Great Bircham, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
BIRCHAM, GREAT (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Docking, hundred of Smithdon, W. division of Norfolk, 9 miles (N. N. E.) from Rougham. Great Bircham St Mary is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Norwich. Great Bircham is the largest of the three villages that make up the civil parish of Bircham, in the west of the English county of Norfolk. The village is located about 1 km south of the village of Bircham Newton, Norfolk, the same distance west of the village of Bircham Tofts, Norfolk, 20 km north-east of the town of King's Lynn, and 60 km north-west of the city of Norwich.

The Church of St Mary contains evidence of a Norman church on the site and reconstruction in the 1300 chancel and subsequent building.

During the 1939 -1945 war the churchyard of St. Mary’s at Great Bircham was used for the burial of service personnel from the Royal Air Force Station at Bircham Newton, and its satellites RAF Docking and RAF Langham. Also buried were Service dead who died in the area, or were recovered from the Sea, British service dead whose families requested local burial, and German airmen brought down in the area.

The special plot in the South Eastern corner of the Churchyard was set aside early in 1940, and all except one of the WW2 War graves are in this Plot. The single WW1 War grave is located elsewhere in the churchyard. Great Bircham Windmill is a Grade II listed tower mill in Great Bircham, Norfolk, England.

The earliest record of a windmill in Great Bircham is in 1761, when miller Richard Miller made his will. The mill, which was probably a post mill, was offered for sale in 1769. In 1800 the miller, Robert Sparham, was in financial difficulties and made a Deed of Assignment. In 1804 the mill was offered for sale or to let by George Humphrey. The next miller was Bloom Humphrey, who was followed by his widow Martha and then their son George. The mill remained in the Humphrey family until it was demolished c1846 to enable a new tower mill to be built on its site.

The tower mill was built for George Humphrey in 1846, a date stone to this effect is located between two windows on the first floor of the mill. The mill was built from cream coloured bricks, but was latter tarred. The mill was offered to let in 1856 and again in 1861. An accident in March 1864 in which George Humphrey was driving his cart whilst drunk resulted in the death of his wife Elizabeth. In April the mill was ordered to be sold by the mortgagees. An auction was held on 13 May at the Hare Inn, Docking. The next millers were Henry and Philip Stanton, followed by Walter Palmer. He left Norfolk in 1882 and Joseph Wagg took the mill, followed by a succession of Howards. William Howard was the last miller. The mill was working in 1916 but had ceased by 1922. The sails and fantail had been removed by 1934.

The mill was part of the Houghton Estate of the Marquess of Cholmondeley. In 1939 he sold the mill to Her Majesty the Queen, forming of the Royal Sandringham Estate. The mill was purchased from Her Majesty the Queen by Roger Wagg in May 1976 and restoration of the mill commenced in 1977.

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

Parish registers for Great Bircham Microfilm copy of original in the Norfolk Record Office, Central Library in Norwich, Norfolk, England. Some Latin.

Baptisms, burials, 1668-1793; marriages, 1668-1754. Baptisms, 1794-1811; burials, 1795-1812. Baptisms, 1811-1857. Marriages, 1754-1813; marriage banns, 1754-1808. Marriages, 1813-1903. Burials, 1813-1902. Marriage banns, 1824-1901. FHL BRITISH Film 1951566 Items 3 - 11

Archdeacons transcripts, 1725-1812 Microfilm copies of original records in the Norfolk Record Office, Central Library, Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Baptisms and burials 1725-1812 Marriages 1725-1811 FHL BRITISH Film 1526809 Item 11

Poor Law Unions
Docking Poor Law Union, Norfolk

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

 * Great Bircham on GenUKI
 * Norfolk War Grave website
 * History of the Great Bircham Mill