Sculthorpe, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Sculthorpe, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
SCULTHORPE (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (N. W.) from Fakenham. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Sculthorpe St Mary and All Saints is an Ancient Parish in the Burnham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

The parish church of St Mary &amp; All Saints, Sculthorpe - the third on this site - chiefly consists of an early 14th century south-west tower, a late 14th century nave and north aisle, the chancel of 1846-48 and the south aisle Lady Chapel and western "Galilee" added in 1860-61.

The fine, early Norman font, depicting the Adoration of the Magi on one side and the Star of Bethlehem on the other, is reputedly a surviving part of the Norman church with its 60 acres of glebe land mentioned in the Domesday Book (1068). The fine chamber organ (1755) was built by John Snetzler, its case carved and gilded in 1773 when it was a fixture within the Assembly Rooms at Blake Street in York. There are a number of fine memorial brasses in this church; Henry Unton, Receiver of Fines at the Court of Common Pleas (1470); John &amp; Elizabeth Humpton and their children (1521); inscriptions to John &amp; Margaret Stebyrd (c.1480) and to "Syr George Brown Sometyme parsih priest of this town" (c.1520). TheVictorian stained glass windows are especially famous. Two were commissions from William Morris &amp; Company; a south chancel window by Ford Maddox Brown (1864) and in the Lady Chapel "Faith, Hope &amp; Charity" designed by Burne-Jones (1865-66) and shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. A third window,depicting the "Story of Ruth" in the western "Gailiee", was designed by RobertTurnill Bayne and shown at the Second International Exhibition in London in 1862.

There is an ornate Victorian Gothic memorial, by Myers of Lambeth, on the north wall of the chancel commemorating the life of Major-General Sir John Thomas Jones, Baronet. of Cranmer Hall (1783-1843). He was one of the distinguished Royal Engineers who served during the Peninsular War under the Duke of Wellington and was present at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

In 1381 Sir Robert Knollys, a veteran commander in the Hundred Years War and Esquire-at-Arms to Edward the Black Prince, built his fortified manor house here on the site of the present Manor Farmhouser and commenced to rebuild Sculthorpe Church, of which the nave and north aisle of the late 14th century are his surviving work. RAF Sculthorpe was built as the second satellite airfield of RAF West Raynham a few miles to the south, the first being RAF Great Massingham. Work was begun in the Spring of 1942 and the airfield was laid out as a standard RAF Heavy Bomber airfield with concrete runways, dispersals site, mess facilities and accommodation. Much of the construction work was completed by Irish labour working for the construction company Bovis.

As work was drawing to a close in May 1943 the first squadrons started to arrive, the first being RAF 342 Lorraine Squadron (Free French Air Force) within 2 Group from RAF West Raynham. This squadron operated two flights of the Douglas Boston aircraft along with some Douglas Havoc aircraft for training, 342 Squadron stayed until 19 July 1943 when they moved to RAF Great Massingham.

On 20 July 1943 the Royal New Zealand Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force moved in with No. 487 Squadron RNZAF and No. 464 Squadron RAAF taking up residence with their Lockheed Ventura aircraft having moved from RAF Methwold before converting at Sculthorpe onto the De Havilland Mosquito. On 20 September 1943 21 Squadron moved in from RAF Oulton, also with Mosquitos to form the Sculthorpe Wing (140 Wing). The Wing stayed at Sculthorpe completing more than 100 missions before departing for RAF Hunsdon on 31 December 1943.

In January 1944 100 Group Royal Air Force No. 214 Squadron RAF moved in with Boeing B-17 aircraft for use in the Electronic Warfare role, to be joined by crews from the USAAF 96th Bomb Group from RAF Snetterton, known at Sculthorpe and thereafter as the 803rd Bomb Squadron of the USAAF. In April 1944 the 803rd and 214 Squadron departed for RAF Oulton leaving Sculthorpe empty for its redevelopment as a Very Heavy Bomber Base with the work not being completed until the spring of 1946.

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.

Church Records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 214

Non-Conformist Records

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Census Records
Paddy Apling's archived website for transcript of 1891 census

Poor Law Unions
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Walsingham/Walsingham.shtml

Walsingham Union was incorporated under the terms of the 1834 Act, and the union workhouse was built at Great Snoring, but not completed until 1838. The Walsingham Union Workhouse at Great Snoring was opened in 1838. It was situated close to the boundary between the parishes of Great Snoring and Thursford and was sometimes known as Thursford Workhouse. Poor Law Unions were abolished in 1930 and the responsibilities of Walsingham Union Board of Guardians were taken over by Norfolk County Council Guardians' Committee No. 7. From 1930 the former Workhouse became known as Walsingham Public Assistance Institution. On 26 and 27 June 1934 the remaining thirty inmates (including two infants but no children) were transferred to West Beckham and Gressenhall Institutions and Walsingham Institution officially closed on 30 June 1934. The building was subsequently adapted for use as a smallpox hospital. By 1976 the building was derelict and was demolished in the early 1990s. Acquisition Received by the Norfolk Record Office on 26 February 1982 (C/GP 19/192-198) and on unknown dates.

Copies C/GP19/1-6, 131, 133-135, 137, 141, 143-146, 148, 150-151, 173-181 are on microfilm. RelatedMaterial For records of Guardians Committee No. 7 (including the administration of Red House Children's Home in Little Snoring and the boarding-out of children), see C/GC 7. See Public Assistance Sub-Committee minutes, 11 July 1934 and 12 September 1934, C/C 10/455. The records of the County Architect's Department include plans of the alterations for use as a smallpox hospital dated February 1937, see C/AR 1/29-31. The one inch to one mile Ordnance Survey Map of 1954 designates the building 'smallpox hospital'.

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

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

Websites

 * Norfolk: Sculthorpe on GenUKI
 * Sculthorpe St Mary All Saints on A Church Near You
 * Sculthorpe Mill
 * British Listed Building
 * Church Images
 * Sculthorpe on Norfolk Churches website