Salthouse, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk

Parish History
Salthouse St Nicholas is an Ancient Parish in the Holt deanery of the diocese of Norwich.

The name of the village comes from the once valuable commodity of Salt. It was once what it says it was: a “House for the storing of salt” and the Domesday Book of 1086 describes it so. Norfolk and Lincolnshire had more salt pans than any other counties of the British Isles in Medieval times. To produce salt sea water was boiled in clay vessels with the salt formed after the process fashioned into blocks of a standard weight and measure. Much evidence of this activity can be found along this stretch of the coast. There is evidence of even earlier settlements around Salthouse.

It seems most likely that a church was erected about 1250, as about that date the list of rectors begins. In all probability the existing church tower dates from then. Whatever the previous church was like it did not come up to the ideals of lovers of church architecture at the beginning of the English Rennaissance, for we do know definitely that the present building was completed in the year 1503. It is useless to speculate when the rebuilding commenced though it probably did not take more than six years to erect. One guesses this because although its builder, Sir Henry Heydon, possessed the advowson and also one of the manors in Salthouse prior to 1497, it was not till that date that he acquired by exchange the other manor which gave him complete control over the whole parish. Surely until he had obtained entire possession he would not have begun such so vast and expensive a work. At all events the following entry occurs in the Register under 1636:

Mem. The Church of Salthouse was built in ye year of our Lord God One thousand Five hundred and Three. For so it appeareth in one of ye windows of the same Church." Ita testatur Thos. Dawney rector de Salthouse 12 mo Decembris 1636.

This window no longer exists: no doubt a sacrifice to the fanaticism of the Puritans of Cromwell's time.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.


 * Erpingham 1837-1938
 * North Walsham 1939-1974
 * The Register Office, 18 Kings Arms Street, North Walsham, NR28 9JX. Tel/Fax: 01692 406220. E-mail: registration.nwalsham@norfolk.gov.uk

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Images of the parish registers may be viewed online in Historic Records (formerly Record Search) Norfolk Record Office reference PD 23

http://www.salthousehistory.co.uk/baptisms%201813.htm for Baptisms online

http://www.salthousehistory.co.uk/marriagesmain.html for marriages from the parish online

http://www.salthousehistory.co.uk/burials.html for burials

Non-Conformist churches
Salthouse United Methodist church

http://www.salthousehistory.co.uk/1851%20religious%20census.html for 1851 religious census entries about the Methodist chapels.

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Erpingham http://www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/norf/erpingham_workhouse.htm

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Norfolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.
 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
http://www.salthouse.churchnorfolk.com/ for information about the parish

http://www.northnorfolkimages.co.uk/location/salthouse.html for images of the village and church

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78585 British History online

http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/salthouse.htm Literary Norfolk website

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-224642-church-of-st-nicholas-salthouse British Listed buildings

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/salthouse/salthouse.htm Norwich Churches website

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/ for link to Norfolk Baptism project