Little Massingham
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Little Massingham is a small 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 authority ...
in the
English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...
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 ...
. It is located on the northern boundary of
Great Massingham Great Massingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It has a primary school (including a pre-school in the grounds), a village shop, a pub (Dabbling Duck), a village hall and a church (St Mary's). There is also a spor ...
. It covers an area of and had a population of 74 in 37 households at the 2001 census.Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Retrieved 20 June 2009. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a local government district with borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 147,451. History The district was ...
.


History of the parish

At the time of 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 ...
in 1086,
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
bestowed upon Eudo, the son of Spiruwin, the Barony of Tateshale in Lincolnshire (now known as
Tattershall Tattershall is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A153 Horncastle to Sleaford road, east from the point where that road crosses the River Witham. At its eastern end, Tatters ...
). William also gave him the lands of Hillington, Grimston, Congham and Little Massingham that had belonged to
Scula Onlafbald and Scula (Old Norse: Skúli) were two early 10th-century Viking chieftains, notable for receiving lands through successful campaigning in what is now northern England. Onlafbald is also said to have been killed by the spirit of the 7th-ce ...
. Scula is thought to have been a general who served under Viking King Ragnald. In 1302, these lands passed into the possession of Sir John de Thorpe, by right of his wife, Alice. Later the estate of Little Massingham came into the family of the Le Stranges of
Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...
, and in the 16th century, they passed to the Mordaunt family when Robert Mordaunt married Barbara le Strange. In 1807 Sir Charles Mordaunt, the eighth baronet decided to sell the estate of Little Massingham and the
advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
of the living to Joseph Wilson, Esq., of Highbury Hill, Middlesex. Mr Wilson was a rich and prosperous merchant and although having purchased Little Massingham he never lived there, but chose to use
Stowlangtoft Stowlangtoft is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England two miles south-east from Ixworth. Located around five miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 270. Name The village, or ...
Hall, Suffolk as his country estate. However, he did install his son-in-law Charles D. Brereton as rector of Little Massingham. Joseph Wilson's heir Henry Wilson of Stowlangtoft Hall succeeded him and in 1872 Henry's son Mr Fuller Maitland Wilson sold the estate of Little Massingham. Since that time there were a few more large landowners of Little Massingham before some of the estate was broken up. It was recorded that in the early 19th century thirty or forty acres of wheat were grown in Little Massingham. In 1825 the cultivation had increased to between three and four hundred acres.
In the late 1800s: Good Blue clay suitable for making both white and red bricks was found in the Parish, and near at hand there is a stratum of good sand, and a spring of water which has never been known to fail even in the dryest summers. A brick-yard has been made whence one million bricks are turned out per annum.


Saint Andrew's church

The Church of Saint Andrew with its square embattled tower, is a small but picturesque building. The principle entrance is by the south porch, which appears to rest on the foundation of some still earlier building. On each side of this entrance there are niches which once held the statues of the Virgin and St. Andrew, while above it are two lichen-covered stone escuteons, bearing the arms of the de Thorpes. The porch is lighted by small perpendicular windows, and around the bottom of the roof runs the inscription, carved in oak:

The hour cometh and now the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
The church of St. Andrew consists of a chancel and a nave. The nave is divided into aisles by octagonal pillars supporting pointed arches. The pews were replaced in 1857 at the same time the roof was repaired and re-leaded, the floor tiled, the font (which formally stood behind the south door) removed to its present situation. Other improvements were made, under the supervision of Mr Jeckel, an architect of Norwich. He designed the very handsome pulpit, composed of Caen stone and marble.
The present handsome inner roof of the chancel was added in 1880 by the Rev. J. L. Brereton.
The first recorded Rector of Massingham Parva was in 1286. The early Parish Registers were on parchment and date from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. All the entries, up to the year 1599 were copied from earlier records, in accordance with a canon published in the reign of Elizabeth. The last chapter of Massingham Parva shows the date of 1559 for the first marriage. First burials are recorded as from 1715 and Christenings from 1754. The church was used during World War II by nearby
RAF Great Massingham Royal Air Force Great Massingham or more simply RAF Great Massingham is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk and east of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The airfield was built as a satellite airfield of RAF ...
. A roll of honour with the names of those who served at the airfield is kept in the church. The church yard contains graves of some of the aircrew from RAF Great Massingham .


The station at Little Massingham

A driving force behind the building of the Lynn & Fakenham railway line was the Revd.
Joseph Lloyd Brereton Prebendary Joseph Lloyd Brereton, (19 October 1822 – 15 August 1901), was a British clergyman, educational reformer and writer, who founded inexpensive schools for the education of the middle classes. Through his work and writings he influenc ...
of Little Massingham. Supporters of the project used to meet at his rectory in the 1870s. As a result of their endeavours the line was built from Lynn to Massingham and the station and line was opened on 16 August 1879. Later the line was extended and continued onto Fakenham opening on 16 August 1880. This is a view of the station some thirty years after the trains first ran and a prominent feature is the criss-cross fencing which was found all over the
Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated i ...
. This was abbreviated to (M&GN), interpreted by many as meaning the Muddle & Get Nowhere Railway. Massingham was also the only station between South Lynn and Fakenham to have a footbridge. When the line was closed in the 1960s the main ticket office and waiting rooms and the stationmaster's house were converted into two houses.


Notes


References

Some of the above text contains a combination of actual quotes and a précis of accounts written by the Rev. Ronald F. McLeod author of "Massingham Parva: Past and Present". Published by Waterlow & Sons Ltd of London in 1882.


External links


Norfolk Churches website
Description of St Andrews.

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk