January/February 2026
I get asked a number of questions on a regular basis when I am down at the church, the most F.A.Q. concerns the age of the church to which there is a short answer or one that is a little more detailed, so I always need to guage my response to the occasion! Another is one where I am asked for population size of the village as an illustration of the context of the ancestor about whom enquiries are being made. If the required dates are within the compass of the Census returns since 1841 that is a relatively simple one with which to deal. It is very much harder to answer the question prior to those dates.
Many of you reading this column will be well aware of the effects of changing monarchs on the organisation of the English church in the 16th Century. Apart from the fact that we got the King James Bible, I was rather less aware of the situation upon the death of Elizabeth 1st. and the accession of James 1st.In 1603. James, a Scot, it would seem knew little about the Church in England and required of his Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, to ascertain certain things about his new responsibilities nationwide. His chief concerns were about the amount of dissent from recusants who still held loyalties to the Roman Church, how educated the clergy were, if they had responsibility for more than one parish, who had patronage of the livings and how much those livings were worth.This information was gathered, in the case of the Norwich diocese, from the various deaneries that made up what were then the four Archdeaconries of the Diocese i.e. Norwich, Norfolk, Sudbury and Suffolk.
Dr Augustus Jessopp
The Rev. Augustus Jessopp who “communicated” the information to Volume X of the journal Norfolk Archaeology in 1888 (as well as to me from that journal) writes that it constituted:
“a complete report upon the condition of the Church of England at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and would contain information concerning the religious condition of the people, at least in externals, that could be looked for in no other source. It would be more than this - it would give as near an approximation to a census of the population as in those days had ever been aimed at. For in every parish the communicants comprised the whole body of the adult inhabitants-who were all bound to receive the Sacrament on certain occasions under heavy penalties-and who, it they did not receive it, were classed under the head of Recusants, and stigmatized accordingly".
Upon reading this I consulted the table of results drawn from the questionnaires that were, in most cases, returned to the then Bishop of Norwich, John Jecon. My first port of call was Riborowe Magna which provides the following information, given minimally by Thomas Waterman, Rector: He had 120 communicants, no recusants and no persons who did not receive [communion] The valuation of the living was given as £14.16s. 8d. with Sir Nicholas Bacon as Patron. With that valuation it was then the most valuable of those churches that are now within our Benefice. It was however only in joint second place with Brisley in regard to the number of communicants as Whissonsett had the greater number with 180 persons.Gately and Colkirk were both pluralist livings as was Pudding Norton (with Wells). I could find neither Dunton or Little Ryburgh in the returns, and assumed that they were part of the Norfolk Archdeaconry that was not part of Jessopp’s paper:
Extracts from the tables in Norfolk Archaeology Volume 10
Further investigation turned up a weighty tome entitled “The Diocesan Population Returns for 1563 and 1603” edited by Alan Dyer and D.M. Palliser published in 2005. In this they cite the good Dr Jessopp in his 1888 paper as “the first scholar to realise the significance of the returns from the point of view of the demographer." They continue “It was not until the 1950’s and 1960’s that historians began to make serious use of the returns for demographic purposes” There are no returns from the Norwich Diocese of the 1563 survey known to have survived. It is from this book that I can now add the figures for Dunton and Little Ryburgh which were part of the Burnham Deanery within the Archdeaconry of Norfolk. Being a work primarily for statistician the editors have not included the names of the incumbents and Patrons where supplied and in the case of the Norfolk Archdeaconry, the figures come from other sources, primarily from Francis Blomefield’s Norfolk volumes and the Frere manuscripts held in the Norfolk Record Office. They just provide the basic number of communicants for each parish: Dunton cum Doughton recording 70 persons and Little Ryburgh, 54. Taking a few minutes to look through the church registers for names to be found in Great Ryburgh around the date of this “census”, I was able to easily find 67 different surnames. I think that 120 communicants seems a very plausible figure, given the inevitable existence of more than one adult bearing the same surname. For the sake of a further few minutes I add here a list of those names so perhaps you might be able to trace your roots back to Ryburgh in the early 17th Century
