Banner used in processions at religious events at Belaugh St

Belaugh is a small village (population 105) increasing to 134 at the 2011 Census, that occupies a bend in the

River Bure The River Bure is a river in the county of Norfolk, England, most of it in the Broads.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map OL40 - The Broads''. . The Bure rises near Melton Constable, upstream of Aylsham, which was the original head ...

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 Nor ...

, England - within

The Broads National Park The Broads (known for marketing purposes as The Broads National Park) is a network of mostly navigable rivers and lakes in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the terms "Norfolk Broads" and "Suffolk Broads" are correctly use ...

. It is accessible via the road between

Hoveton Hoveton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located within the Norfolk Broads, and immediately across the River Bure from the village of Wroxham. Whilst Hoveton is north of the river, Wroxham is south; but man ...

and Coltishall or from the river. It contains no pubs or shops. The main civic features are the church of St Peter, Belaugh and the Old School, which also belongs to the church and is used for parish council meetings and for celebrating the

harvest festival A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

. The local

broad Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly na ...

is Belaugh Broad. Most of the land around Belaugh - about - is owned by the Trafford family, who are Lords of the Manor.

History of Belaugh

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 contains one of the earliest recorded mentions of the village, at the time known as Belaga. Other records from around the time name it as Belihagh, Belaw, Bilhagh or Bilough, names based on combinations of Norse, Danish and

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

words that collectively mean 'a dwelling place by the water'.

Belaugh St Peter

Belaugh St Peter is a

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 Brit ...

church located at the top of a steep slope above the village. It was built circa 14th century and contains an ornate

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

decorated with images of the

apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

that appears to have been added in the early 16th century. In the 17th century a soldier loyal to

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

(described in a letter to Sheriff Tofts of Norwich as a 'godly trooper') scraped away the faces of the apostles, such images being regarded as idolatrous by many of Cromwell's followers. According to records displayed in the church, the letter writer also added disapprovingly that, "The Steeple house f Belaugh St Peterstands high, perked like one of the idolatrous high places of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

". The font of the church is shaped in the Norman style as a cauldron made of a blue stone. One unusual feature of the church is the remains of blank arcading on the outside of the south wall of the nave. If original this looks more Saxon than Norman. The church organ was built between 1886 and 1904 by the Reverend George Buck, who was rector between 1880–1907 and son of Dr Zephaniah Buck, organist of

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedra ...

. George Buck also built church organs for Edingthorpe and Little Melton.

The Belaugh Ghost

According to information displayed in the church of St Peter Belaugh, in 1695 Richard Slater - a servant at the village's rectory - stole money and jewels from the church and buried them in the rectory garden. When he later returned to dig up the stash, he was discovered by the rector. In the scuffle that followed, the thief drowned in the river. He is supposed to rise up nightly to recover the money, only to be forced down again by the weight of the stolen loot.

Rectors of Belaugh St Peter

* ---- John de Catfeld * 1330 Robert de Hurdeshulle * 1349 John de Ludham * 1364 William Putyn * 1370 William de Swukbrook * ---- Henry Rondolph * 1397 Thomas Herteshorn * 1399 John Williamson * 1427 John Joneson * 1430 Henry Bettys * 1439 Robert Popy * 1441 John Hecham * 1467 Robert Ippeswell * 1478 Robert Kyng * 1491 John Felds * 1508 William Franklin * 1510 Thomas Acton * 1518 Thomas Jannys * 1536 William Pawe * 1552 Thomas Abbot * 1554 Gilbert Warren * 1555 Edward Fisher * 1556 Robert Certayn * 1560 John Robinson * 1561 Leo Howlet * ---- Edward Dunton * 1602 Christopher Witton * 1607 Rogert Fowkes * 1612 Thomas Jermyn * 1660 John Philips * 1663 john Cutelin * 1678 William Newton * 1681 Guwin Nush * 1691 Bainbridge (Dean) * 1711 William Hay * 1763 Henry Headley * 1768 Lancaster Adkin * 1807 John Prowett * 1811 William Newcome * 1824 Robert Bathurst * 1829 Dennis Norris * 1830 William Ferguson * 1834 John Labbock * 1857 John Horatio Nelson * 1873 Francis Humphrey * 1882 George Buck * 1919 Austen Watt * 1929 John Priest Miller * 1929 Henry James * 1932 Alfred Sheffield * 1949 David Davies * 1950 Harry Skellern * 1956 Albert Carling * 1976 Henry Stapleton * 1981 Cedric Bradbury * 1993 Andrew Parsons

War Memorial

Belaugh War Memorial takes the form of a carved wooden plaque in St. Peter's Church. Imperial War Museum. (2022). Retrieved October 31, 2022. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/19593 It holds the following names for the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

: * Second-Lieutenant C. Laurence Richmond (1890-1915), 5th Battalion,

Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution ...

* Private Robert Chapman (d.1917), 4th 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 ...

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 George C. Cutting (1913-1944), 2nd Battalion,

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

* Private Charles W. T. Watts (1919-1943), 6th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Frank J. Cottin * Ernest Jeffrey

References

External links

{{authority control Broadland Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk