Diss Family History Group

LOPHAM (NORTH), a village 3½ miles S.E. by S. of East Harling, has its parish in Guiltcross union and hundred, Guiltcross and Shropham petty sessional division, Diss county court district, Ipswich bankruptcy district, Harling polling district of South Norfolk, Rockland rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 674 inhabitants in 1881, living on 2000 acres, and had a rateable value of £3153. Lopham Park, which extends over 900 acres, belongs to the Duke of Norfolk, but H. E. Garrod, Esq., of Diss, is lord of the manor, in which are numerous small copyholds, subject to arbitrary fines. This manor comprehends also South Lopham; and the two villages have long been famous for the manufacture of linen or hempen cloth; and though but little yarn is now spun here by hand-wheels, here are several looms in weaving sheeting, diaper, huckaback, damask, &c., which are sold unbleached by the manufacturers, who hawk them in their own carts over this and the adjacent counties. The CHURCH (St. Nicholas) is a large and handsome structure, comprising nave, south aisle, chancel, porch, and square tower. The chancel was restored in 1862. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £17 0s. 5½d., is consolidated with South Lopham. The benefice has a small rectorial manor in the two adjoining parishes, and must be given to a fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The tithes of this parish were commuted in 1845 for £303 per annum, and here are 5A 2R. of glebe. The SCHOOL BOARD was formed May 26, 1877, and now consists of Messrs. John W. Bobby (chairman), Thomas Womack vice-chairman), Edward Muskett, Stephen Holden, and Stephen Beales. Mr. F. Fowell, Garboldisham, is clerk. The National School, erected 1871, is now only used a Sunday school, and is let for concerts. The Burial Board, formed in 1870, consists of nine members, three of whom retire annually. The cemetery adjoining the churchyard is 1A. 20P. the land cost £80, and the Board have spent £150. Rev. - Bateman is chairman. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel here. Mary Williamson, in 1696, left 7A. 1R. 20P. of land, at Garboldisham, for apprenticing poor children, or clothing for the poor of this parish. The Fuel Allotment: 103A. 2R. 11P., was awarded at enclosure, in 1815. The Town lands, partly purchased, and partly given by Robert Bringloe, in 1687, and other donors, consist of about 43A, in the parishes of Lopham, Garboldisham, and Shelfanger. They are let, with two cottages, at rent amounting to £80 per annum, portion of which is applied in the service of the church. Here are also a house and garden, by several poor families. The Fuel Allotment and Town Lands are now under a new scheme. Mr. H. H. Beales is clerk.

LOPHAM (SOUTH), a village and parish, adjoining and participating in the linen trade of North Lopham, is 4 miles S.E. by S. of East Harling, and 5 miles W. by N. of Diss. It is in Guiltcross union and hundred, Guiltcross and Shropham petty sessional division, Diss county court district, Ipswich bankruptcy district, Harling polling district of South Norfolk, Rockland rural deanery, and Norfolk archdeaconry. It had 529 inhabitants in 1881, living on 1937 acres, and has a rateable value of £2977. The parish lies in the same manor as North Lapham; and belongs mostly to Thomas Buckenham, Esq. and the Duke of Norfolk; but here are many small proprietors. The CHURCH (St. Andrew) is a large edifice, comprising nave, south aisle, and chancel, with a fine Norman tower, containing six bells, and rising between the nave and chancel, which are of much later date, the former being rebuilt after 1479, and the latter about the year 1370. The rectory is consolidated with North Lopham, in the patronage of the representatives of the Rev. J. Bateman, and incumbency of the Rev. John Fitz Herbert Bateman, M.A., who has here a good residence, and 45 acres of glebe. The tithes of this parish were commuted in 1845 for £508 per annum. The School, with master’s house adjoining, was built in 1863 at a cost of £800, and is attended by 90 children. Here is a small Baptist Chapel. On the east side of the two Lophams, in the swampy grounds, called Lopham Gate, are two copious springs. which give rise to the rivers Waveney and Little Ouse, the former running eastward to Yarmouth, and the latter westward to Thetford and Lynn, and both forming the boundary of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Town Lands, given by John Barker, in 1468, John Jessup, in 1672, and other donors, consist of a farm of 1A. 1R., in Wortham and Redgrave, let for £86 a year; 16A. 2R. 13P., in Langmere, let for £29; 37 acres of heath land, let for £37; 4 cottages £13; and 15A. 2R. 27P., in quarter acre allotments, let for £27. One fourth of these rents is applied in defraying the expenses of the church, and the remainder is between the school and poor. The Fuel Allotments, awarded at the enclosure in 1815, comprise 126A. 27p., on which the poor cut turf, and the herbage is let for about £10, which is expended in repairing the fences. In 1815 William Branch Elliott left £400, to be invested in the funds, and the dividends applied yearly in a distribution in sheets and blankets among the poor of South Lopham. This charity now consists of £452 6d. three per cent. consols.

POST OFFICE at Mr. Thomas Cox’s. Letters from East Harling via Thetford arrive at 8.40 a.m., depart at 4.35 p.m. Sundays, depart at 10 a.m. Kenninghall is the nearest Money Order Office.

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