ANDREWES, ATKYNS,
BACON, BAKER, BARNEY, BEAVICE, BENSON, BOOLE, BROWNE, BULLER,
CASE, CLERKE, CLYSTON, CORBETT, COTES,
DAVY,
FEERE, FERMOR, FOOKES, FROST
GARDINER, GODDARD, GOTTES, GRAYE, GREENE,
HADFEELD, HARVEY, HILL, HOMES
JOKELL,
LAMKYN, LEDGE, LOKES, LYNG, LYNSEY
MAN, MORELL, MUSSET
NEWES, NEWTON
OCHELL, OLLEY, OSBURNE, OWTYD,
PARKYN, PARSON, PATRICKE, PEELE, PEERS, PENINGTON, PEPPER, PLESAUNCE, POMFRET, PULHAM,
REEVE, REPINGALL, ROFFWADE, RUST,
SEELE, SOND
TYNKLER
WANTLAND, WATERMAN, WENLOCKE, WHITE, WICKHAM, WRATH,
As for the good Doctor Jessopp, I first encountered him as being the headmaster of Norwich School when reserching Percy Everitt and for which he is well known as the man who established the reputation of that institution that continues today. The following comes from a publication entitled Norfolk Leaders, a privately printed book for private circulation only at a cost of 3 Guineas:
********
March 2026
I recently came across a letter on Ebay written in Ryburgh in 1833 from a mother, Frances Woods, attempting to get financial advice from a Norwich attorney on behalf of her younger son from her first marriage. She had been widowed twice by the time of the writing of the letter and quite possibly even for a third time. There is no trace to be found of the William Woods whom she married at Cawston in 1828, after the Ryburgh baptism register entry for their elder son Walter on October 19th 1829. There is also no baptismal record in Ryburgh for a second son Robert Walter Woods born in Ryburgh circa 1832 if the Census record for 1851 is to be trusted. Anyway I digress, slightly, because the aim of this column was to link last month’s investigation of unofficial census figures to the year 1851 when there was a nationwide Census taken of Places of Religious Worship. It included the Established Church and dissenting Congregations. Amongst other details, the "Officiating Minister, Church-Warden,Chapel-Warden or other Person with whom this Schedule is left" were required to record the attendance at am. pm. and evening services specifically on Sunday 30th May 1851 and as an average figure for the preceding 12 months.
As part of my research into the Woods letter, I came across this newspaper clipping (I of 3 separate reports) that concerned the above mentioned Walter Woods
Norfolk Chronicle - Saturday 08 February 1851
Wesleyan Dissensions.
The dissensions in the Wesleyan Methodist body continue to cause great excitement in Cawston and its neighbourbood, where the "reformers" appear determined to annoy the regularly authorised preachers in every way in their power, by inciting parties to disturb the congregation on Sundays. The superintendent of the district has, in consequence, been obliged to proceed against those parties,
On Tuesday, at Aylsham Petty Sessions, a lengthened investigation took place, relative to a disturbance at Cawston chapel, on Jan. 19th. The Magistrates present were W. E. L. Bulwer, Esg.. J. H. Holley, Esq., the Rev. S. Pitman, and the Rev. E. T. Yates.
Four persons, named Elizabeth Southgate, John Smithson, Walter Woods, and Thomas Chapman, all of Cawston, appeared to answer an information under the 52 Geo. 3, s. I2, charging them with having, in that parish, on Jan. 19th, wilfully, maliciously, and contemptuously, disturbed a congregation of protestants assembled for public worship. -
This in turn led me to look into the Sunday census returns for Cawston where we read the following:
At the "Primitive Methodist Chappel" dating form 1832, Barnard Page the Chappel Steward recorded, out of a possible 110 sittings, 80 in the afternoon and 60 in the evening.
At the “Wesleyan Methodist Chapel” dating from 1816, Minister George Smith recorded a congregation of just 4 persons on Sunday 30th. He put the average figures as A.M. 50 scholars P.M. 50 scholars and 120 General Congregation and Evening 100 General Congregation. He penned the following in the “Remarks” section by way of explanation for the returned figures:
“The average numbers represent the Congregation until within the last few months. Very violent and disgraceful proceedings destroyed the congregation. Legal redress has recently been obtained and it is hoped that many will return to the Chapel”
In stark contrast, at the “Wesleyan Methodist Reform Room used as a Chapple” occupied from December 1850, Steward, John Dennis recorded 100 congregation plus 39 scholars in the afternoon and 125 in the evening. His average figures for the short period of their occupancy were very similar. In his comment in the “Remarks” column he writes:
“The caus of our Congregation being so small is our banishment from the old Wesleyan Chapple erected about 1816 The Congregation in this Chapple was nearly double wich have all left except from 4 to 6 and the Room we now occupy is quite filled.”
