New Houghton (Houghton-next-Harpley), Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to New Houghton (Houghton-next-Harpley), Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HOUGHTON, NEW, often known as Houghton, or sometimes known as Houghton-by-Harpley (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Docking, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 7 miles (N. by W.) from Rougham.

New Houghton St Martin is an Ancient parish in the Burnham deanery of the diocese of Norwich. The church stands in the park of Houghton Hall, the country house built for Sir Robert Walpole. The church was restored and at the same time a brand new tower was built. The re-faced flint walls contain a medieval building which was refurbished in the 16th century and partially rebuilt in the 18th century. It is a Grade 1 listed buuilding by English Heritage in common with the other buildings in Houghton Park.

It should not be confused with Houghton St Giles, Norfolk or Houghton on the Hill, Norfolk

The modern parish of Houghton-next-Harplet St Martin is a church within the united benefice of Eastand West Rudham helhoughton etc in the Burnham and Walsingham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich. The church is used for services for limited months in the year.

NEW HOUGHTON (or HOUGHTON-IN-THE-BRAKE, or HOUGHTON-NEXT-HARPLEY) is a parish and village 7 miles from Docking railway station, 14 north-east-by-ast from Lynn and 10 west from Fakenham, in the Western division of the county, Gallow hundred, Docking union, Little Walsingham county court district, rural deanery of Burnham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. Houghton Hall, one of the seats of the Marquess of Cholmondley, is of freestone, having two principal fronts, ornamented with cupolas at each corner, the front, with the colonnades, being 450 feet long: it was built by the celebrated minister Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford, and stands in a domain of 1,400 acres, of which 700 are wood and 760 park: the Hall stands low, and is surrounded by beautiful grounds with some fine old trees : the architect was Ripley, and it occupied thirteen years in the building. The church of St. Martin, standing in the park, is a structure of flint and stone, in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a small tower containing 1 bell: the tower was built by the great Sir Robert Walpole, who died in 1745: the church contains some old monuments: it was repewed in 1855: the chancel was restored in 1867 by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, the lay rector, when an aumbrie was discovered, which still remains. The register dates from about 1650. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £108, with 6 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Marquess of Cholmondeley and held since 1845 by the Rev. John Henry Broome, of Queen's College, Cambridge, who has rooms in the Hall. The Marquess of Cholmondeley, with a few residents in the neighbourhood, distribute several prizes annually for the best cultivated gardens and allotments. The Marquess of Cholmondeley is lord of the manor and sole landowner.

Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk &amp; Suffolk, 1883, p.356.

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 Free BMD


 * Docking

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Norfolk Record Office.

Poor Law Unions
Docking Poor Law Union, Norfolk

Probate Jurisdictions
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
England Jurisdictions 1851

Websites

 * Norfolk: Houghton on GenUKI
 * Literary Norfolk website
 * Church of St Martin on British Listed Buildings