Besthorpe 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 Breckland district 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, about a mile east of Attleborough, on the

A11 road This is a list of roads designated A11. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * A011 road (Argentina), a road connecting the junction of National Route 11 in Clorinda with Puerto Pilcomayo * ''A11 road (Australia)'' may r ...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 561, increasing to 778 at the 2011 Census. The villages name origin is uncertain but is thought to mean 'Bosi's outlying farms/settlement' or perhaps, 'bent-grass outlying farm/settlement'. The village school has long been closed and is now a private dwelling. The church is located in a remote part of the parish, giving rise to the belief that plague, the Black Death, once decimated the original community, resulting in the destruction of many local dwellings. Although no factual evidence exists to support this theory, the plague hit Norfolk very badly. There are two notable private residences, known as Old Hall and New Hall. Old Hall is located close to Burgh Common and was also known as Plassing Hall. For many years it was a farm but has recently been converted into a private dwelling. It still possesses a section of moat and some original stained glass. New Hall was built between 1560 and 1593 by the family of Robert Drury (c.1456-1535), who gave his name to Drury Lane in London. One of the daughters from this family was rumoured to have been drowned in the lake at

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's family home,

Newstead Abbey Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron. Monastic foundation The prio ...

. Reference books on ghost stories claim that she was murdered along with a coachman with whom she formed a relationship; a 'phantom coach' is said to haunt the Abbey. The Hall possesses one of the few surviving 'tilting grounds' in England; tilting grounds were used for

jousting Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

by medieval knights. A local road has achieved wider notoriety, because of the connotations of its first syllable: Slutshole Lane (sometimes Sluts Hole Lane). However, according to maps and documents held at Norfolk & Norwich Library, the road has also been known as ''Slutch Hole Lane''. The word "slutch" was an archaic term for mud; it is said to be a cognate of "

slush Slush, also called slush ice, is a slurry mixture of small ice crystals (e.g., snow) and liquid water. In the natural environment, slush forms when ice or snow melts or during mixed precipitation. This often mixes with dirt and other polluta ...

" , although a rival etymology connects it to "sluice" (which originated as the Dutch ''sluis''), in the sense of an engineering device created to drain

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

s. It has also been suggested that the current name was the result of an error by census takers, during the late Victorian era. Attempts to change the spelling, including a residents' petition in 1999, have been opposed by local historians.

War Memorial

Besthorpe's War Memorial is located in All Saints' Churchyard. It is a Celtic Cross which bears 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 William C. Butcher (1892-1916), 9th 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 ...

* Lance-Corporal Frederick G. Woodgate (1893-1916), 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Gunner Gordon R. Downes (1896-1918), 27th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery * Private Albert Eastoll (1877-1916), 1st Battalion,

Cambridgeshire Regiment The Cambridgeshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, and was part of the Territorial Army. Originating in units of rifle volunteers formed in 1860, the regiment served in the Second Anglo-Boer War and the First and Secon ...

* Private George H. Long (1895-1917), 11th Battalion,

Cheshire Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. ...

* Private Arthur W. Eagling (1899-1919), East Surrey Regiment * Private Edward Brown (d.1916), 4th Battalion,

East Yorkshire Regiment The East Yorkshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot and later renamed the 15th Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before eventually being ...

* Private Edward J. Eagling (1885-1914), 1st Battalion,

Lincolnshire Regiment The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...

* Private Frederick G. Eastoll (1890-1916), 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private Harry A. Houchen (1886-1917), 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private Arthur G. Long (1893-1917), 2nd Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) * Private Edward C. Sider (1895-1916), 8th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) * Private Charles J. Clark (1892-1915), Suffolk Yeomanry * Private Herbert Standley (1887-1918), Depot,

Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

* Private Wallace H. Eastell (1898-1918), 13th Battalion,

York and Lancaster Regiment The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment ...

* Sapper Alfred C. Chatteris (1880-1917), Royal Engineers Clarke, C. (2008). Retrieved November 02, 2022. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Besthorpe.html *

References

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Besthorpe

External links

Besthorpe New Hall history
Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub