TASBURGH is a village and parish on the river Taas, 1½ miles south-east from Flordon station on the Ipswich and Norwich section of the Great Eastern railway, and 8 south from Norwich, in the Southern division of the county, Dep wade hundred, petty sessional division and union, Harleston county court district, rural deanery of Depwade, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. This village derives its name from the river Taas, anciently “Taus,” on which the Romans had a station, called Ad Taum, now represented by an entrenchment of 24 acres in extent, situated on a high hill. The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a structure of flint with stone dressings, in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, north porch and an ancient round western tower containing 4 bells: the chancel retains a piscina, and there is an ancient font: several brasses of the 16th century also remain, and a fine altar tomb to the Baxter family: there are 200 sittings. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, average yearly value from tithe rent-charge £219, with 2 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the trustees of Isaac Jermy esq. and held since 1837 by the Rev. Henry Edmund Preston M. A. of Queens’ College, Cambridge. Here is a Primitive Methodist chapel and a meeting house for the Society of Friends. The charities amount to £30 yearly, and there is also a sum of £14 a year, the rent of a fuel allotment. Tasburgh Hall, the property and residence of Philip Berney Ficklin esq. is a red brick building in the late Jacobean style, and stands in well-timbered grounds, bounded on one side by the river Taas; it has been much enlarged and improved by the present owner and contains some very fine old oak panelling, chimney pieces and antique furniture. Reginald Preston Jermy Gwyn esq. is lord of the manor. Major Sir Charles Harvey bart. J.P. of Rainthorpe Hall, Flordon, Mr. Arthur Betts and John Furness esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is various; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and beans. The area is 884 acres; rateable value, £1,266; in 1891 the parish contained 423 inhabitants. Parish Clerk, Daniel Burgess. POST 0FFICE.-George Kirby, receiver. Letters by foot post from Long Stratton, arrive about 7.30 a. m.; dispatched at 6 p.m. week days; sundays 10.40 a.m. Long Stratton is the nearest money order & telegraph office. National School (mixed), erected in 1844, for 100 children; average attendance, 70; Miss Clara Ormsby, mistress. (Kelly’s Directory of Cambs, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1892. [Part 2: Norfolk])
