are the remains of another scene which may be the

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...

Other paintings

Other paintings in the parish church include one of the

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...

. This is estimated to date from the late fourteenth century and was discovered in the 1840s by a Mr Gunn.''Norfolk Archaeology, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to the Antiquities of the County of Norfolk'' Volume II (Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, 1849
page 352 et seq.
online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) It centres on a tree growing out of the jaws of hell, which appears as the mouth of a giant fish, full of sinners who are being pushed down into hell by a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

. Above, the seven deadly sins grow on the tree like fruit. One of these is clearly marked in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

with the name of one of the deadly sins, ''Socordia'', or Sloth. Another painting shows two women approaching the gates of Heaven, with an angel to greet them and a devil watching from below.

Sir Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ( ...

suggests that this is a warning against gossip, and it has also been compared to a church painting at Swanbourne which is an allegory of penitent and unpenitent souls. In June 1848, ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'' noted that Dawson Turner had exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries "two sets of drawings, illustrative of the fresco paintings, and other ancient remains, in the parish churches of

Gateley Gateley is a village and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. Location The village is situated some north-east of the town of Swaffham, north of the town of Dereham and north-west of the city of Norwich. The parish ...

and Crostwight, in the county of Norfolk." Turner later reported on the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' and other paintings at Crostwight in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's ''Norfolk Archaeology'' for 1849, with drawings by Mrs Gunn.

Crostwight Hall

Crostwight Hall is a notable

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

and is described by Michael Sayer in ''Burke's & Savills Guide to Country Houses'' (Volume III, East Anglia). Its garden is one of thirty-three Historic Parks and Gardens listed in the

Local Plan A development plan sets out a local authority's policies and proposals for land use in their area. The term is usually used in the United Kingdom. A Local Plan is one type of development plan. The development plan guides and shapes day-to-day dec ...

for

. The historic main house, Old Crostwight Hall, was considered as a project by the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust but was instead rebuilt by a developer. The house has sometimes been called 'Crostwick Hall', for instance in Parkin's ''Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk'' (1810), where it is called "an agreeable old seat". The Strangers' Hall Museum at Norwich has an unusual survival from the mid-19th century: an anonymous

St Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

card dated and postmarked 1862, said by the museum to be addressed to "Miss Jenny Lowe 'query Love'' Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk". The coloured card is embossed with couples, cherubs and roses, and in the middle is a silver bird on a silk panel. On the pictorial side of the card are the printed words "My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss", and on the other is written by hand "Good Morrow Valentine". As the Hall was then occupied by the Lane family, the addressee may be Miss Jenny Lane.

Geography

Crostwight Heath (dense acidic

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

) and Crostwight Common (

broad-leaved A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

d semi-natural

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

) are both designated in the North Norfolk Local Plan as County Wildlife Sites.

List of rectors of Crostwight

To 1756: *1300: Ralph de Somerton, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn *1305: ( - ) de Billokby *1313: Robert de Warham *1313: Richard de Halesworth, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn *1335: John Taillor, by Sim. Kemyng *1348: William de Ely, by John Kenyng *1373: Nich. Lomb, by Joan, widow of John Costeyn *1389: Roger de Holand *1391: William Nethergate, by John Costeyn *1404: John Blake, by Margery, widow of Henry de Betele *1413: Henry Lesyngham, by John Elmham *1414: Richard Newman, by Thomas Derham *1447: Robert Casmond, by Nicholas Waterman *1449: John Bullock, by Nicholas Waterman, gent. *1452: John Leigh *1461: Robert Wilkys, by Henry Heydon and Thomas Brampton *1483: Thomas Curteys, by John Bishop *1484: John Rudham *1493: Roger Humfrey *1493: Thomas Lyng, by Sir John Paston *1497: Thomas Miles, by John Bishop *1503: John Trew, by Robert Harridaunce, Esq. *1510: Stephen Drury *1556: Robert Lindley, by Margaret Bishop, widow *1557: Robert Best *1579: William Olyver, by Thomas Groos, Esq. *1598: Edmund Alphen *1602: Thomas Cannam, by Thomas Groos, Esq. *1630: Thomas Ramsey, by Sir Charles le Groos *1665: Thomas Falke, by Thomas le Groos, Esq. *16--: Charles Spicer *1669: And. Call. *1672: Valentine Husband, by Robert Tutpill, gent. *1674: Henry Gooch *1687: Bambridge Dean, by Charles le Groos ''alias'' Harman, Esq. *1694: John Rolfe *17--: Noah Violas *1720: Mundeford Spelman (on the death of Violas), presented by Charles Harman ''alias'' le Gross, Esq. *1736: John Wakeman, by Robert, Lord Walpole *1753: Thomas Batman, by Margaret, Countess of Orford *1754: James Adamson, by John Sharp, Esq. (''hac vice'') *1756: Thomas Hutchingson, by the Bishop (''a lapse'') After 1756: *fl. 1845: Henry Atkinson *fl. 1883: John Bartholomew Vale (1823–96) *fl. 1899: H. G. CornerFrom the Vicar, March–April 2007
(including extract from the North Walsham and District Parish Magazine for April 1899) online at saint-nicholas.org.uk (accessed 22 March 2008)

References

External links

Satellite photograph
at maps.google.co.uk
Location map
at British-towns.net
A Vision of Crostwight CP/AP
at edina.ac.uk {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk