Letheringsett, Norfolk Genealogy

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

Parish History
LETHERINGSETT (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of Holt, W. division of Norfolk, 1½ mile (W. by N.) from Holt. Also known as Lauringset.

Letheringsett St Andrew is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norwich. "The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew and has a long history, as shown by the chartulary of Binham Priory. This book, preserved in the British Museum, is in Latin and the writing is almost as clear today as it was when the monkish scribe engrossed it qute five centuries go. It contains copies of documents showing the priory’s title to the extensive properties in the neighbourhood owned by it, and in particular an “Inquirey into the first foundation of the church of Leringesete’. But there is little about the foundation."

[1327] Poll Tax (Survived)

[1380] Tax List (Survived). “What is remarkable is that only possibly two of the surname appearing in the 1327 list appear in the list of 1380. It may well be that the ravages of the Black Death in 1349 so depopulated the village that new families moved in from elsewhere to occupy the empty cottages."

[1523] Subsidey List. (Survived). "Contains entirely new set of names."

[1545] Tax List (Survived)

[1592] Tax List (Survived). The chief Letheringsett landowner was George Brigge "who lived at Old Hall, the 'big house' " and who "had only recently moved to Letheringsett from Guist." The Briggs family "had held substantial parcels of land in Cley, Wiveton and Letheringsett for some two hundred years since 1401."

[Early 1600s] In 1603 "..there were eighty-eight Communicants; one man and two women recusant" "This gives a clue to the population, as the communicant comprised the whole body of the adult inhabitants, who were bound to partake on certain occasions." The rector Robert Lawson, in place since 1576 had been "presented by Sir Christopher Heydon. He had been ordained in 1570 and was like his patron of the Puritan school of thought. With George Leeds, rector of Holt, and Vincent Goodwin of Cley and sixty others in the county he refused to subscribe to Archbishop Whitgift’s articles designed to enforce a stricter observance of ceremonies, dress and Prayer Book practice. It is quite likely that he was suspended for awhile, but the Puritan ministers had good friends among the local gentry, particularly William Heydon of Baconsthorpe and Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, which intervened on their behalf. …For some while, as we have seen, there were a number of Roman Catholics in the parish, which cannot have made things easy for Richard Lawson."

The Hall Farm house and saw mill was built aournd 1600.

Starting with 1601 the Archdeacon Transcripts have survived and run to 1608.

[1623-1625] After a 16 year gap, we have surviving Archdeacon Transcripts again and a new rector. The advowson was owned by John Jermy, "the squire of Bayfield, who proceeded in 1623 to present Thomas Kinge. The Jermys, as we shall see, were inclined to Puritanism and in the troubles of a few years later took strongly the side of Parliament against the King."

[1626-1631] No surviving Archdeacon Transcripts.

[1632-1636] Archdeacon Transcripts survived.

[1642-1651] English Civil War

[1653] Act passed "appointing secular 'parish register' ". 1655 - rector was John Lougher B.A. a Commonwealth presentation. No Archdeacon Transcipts survived, but we have the start of surviving parish registers.

[1660] Restoration of Monarch. The Meadow Farmhouse is thought to have been built about 1664.

[1666] Hearth Tax (Survived) and surviving Archdeacon Transcripts start up again in 1666.

[1672] Hearth Tax (Survived). The Glaven Farmhouse is late 17th Century.

[1682] Memorial in Letheringsett parish church dated 1682 reads: "M. S. of Charles Worsley late Rector of Salthouse descended from the ancient Family of the Worsleys of Plattin Lancashire and Son of Edward late Rector of this Chruch &amp; Mary Playford of North-Reps his Mother w. s. Charles with Beatrice Claxton of Booton his Wife lye interred under these Marbles In hopes of a Blessed Resurrection."

[1720] A mill existed where the present day Letheringsett Mill is located. A mill was known in the village since 1384 but it is not kown if that mill was on this same site. The "former" Letheringsett, in existence in 1720 burnt down and was rebuilt by 1754, then burnt again and the present day Letheringsett Mill was erected in 1802.

In the late 1800s "sermon tasting was to the fore. The flock wandered, sampling preachers oer a wide area and across parish boundaries. It was an age of experiment, not of spiritual torpor. Different deominations were tried: the Church of England on a Sunday morning, and perhaps the Methodists in the afternoon. And on a weekday evening there might be the prayer meeting of a pssionate Anglican evangelical fresh from Cambridge." So consider searching the non-conformist records in and outside parish boundaries for your ancestors.

[1800] Glavenside, a former mill house, was built around 1800.

In the late 1800s the Mother's Union, an Anglican charity was started and Letheringsett with Bayfield's Mother's Union blue flag with blue with white flowers is still found in the parish church as of 2013.

[1956] The barrel organ located in the Letheringsett Parish Church was placed their in 1956, but was an eighteenth century organ that was originally housed in the Hindringham Church.

Further reading:


 * Bird, Margaret. The Diary of Mary Hardy 1773-1809. (Kingston Upon Thames, England : Burnham Press, 2013).
 * Bryant, T.H.,The Churches of Norfolk (Norwich, 1900-15)Select Bryant and type in Letheringsett.
 * Cozens-Hardy, Basil. The History of Letheringsett in the County of Norfolk: with Extracts from the Diary of Mary Hardy, 1773-1809. See WorldCat.
 * "Parish Summary: Letheringsett with Glandford" Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Resources
If you live in Norfolk or near Blakeney then you will have access to a variety of resources; however, for those who live further afield, one can access online records at FamilySearch and other sites mentioned on this page. Additional records (microfilm and online) can be viewed at Family History Centers. Refer to and  in the FamilySearch Catalog for available records.

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
Church of England

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


 * Images of the parish registers may be viewed online in FamilySearch Historical Records; based on Norfolk Record Office reference PD 547
 * [1602-1812] Archdeacon Transcripts 1600-1812. FamilySearch. Years missing from collection (presumably because not extant) include: 1608-1622, 1674, 1756-1757, 1760, etc. There may be other years missing.
 * [1685-1941] Bishops Transcripts. FamilySearch. Arranged by Archdeaconry (Norwich or Norfolk), then date. Original Bishop Transcripts are housed at NRO, and their online catalog states Bishops Transcripts exist for 1698, 1705, 1715, 1722, 1724, 1734, 1746, 1752, 1759, 1762, 1769, etc.

Methodist

[1898] Methodist chapel erected "and was settled upo Primitive Methodist trusts….On the reunion of the various Weslayan churches in 1932 into the Methodist Church, it became the Methodist chapel in the Cromer, Sheringham &amp; Holt Circuit.”

Non-Conformist Records

 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions
The Workhouse: Erpingham, Norfolk on The Workhouse

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Manorial Records

 * The National Archives' Manorial Documents Register. Site includes information about using manorial records. Using the advanced search button enter Letheringsett and Norfolk. Most listings cited will be found in the Norfolk Record Office in Norwich.

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
 * Bird, Margaret. "Letheringsett in 1790". Hand drawn research map inside back cover of The Diary of Mary Hardy, Vol 2.
 * George, Wilfrid. Footpath map of Holt : with Cley and Blakeney (contain Glandford, Letheringsett) ISBN NL00146942. See Norfolk Public Library.

Websites

 * Norfolk: Letheringsett on GenUKI
 * Letheringsett on Glaven Valley website
 * Letheringsett Watermill Contains information on historial millers in Letheringsett.
 * Letheringsett with Glandford Norfolk Heritage Explorer