Little Snoring, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
SNORING, LITTLE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 3¼ miles (N. E. by E.) from Fakenham.

Little Snoring St Andrew is an Ancient Parish in the Walsingham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

Little Snoring has an entry in the Domesday Book of 1085. In the great book Little Snoring is recorded by the names Esnaringa, Snaringa and Snarlinga. It was King's land with the main landholders being William de Warenne and Peter de Valognes and his main tenant is said to be Ralph.

As well as a church, the village has an airfield, formerly RAF Little Snoring, part of which is still active as a private airfield, whilst the other part now belongs to a potato-producing company called BM. Other amenities in the village include a school, post office and a pub, The Green Man.

Within the Parish of Little Snoring, at a place called Queensgate, was situated a House of the Order of St Lazarus. It is mentioned in the will of Alexander, Rector of Snoring Parva, in 1380. Nothing further about the House is known, however it is believed that it may have been located at Church Farm which dates back to this period and is surrounded by a moat.

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.


 * Walsingham 1837-1938
 * Fakenham 1939-1974

The Register Office, Fakenham Connect, Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9SR. Tel: 01328 850111. E-mail: registration.fakenham@norfolk.gov.ukPD

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

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 224

Poor Law Unions
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

Web sites
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/little-snoring-st-andrew/ for information about the parish

http://www.the-snorings.co.uk/info/LShistory.html history of the villages and church

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-223867-church-of-st-andrew-little-snoring British listed building

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/archive/index.php/t-154.html for photo links to RAF Snoring memorials in the churchyard

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/littlesnoring/littlesnoring.htm Norfolk Churches website