Crostwight
Encyclopedia
Crostwight is a small village
and former civil parish
in the north-east of the county of Norfolk
, England
. In the past, it was sometimes called Crostwick, but this should be avoided, for fear of confusion with the different village of Crostwick
, also in Norfolk.
Apart from the church, the village consists of Crostwight Hall, its cottages and outbuildings, an old rectory
, and a few other houses.
in origin (kross, 'cross' + þveit, 'clearing'). There are seven such names in Norfolk ending in -thwaite, and one in Suffolk
, showing early Scandinavia
n settlement. While the suffix -thwaite was familiar north of the Humber
and has survived there, it has been corrupted elsewhere. Forms of Crostwight's name recorded include Crostwit in 1086, Crosthueit in 1198, and Crostweyt in 1810.
of 1086, which spells its name 'Crostwit'. At that time, it was held by Geoffrey [Baynard] under Ralph [Baynard]. TRE (in the time of King Edward the Confessor
), twelve freemen
at Crostwit had one hundred and 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land, and there were twelve borderers, with 16 acres (64,749.8 m²) of meadow
. The whole was described as one league
(leuca) in length and seven furlong
s broad. There is a reference to the church of St Benet of Hulme, and the people mentioned include Esger the staller and Geoffrey Baynard.
At the time of the Peasants' Revolt
of 1381, the area of North Walsham
was "the cradle, the supreme fortress, and the tomb of the Norfolk rebels", generating surveys of households, and Crostwight is one of the few places for which complete records survive. Its heads of households were found to consist of nine cultivators, three weaver
s, two spinsters
, one dye
r and one fuller
.
According to William White's Gazetteer of 1845:
More was said in the 1883 edition of White's Gazetteer:
At the time of the 1841 census
, the surnames recorded for Crostwight are Atkins, Bacon, Burton, Cinlon, Colman, Crowe, Flowerday, Frary, Furnace, Hubbard, Lane, Jarvis, Mays, Salmon, Reed, Shephard, Webster and Wright.
At the census of 1921
, the parish's population was seventy-one, and by 1931 it had fallen to sixty-one. In 1935, Crostwight was abolished as a civil parish
and incorporated into its larger neighbour, Honing
.
The parish records, dating from 1698 to 1988, are held by the Norfolk Record Office
at its Archive Centre in Martineau Lane, Norwich
.
stands on its own not far from the Old Rectory, but is distant from the rest of the village.
In 1810, Charles Parkin
wrote of the church:
John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
(1870–1872) says of it: "The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich
. Value, £66. Patron, M. Shephard, Esq. The church is old but good, and has a tower."
The church has a series of late medieval wall-paintings (see below). Its massive tower of flint and local stone was reduced in height in 1910, after ivy had made part of it unsafe, and the bells were hung lower. Inside the church is a rood screen
carved with dragon
s, wild men, and flying hearts, but the carving may be modern or restored. The chancel
arch, like some walls, is decorated with paintings, but not the screen. There is an octagonal Purbeck stone
font, which stands on pillars and on a substantial two-tier octagonal base. The church has no electricity and is lit by oil lamps.. The church is a Grade I listed building http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=224279.
Crostwight lost only one man during the Second World War, and he is commemorated by his own memorial inside the church, which reads: "In honoured memory of HUBERT ARTHUR FRANCIS, who gave his life aboard H.M.S. Royal Oak at Scapa Flow
14th October 1939 Faithful unto death".
Despite the smallness of its ecclesiastical parish, the church is still used. Crostwight is now part of the Church of England
united benefice of 'Smallburgh with Dilham with Honing and Crostwight', which has a 'priest in charge'.
All of the scenes are in fragments and few are clear. The order of the scenes is illogical, beginning on the bottom left with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. To the right of that is the Last Supper
, and further right comes the Washing of Feet. Above is the Arrest in Gethsemane
, and to the right of that a scene which may be Christ before Herod
or Pilate, then the Crowning with Thorns
, above which is the Crucifixion. This includes one of the crucified thieves, and behind him is the Roman Stephaton
with a bucket of vinegar and a spear. On a lower tier, underneath the Last Supper
, is the Ascension. In the splay of a window is the Agony in the Garden, with Christ kneeling in the foreground, St Peter
, St James
and St John the Apostle
behind him. Above this are the remains of another scene which may be the Resurrection
.
. This is estimated to date from the late fourteenth century and was discovered in the 1840s by a Mr Gunn. It centres on a tree growing out of the jaws of hell
, which appears as the mouth of a giant fish, full of sinners who are being pushed down into hell by a devil
. Obove, the seven deadly sins grow on the tree like fruit. One of these is clearly marked in Latin
of with the name of one of the deadly sins, Socordia, or Sloth.
Another painting shows two women approaching the gates of Heaven, with an angel to greet them and a devil watching from below. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
suggests that this is a warning against gossip, and it has also been compared to a church painting at Swanbourne
which is an allegory of penitent and unpenitent souls.
In June 1848, The Gentleman's Magazine
noted that Dawson Turner had exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries
"two sets of drawings, illustrative of the fresco paintings, and other ancient remains, in the parish churches of Gateley
and Crostwight, in the county of Norfolk." Turner later reported on the Seven Deadly Sins and other paintings at Crostwight in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's Norfolk Archaeology for 1849, with drawings by Mrs Gunn.
Crostwight Hall is a notable country house and is described by Michael Sayer in Burke's & Savills Guide to Country Houses (Volume III, East Anglia). Its garden is one of thirty-three Historic Parks and Gardens listed in the Local Plan for North Norfolk
. The historic main house, Old Crostwight Hall, was considered as a project by the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust but was instead rebuilt by a developer.
The house has sometimes been called 'Crostwick Hall', for instance in Parkin's Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (1810), where it is called "an agreeable old seat".
The Strangers' Hall Museum at Norwich has an unusual survival from the mid-19th century: an anonymous St Valentine's Day card dated and postmarked 1862, said by the museum to be addressed to "Miss Jenny Lowe [query Love], Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk". The coloured card is embossed with couples, cherubs and roses, and in the middle is a silver bird on a silk panel. On the pictorial side of the card are the printed words "My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss", and on the other is written by hand "Good Morrow Valentine". As the Hall was then occupied by the Lane family, the addressee may be Miss Jenny Lane.
coppiced semi-natural woodland
) are both designated in the North Norfolk Local Plan as County Wildlife Sites.
After 1756:
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and former civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the north-east of the county of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In the past, it was sometimes called Crostwick, but this should be avoided, for fear of confusion with the different village of Crostwick
Crostwick
Crostwick is a village and civil parish in the district of Broadland, Norfolk, England....
, also in Norfolk.
Apart from the church, the village consists of Crostwight Hall, its cottages and outbuildings, an old rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
, and a few other houses.
Name
The name of Crostwight is considered to be Old NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
in origin (kross, 'cross' + þveit, 'clearing'). There are seven such names in Norfolk ending in -thwaite, and one in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, showing early Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n settlement. While the suffix -thwaite was familiar north of the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
and has survived there, it has been corrupted elsewhere. Forms of Crostwight's name recorded include Crostwit in 1086, Crosthueit in 1198, and Crostweyt in 1810.
History
Crostwight is recorded in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086, which spells its name 'Crostwit'. At that time, it was held by Geoffrey [Baynard] under Ralph [Baynard]. TRE (in the time of King Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
), twelve freemen
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
at Crostwit had one hundred and 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land, and there were twelve borderers, with 16 acres (64,749.8 m²) of meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
. The whole was described as one league
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
(leuca) in length and seven furlong
Furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 220 yards, 660 feet, 40 rods, or 10 chains. The exact value of the furlong varies slightly among English-speaking countries....
s broad. There is a reference to the church of St Benet of Hulme, and the people mentioned include Esger the staller and Geoffrey Baynard.
At the time of the Peasants' Revolt
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the...
of 1381, the area of North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England in the North Norfolk district.-Demographics:The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 11,998. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North...
was "the cradle, the supreme fortress, and the tomb of the Norfolk rebels", generating surveys of households, and Crostwight is one of the few places for which complete records survive. Its heads of households were found to consist of nine cultivators, three weaver
Weaver
The Ploceidae, or weavers, are small passerine birds related to the finches.These are seed-eating birds with rounded conical bills, most of which are from Sub-Saharan Africa, with fewer species in tropical Asia. A few species have been introduced outside their native range. The weaver group is...
s, two spinsters
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
, one dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
r and one fuller
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
.
More was said in the 1883 edition of White's Gazetteer:
At the time of the 1841 census
United Kingdom Census 1841
The United Kingdom Census of 1841 recorded the occupants of every UK household on the night of 6 June, 1841. It was described as the "first modern census" in that it was the first to record information about every member of the household and because it was administered as a single event, under...
, the surnames recorded for Crostwight are Atkins, Bacon, Burton, Cinlon, Colman, Crowe, Flowerday, Frary, Furnace, Hubbard, Lane, Jarvis, Mays, Salmon, Reed, Shephard, Webster and Wright.
At the census of 1921
Census in the United Kingdom
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...
, the parish's population was seventy-one, and by 1931 it had fallen to sixty-one. In 1935, Crostwight was abolished as a civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
and incorporated into its larger neighbour, Honing
Honing, Norfolk
Honing is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north-northeast of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north-east of London. The village lies east of the town of North Walsham. The nearest railway station is at Worstead on the Bittern Line which runs...
.
The parish records, dating from 1698 to 1988, are held by the Norfolk Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
at its Archive Centre in Martineau Lane, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
.
Church of All Saints
The parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
stands on its own not far from the Old Rectory, but is distant from the rest of the village.
In 1810, Charles Parkin
Charles Parkin
-Life:The son of William Parkin of London, he was born on 11 January 1689, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School. He went in 1708 to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1711, M.A. 1717...
wrote of the church:
John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales...
(1870–1872) says of it: "The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich
Anglican Diocese of Norwich
The Diocese of Norwich forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of Dunwich founded in 630. In common with many Anglo-Saxon bishoprics it moved, in this case to Elmham in 673...
. Value, £66. Patron, M. Shephard, Esq. The church is old but good, and has a tower."
The church has a series of late medieval wall-paintings (see below). Its massive tower of flint and local stone was reduced in height in 1910, after ivy had made part of it unsafe, and the bells were hung lower. Inside the church is a rood screen
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
carved with dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
s, wild men, and flying hearts, but the carving may be modern or restored. The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
arch, like some walls, is decorated with paintings, but not the screen. There is an octagonal Purbeck stone
Purbeck Marble
Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone quarried in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England.It is one of many kinds of Purbeck Limestone, deposited in the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous periods....
font, which stands on pillars and on a substantial two-tier octagonal base. The church has no electricity and is lit by oil lamps.. The church is a Grade I listed building http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=224279.
Crostwight lost only one man during the Second World War, and he is commemorated by his own memorial inside the church, which reads: "In honoured memory of HUBERT ARTHUR FRANCIS, who gave his life aboard H.M.S. Royal Oak at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
14th October 1939 Faithful unto death".
Despite the smallness of its ecclesiastical parish, the church is still used. Crostwight is now part of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
united benefice of 'Smallburgh with Dilham with Honing and Crostwight', which has a 'priest in charge'.
The Crostwight Passion Cycle
The medieval wall paintings on the church's north wall date from the late 14th or early 15th century and have been called the Crostwight Passion Cycle. An article at paintedchurch.org considers that this is "...despite its fragmentary condition, one of the most interesting Passion Cycles in England".All of the scenes are in fragments and few are clear. The order of the scenes is illogical, beginning on the bottom left with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. To the right of that is the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
, and further right comes the Washing of Feet. Above is the Arrest in Gethsemane
Gethsemane
Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem most famous as the place where, according to Biblical texts, Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before Jesus' crucifixion.- Etymology :...
, and to the right of that a scene which may be Christ before Herod
Agrippa I
Agrippa I also known as Herod Agrippa or simply Herod , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honour of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the...
or Pilate, then the Crowning with Thorns
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
, above which is the Crucifixion. This includes one of the crucified thieves, and behind him is the Roman Stephaton
Stephaton
Stephaton or was the name given by tradition to the Roman soldier, unnamed in the Gospels, who offered Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar wine after Jesus cried out "I thirst" , and thus a subordinate of Longinus the centurion. It is not known when or how the name originated, well before the end of...
with a bucket of vinegar and a spear. On a lower tier, underneath the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
, is the Ascension. In the splay of a window is the Agony in the Garden, with Christ kneeling in the foreground, St Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
, St James
James the Just
James , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity...
and St John the Apostle
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
behind him. Above this are the remains of another scene which may be the Resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
.
Other paintings
Other paintings in the parish church include one of the Seven Deadly SinsSeven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
. This is estimated to date from the late fourteenth century and was discovered in the 1840s by a Mr Gunn. It centres on a tree growing out of the jaws of hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, which appears as the mouth of a giant fish, full of sinners who are being pushed down into hell by a devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. Obove, the seven deadly sins grow on the tree like fruit. One of these is clearly marked in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
of with the name of one of the deadly sins, Socordia, or Sloth.
Another painting shows two women approaching the gates of Heaven, with an angel to greet them and a devil watching from below. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
suggests that this is a warning against gossip, and it has also been compared to a church painting at Swanbourne
Swanbourne
Swanbourne is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about two miles east of Winslow, three miles west of Stewkley, on the secondary road B4032.-History:...
which is an allegory of penitent and unpenitent souls.
In June 1848, The Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...
noted that Dawson Turner had exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
"two sets of drawings, illustrative of the fresco paintings, and other ancient remains, in the parish churches of Gateley
Gateley
Gateley is a village and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England.-Location:The village is situated some north-east of the town of Swaffham, north of the town of Dereham and north-west of the city of Norwich. The parish of Gateley is within the Breckland district of Norfolk...
and Crostwight, in the county of Norfolk." Turner later reported on the Seven Deadly Sins and other paintings at Crostwight in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's Norfolk Archaeology for 1849, with drawings by Mrs Gunn.
Crostwight Hall
North Norfolk
North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Its council is based in Cromer. The council headquarters can be found approximately out of the town of Cromer on the Holt Road.-History:...
. The historic main house, Old Crostwight Hall, was considered as a project by the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust but was instead rebuilt by a developer.
The house has sometimes been called 'Crostwick Hall', for instance in Parkin's Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (1810), where it is called "an agreeable old seat".
The Strangers' Hall Museum at Norwich has an unusual survival from the mid-19th century: an anonymous St Valentine's Day card dated and postmarked 1862, said by the museum to be addressed to "Miss Jenny Lowe [query Love], Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk". The coloured card is embossed with couples, cherubs and roses, and in the middle is a silver bird on a silk panel. On the pictorial side of the card are the printed words "My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss", and on the other is written by hand "Good Morrow Valentine". As the Hall was then occupied by the Lane family, the addressee may be Miss Jenny Lane.
Geography
Crostwight Heath (dense acidic scrubland) and Crostwight Common (broad-leavedBroad-leaved tree
A broad-leaved tree or broad-leaf tree or broadleaf tree is any tree that has wide leaves, rather than slim, needle-like leaves as found in conifers...
coppiced semi-natural woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
) are both designated in the North Norfolk Local Plan as County Wildlife Sites.
List of rectors of Crostwight
To 1756:- 1300: Ralph de Somerton, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn
- 1305: ( - ) de Billokby
- 1313: Robert de Warham
- 1313: Richard de Halesworth, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn
- 1335: John Taillor, by Sim. Kemyng
- 1348: William de Ely, by John Kenyng
- 1373: Nich. Lomb, by Joan, widow of John Costeyn
- 1389: Roger de Holand
- 1391: William Nethergate, by John Costeyn
- 1404: John Blake, by Margery, widow of Henry de Betele
- 1413: Henry Lesyngham, by John Elmham
- 1414: Richard Newman, by Thomas Derham
- 1447: Robert Casmond, by Nicholas Waterman
- 1449: John Bullock, by Nicholas Waterman, gent.
- 1452: John Leigh
- 1461: Robert Wilkys, by Henry Heydon and Thomas Brampton
- 1483: Thomas Curteys, by John Bishop
- 1484: John Rudham
- 1493: Roger Humfrey
- 1493: Thomas Lyng, by Sir John Paston
- 1497: Thomas Miles, by John Bishop
- 1503: John Trew, by Robert Harridaunce, Esq.
- 1510: Stephen Drury
- 1556: Robert Lindley, by Margaret Bishop, widow
- 1557: Robert Best
- 1579: William Olyver, by Thomas Groos, Esq.
- 1598: Edmund Alphen
- 1602: Thomas Cannam, by Thomas Groos, Esq.
- 1630: Thomas Ramsey, by Sir Charles le Groos
- 1665: Thomas Falke, by Thomas le Groos, Esq.
- 16--: Charles Spicer
- 1669: And. Call.
- 1672: Valentine Husband, by Robert Tutpill, gent.
- 1674: Henry Gooch
- 1687: Bambridge Dean, by Charles le Groos alias Harman, Esq.
- 1694: John Rolfe
- 17--: Noah Violas
- 1720: Mundeford Spelman (on the death of Violas), presented by Charles Harman alias le Gross, Esq.
- 1736: John Wakeman, by Robert, Lord WalpoleRobert Walpole, 2nd Earl of OrfordRobert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford , was a British peer, styled as The Lord Walpole from 1723 to 1745.-Family:He was the eldest son of the King's First Minister, now regarded as the first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole , and his first wife Catherine...
- 1753: Thomas Batman, by Margaret, Countess of Orford
- 1754: James Adamson, by John Sharp, Esq. (hac vice)
- 1756: Thomas Hutchingson, by the Bishop (a lapse)
After 1756:
- fl. 1845: Henry Atkinson
- fl. 1883: John Bartholomew Vale (1823–96)
- fl. 1899: H. G. Corner
External links
- Satellite photograph at maps.google.co.uk
- Location map at British-towns.net
- Aerial photograph of Crostwight at ukvillages.co.uk
- A Vision of Crostwight CP/AP at edina.ac.uk