The “legal redress” cited above is described in the press coverage at some length but at the conclusion one was discharged through insufficient evidence in the case of Mr Chapman. The remaining three were sent for trial at the Sessions in March, where
“the jury returned a verdict of "guilty" with a recommendation to mercy.-The CHAIRMAN said he had no discretion, as the act of parliament, in case of conviction inflicted a penalty of £40; and he passed sentence accordingly. The prisoner Woods (here identified by the press as Robert Walker Woods) not being able to pay the fine will have to remain a prisoner during her Majesty's pleasure. Judgment was deferred in respect of Smithson and Southgate, who were bound over in their own recognizances to appear if called up at the next Quarter Sessions.”
When he is entered into the Criminal Register on July 12th in gaol in Norwich Castle he has become Robert Walter Woods and he remained there until July 29th when he was released on the recommendation of the Home Secretary, Sir George Grey.
The record of any birth of a Robert Walter Woods or of many variants fails to show up in a 5 year period either side of the estimated date of 1833. Over consecutive census and marriage dates where his age is given, we have birth dates ranging from 1832-1835. In 1881 he identifies as just Walter Woods and dies age 51 in 1885. It seems entirely plausible that Walter Woods, baptised 19th October 1829 and Robert Walter Woods with no recorded birth date are one and the same person and for some reason his age was reduced, possibly deliberately, by 5 years between 1841 when he is 14 and 1851 when he is 19.
You can read the full court reports of the trial on the Village History pages of the St Andrew’s website along with the remaining family history.
********
April 2026
The returns from Great Ryburgh on March 30th 1851
And where are they now?
A RETURN
Of the several Particulars to be enquired into respecting the undermentioned CHURCH or CHAPEL in ENGLAND belonging to the United Church of England and Ireland.
[A similar return (mutatis mutandis,) will be obtained with respect to Churches belonging to the Established Church in Scotland and the Episcopal Church there, and also from Roman Catholic priests, and from the Ministers of every other Religious Denomination throughout Great Britain, with respect to their Places of Worship ]
Last month I looked at the 1851 Church Census in relation to a letter I came across. This month I am looking specifically at the situation in the Ryburghs from those same Census returns and the overall population census information.
At St Andrew’s, Augustus B. Hemsworth who acted as William Ray Clayton’s Curate, returned average Sunday numbers of 85 and 147 at morning and afternoon services respectively making a Sunday total of 232 in the Parish Church.
Each return form had a column for Remarks in which Hemsworth wrote:
“The accommodation in the church might be considerably increased if required. The living is consolidated with that of Little Ryburgh where the church is in ruins. From ignorance, dissent, poverty, & diffidence from long neglect, but a few attend the parish church of Great Ryburgh and in my opinion it would be well to rebuild the church of Little Ryburgh".
There is no doubt where in the village to find the Parish Church of St. Andrew! By way of a view that is not so frequently seen, this watercolor was made in 1862 by Emily Jane Sweet wife of the Rector of Colkirk and Stibbard Revd. James Bradby Sweet from 1857 - 1870. It was painted from the gravel pits above the railway line, looking North across Mill Road .
Augustus Barker Hemsworth, of Irish descent, was born on 2nd March 1822. The Census habitually puts ”British Subject” in parentheses after France as his birthplace. He was baptised later that year on December 11th at the Parish Church of St Mary, Cheltenham Gloucestershire. He was the younger son of the 5 children of Henry D’Esterre Hemsworth and Jane Maria Barker Hethersett. The family seat was at Shropham and where at the age of 25 he married Duncana Campbell born in the same year,1822 in Argyll the daughter of a by then deceased military man, Alexander Campbell.
