Great Snoring is a rural village in
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 ...
by the
River Stiffkey
The River Stiffkey is a chalk stream running through an area of north Norfolk, England from its source near Swanton Novers to flow out into the North Sea on the north Norfolk coast near the village of Stiffkey. The river has been dredged histori ...
, in the east of England. It is situated approximately north-west from the city and
county town
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
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 ...
, and north from the larger village of
Little Snoring
Little Snoring is a village and a civil parish in Norfolk, England.
The village is approximately east-north-east from the town of Fakenham, west-south-west from Cromer, and to the side of the A148 road.
At the 2011 Census, it had a populat ...
.
At the centre of the village are the listed buildings of St Mary's Church and the 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 ...
. The village main street comprises houses of brick and flint. The nearest inn and shop is in Little Snoring.
Village population in the
2001 Census was 168, reduced to 143 at the 2011 Census.
History
The 1086 ''
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 ...
'' calls the village by the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
name ''Snaringa''/''Snarringes'', named after an inhabitant called Snear.
The book includes mention of a
water mill
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production o ...
, which now features on the village sign.
Historically the name Snoring Magna was used, "magna" being Latin for "greater".
In 1611
Sir Ralph Shelton
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
,
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
, sold Great Snoring to Lord Chief Justice Richardson. Sir Ralph is reported to have said "I can sleep without Snoring".
John Pearson (1612–86), the English divine and scholar, was born in Great Snoring on 28 February 1612.
Francis White's 1854 ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk'' describes the village as having as 99 houses, with a total population of 656, and with John Dugmore, Esq as lord of the manor. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is described as having a "fine tower" (formerly a spire), containing curious old brasses of the Shelton family. White notes the rectory house, built by the Shelton family, as a "fine specimen of ornamental brick work", valued at £24 and occupied by the Revd D. H. Lee Warner. The Walsingham Union House, a workhouse, contained 164 staff and occupants.
[ pages 714-15 viewed a]
on 15 April 2006
Walsingham Union workhouse
On 12 April 1836 the Walsingham
Poor Law Union was formed, and a new Walsingham Union
workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
was built at Great Snoring in the same year to accommodate up to 250 inmates. The
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
was
William Thorold, and he based it on
Sampson Kempthorne
Sampson Kempthorne (1809–1873) was an English architect who specialised in the design of workhouses, before his emigration to New Zealand.
Life
He was the son of Rev. John Kempthorne. He began practising in Carlton Chambers on Regent Street ...
's model cruciform plan published by the Poor Law Commissioners in 1835. Four accommodation wings were joined to a central supervisory area, allowing segregation of different categories of inmate. Areas between the wings were used as exercise space. Workshops and service buildings around the edge gave the overall site an octagonal shape. To the east of the site a chapel was built.
After the closure of the workhouse, the buildings had various uses: as a
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
hospital in the 1930s; by the
Civil Defence
Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...
in the 1950s; and most recently, plans to convert the building into 35 flats were approved in 1961. But no conversion was carried out and the buildings have now been demolished.
In 2014 The Workhouse, now more correctly known as Thursford Castle (sic), was sold to a property developer who has again offered it for sale complete with Planning Consent for a domestic residence.
Landmarks
![Tudor Manor House - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Tudor_Manor_House_-_geograph.org.uk_-_572689.jpg)
Great Snoring
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
is dedicated to
Saint Mary the Virgin
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
. Its exterior is of chiefly
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
style although with earlier elements, with interior fixtures and detailing from the 12th to the 18th centuries. The church was Grade 1
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 1959.
Adjacent to the churchyard is the two-storey brick and
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
Old Rectory. Built in the late 15th or early 16th century as a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
for the Shelton family, it was extended between the 17th and 19th centuries. The house was Grade II* listed in 1951.
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
in his 1974 documentary for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, ''
A Passion for Churches'', describes the house: "the rectory house is a Tudor palace, with moulded autumn-colour brick and elaborate chimney stacks"
[Betjeman, John; ''A Passion for Churches'', BBC TV, 7 December 1974, 13.20min-14.02min. Rebroadcast ]BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 (2006)
Great Snoring
war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
lists 22 men who died in the First World War.
Population
The 2001 Census
shows 168 people in 81 households (35 owner-occupied, 46 rented). 24 of these households were classified as "second residence / holiday accommodation". Population has decreased since 1841 when it was 556 (this included 81 people in the
Walsingham
Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Exp ...
Union
Workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
).
References
External links
Great Snoring Parish Council website The Snoring Villages - Little & Great Snoring in Norfolk, England
{{authority control
Villages in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
North Norfolk