Diss Family History Group

SHELFANGER is a village and parish, situated on a height, 3½ miles north-west from Diss station and 3 west from Burston station, both on the Ipswich and Norwich section of the Great Eastern railway, in the Southern division of the county, Diss hundred, petty sessional division and county court district, Guiltcross union, rural deanery of Redenhall, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. All Saints church is an ancient building of flint, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, a curious wooden north porch and an embattled western tower containing 5 bells : the church was restored in 1865, and in 1876 the east window was filled with stained glass as a memorial to the late A. Smith esq.: there are 150 sittings, 100 being free. The register dates from the year 1685. The living is a rectory, average tithe rent-charge £422, net yearly value £373, including 35 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of Albert Blakelock esq. of Sheffield, and held since 1863 by the Rev. Clement Ogle Blakelock M.A. of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels here. Franklin and Dade’s charity lands are now let in allotments, producing (in 1891) £20 15s. which is applied for the relief of the poor. The Duke of Norfolk K.G. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is heavy; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, peas and beans. The area is 1,678 acres; rateable value, £2,160; the population in 1891 was 308.

Two valuable mineral springs have been discovered here by A. C, Farrington esq. M.R.C.S.E.: the water, which has been analysed by Professor Attfield, of London, Professor Tichborne, of Dublin, and F. Sutton esq. of Norwich, is chalybeate and saline, and its temperature indicates the source to be at a depth of about a quarter of a mile: connected with these springs is a drinking fountain, and a plunge bath has also been constructed: the water, deprived by a simple process of its mineral constituents, forms a pure non-medicinal table water, and is bottled and exported.

Parish Clerk, William Welton.

POST OFFICE.—George Youells, receiver. Letters received through Diss at 7.20 a.m.; dispatched at 5.40 p.m.; on sunday at 11.40 a.m. Diss is the nearest money order & telegraph office. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.

School (mixed), erected in 1865 by Albert Smith esq. for 80 children; average attendance, 46; & is under Government inspection; Miss Sarah Gilby, mistress.

Baker Edward, sen
Blakelock Rev. Clement Ogle M.A., Rectory
Farrington Anthony Charles M.R.C.S. Eng
COMMERCIAL.
Baker Edward jun., farmer
Chaplin Edward, carpenter
Chapman Thomas, farmer, Shelfanger hall
Clarke James, blacksmith & shopkeeper
Cobb Stimson, shoe maker
Edwards John Bassingthwaite, farmer
Ellis Charles, farmer, The Lodge
Elsey Phillip, farmer
Fisher Joseph King, Crown P.H
Flogdell Joseph, farmer
Lanham Nelson, farmer
Layn John, wheelwright
Littleproud Walter, baker
Pearce Arthur, carpenter
Norfolk Spa Co. (Anthony Charles Farrington, proprietor)
Porcher Harry, farmer
Rolfe Horace, farmer
Rout George, Cross Keys P.H.
Sanders Henry, farmer & shopkeeper
Shulver James (exors, of), farmers
Spurdens Robert, farmer
Youells George, tailor, Post office