The presence of any Methodist Chapel in Great or Little Ryburgh does not receive mention in either Kelly’s or White’s Directories until the editions of the last quarter of the C19th. Harrods Directory in 1877 identifies United Methodist and Primitive Methodist Chapels. Craven's Directory of 1856 however reports that in Great Ryburgh "the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists each have a chapel here". In Little Ryburgh they have a "Primitive Methodist Chapel"
When the Primitive Methodist chapel was built in 1882 the press reported in April, when the memorial stones were first laid on land given by John Bell, that Primitive Methodists “had a station at this village for upwards of sixty years” 3 months later upon completion of the chapel little more was written of the “Prims” earlier history and that they “have conducted services in the village with varying success, and for a long time they have occupied a cottage , which was often inconveniently small for the purpose”
The Primitive Methodist Chapel built in 1882 shown in this postcard view circa 1920
The Sunday Census returns tell a different story however and we must begin with the building we knew as the Methodist Chapel built in 1845 and lately purchased by Crisp Malt as additional office space. At the time of the Census the building presented a very different facade, with large stone signage prominently across the building at first floor height proclaiming “Ryburgh Wesleyan Chapel” as seen on the plan below associated with the 1883 restoration. The proposed outline of the windows that we see today can be discerned on the plan along with upper and ground floor sash windows. It is not clear from this whether the windows were existing or a proposal later superseded by the existing tall windows. They certainly look in keeping with the 1845 date of construction and suggest that the chapel also had a gallery at that time. What is also unclear is whether the underfloor heating boiler that was housed centrally near to the front doors and was connected to the flue at the rear, was original to this restoration. It is certainly associated with the insertion of the two tall windows on the South gable either side of the porch; the reason being that the stone signage sections were used to roof the horizontal flue under the floor. This was uncovered during Crisp’s renovations and a section of it was recovered from disposal in the skip and is now incorporated into the William Martin Building that was under construction at the time.
The Plan
The Boiler
The salvaged flue stonework
Its new home
The Sunday Census date comes in the midst of the reforming upheavals within Methodism. This national situation is illustrated in Great Ryburgh by a Primitive Methodist Chapel and two separate Wesleyan Chapels with Charles Mitchell, a Cooper and Farmer of Little Ryburgh being associated with both Wesleyan establishments.
Ryburgh Wesleyan Chapel built in1845 shown here in this postcard view circa 1910 after the alterations of 1883
The first Wesleyan Chapel was the building whose recent demise we lately witnessed and where Charles Mitchell returned the form as a "Trustee of the Wesleyan Chapel". He made no Remarks but recorded that there had been no service at any time on that day, March 30th 1851.
He also returned the form for a Wesleyan Methodist Cottage, still making no remark but on this form he signed as "Deacon", that 35 people had attended in the afternoon and 54 in the evening.
The remaining Dissenting congregation in Great Ryburgh was at the Primitive Methodist “Place of worship” The figures were returned by Thomas Lincoln described here as Deacon and in the population Census of the same year as “Local Primitive Preacher” He recorded congregations of 26 in the morning, 89 in the afternoon and 101 in the evening, making 216 for the day. Add to that the 89 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and we have 305 villagers not attending the Parish Church.
Found in the old deeds of what is now 10 Station Road is a mortgage indenture with map of 1871. This describes the western most part of the building now at 8 Station Road as “chapel” on the map. Within the text of the document it is described : “Together with the cottages and Ranters chapel now or late standing on the same piece or parcel of ground”. Soon after this indenture, the Chapel frontage of 8 Station Road was extended to the West a matter of 6 feet taking in part of a barn belonging to Michael Mesney the neighbour and new owner of the plot. This building work was carried out to create the Marine Tavern which provided new premises for the beer house which had long been associated with the cottages on the plot. Twenty years earlier in the 1851 population Census, the building in what would appear to be the position of the “chapel” is occupied by Ann Middleton “School mistress”. Found only once in any Census, in 1861 that building is described and numbered in the schedule as “Primitive Methodist Chapel”. The proprietress of houses on the plot in both ‘51 and’61 Census returns was Sophia the widow of Covenant Best who had been allotted the land at the 1810 Inclosure.
The problem with this evidence is that no chapel is described in 1851 nor who might have been using it, since “Prims “and Dissenting Wesleyan’s were both described as Ranters at various times and it was later reported, as seen above, that the “Prims" operated with varying success and so may not have been using these premises at the time.
