Guton was a settlement in 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 ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
mentioned 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 ...
as Guthetuna. It is described as being held by Osbert from Tihel le Breton. It had a mill and 14 beehives. It was considered a small town with 40 households (which at the time of the survey was a large settlement). Lestan, a freeman, was deprived of it on the Norman conquest.
In the 13th century the family of Peche had an interest in this town, and Sir Andrew de Helion, of Bumpstead, in Essex, certified the venerable barons of the Exchequer, on the marriage of the King's sister, to the Emperour Germany, about 1234, that Symon Peche held 3 parts of a fee of him in Gukenton Norfolk.
Guton was granted a charter from the Crown licensing the holding of a market in 1287, though by the 17th century the market was out of use.
[An Historical Atlas of Norfolk, edited by Trevor Ashwin and Alan Davidson, Phillimore, 2005]
The site of the settlement is marked by Guton Hall in the modern civil
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
Brandiston
Brandiston is a small village and civil parish near the centre of the county of Norfolk, England, about two miles south-east of the small market town of Reepham, five miles south-west of the larger town of Aylsham and 10 miles north-west of the ...
.
The village of Brandiston is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but gradually eclipsed Guton; both settlements are mentioned with equal billing in ''The History of Norfolk'', edited by John Chambers 1829, as follows: "Brandiston and Guton. Nine miles from
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 St. Nicholas. Was held by the families of Fastolf and Paston." However in White's more detailed ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk'' published in 1845, the parish is still referred to as Brandiston and Guton but the main heading had become Brandiston.
References
Former populated places in Norfolk
{{England-hist-stub