Thomas Lincoln was born in Ryburgh in 1820 to Thomas Lincoln and Martha Kendall. Thomas Lincoln (jun.) married Mary the daughter of Rudd Smith on June 1st 1846 at St Andrew’s. Thomas was described in the 1851 Population Census as “Local Primitive Preacher” but he lived 23 properties to the West away from the “Ranters’ Chapel” and more in the area where the purpose built premise was founded in 1882. Could this be also where the Primitive Chapel was situated in 1851 and were Wesleyan Dissenters using the Ranters premise wherein the “School mistress” resided? What is needed is for another set of village deeds to provide similar evidence for former use as a chapel and that way at least sufficient likely premises would be located. The 1871 Census provides no clues whatsoever!
Thomas and Mary Lincoln had no children as far as can be ascertained and had left Ryburgh by 1861, presumably in pursuit of work. In successive population Census returns he rises from "Ag Lab" to ”Farming Bailiff” - first in Wells, then ”Farm Bailiff” in Toftrees then ”Steward“ in Fakenham. Whether "Steward"is of land or chapel is not made clear so except for the time in Ryburgh in 1851 he is never again described as a ”Local Primitive Preacher”. He died in 1884.
But what of Little Ryburgh?
The Primitive Methodist Chapple (sic) return was made by the Steward, Thomas Christmas Parker, originally from Little Snoring but living at the time in Little Ryburgh where he worked as a Cordwainer (Boot and Shoe maker) with his wife Elizabeth (neé Fox) born in Billingford and elder child William Thomas.
Thomas Christmas returned numbers of 45 in the afternoon and 20 in the evening.
At the Inclosure in 1810, the ninth piece of land, allotted to William Purling describes a plot (247 on the plan below)whereon a “new built messuage or cottage and other buildings stand” This is the same plot and position as the Primitive Methodist Church shown on the 1886 Ordnance Survey Map. Whether this was the same building mentioned on the Sunday return is not possible to say for sure but certainly not without the bounds of possibility. Thomas Christmas Parker returned to Little Snoring to farm 14 acres before going to Rawmarsh in Yorkshire where in the 1871 Census he is described as a "Licensed Primitive Methodist Preacher Fakenham and Wells" and Elizabeth as a "midwife and laundress". Thomas died on “August 6th 1875 at Parkgate in the Parish of Greasborough in the County of York, Shoemaker. Administration granted to William Thomas Parker, Miner of Rawmarsh, the son and only Next of Kin”.
Inclosure plan
1886 Ordnance Survey Map
There was one other meeting place in Little Ryburgh, An Independent Licensed Cottage where the return recorded 25 in the afternoon and 16 in the evening. The return was made by a 20 year old theological student, Thomas Edward Noyes from Wiltshire. He was one of five young men that year studying with the Rev William Legge* in Fakenham. Thomas went on to gain a BA at London University in 1855 and made his life’s work as an "Independent Protestant Dissenting Minister" at Great Creaton in Northamptonshire. He died in March 1883 leaving his personal estate of £1500 to his widow Jane Woodhams.
*Jim Baldwin writes on page 10 in his book “Wesley’s People”: of the Theological College of Rev. William Legge, the Congregational minister who lived on Fakenham Heath in the former Poor House which he used for his college” He also writes that “the Reformers took over the Fakenham Chapel in 1850”
As to the location of the "Licensed cottage"? I have a theory based on the fact that Charles Mitchell who, from the two Wesleyan Chapel Returns he made, suggests he was of the Reforming persuasion. He was a native of Little Ryburgh where he had an established Cooperage on his property, This property had been also allotted to William Purling (and Sarah his wife) at the Inclosure. Was it Charles Mitchell’s cottage that had been licensed to fellow Reformers to use on Sundays whilst he was peaching in Great Ryburgh? (See plot 255 on the Inclosure plan and 91 on the OS map above)
Some people can still remember the Little Ryburgh Primitive Chapel but no one can tell me for sure when it disappeared. It was in the field immediately uphill from Blue Tile Farm on which this past month has had a large flock of sheep grazing; to me, somewhat whimsically, representing the comparative size of the Dissenting flock living in Little Ryburgh in the mid C19th. Add the two Ryburghs’ Dissenting congregations together and it is not surprising that the Revd. Augustus Barker Hemsworth was voicing his concerns when he filled in his form!
********
May 2026