History

The Name

Smallburgh is a straggling village lying twelve miles to the north east by north of Norwich and five and a half miles south east by south of North Walsham. Containing some 1255 acres of land, it is bordered to the north and east by the River Ant and dykes and to the south and west by tracks and hedgerows. The name of Smallburgh meaning bank settlement by the River Smale is derived from Old English {Smale + beorg (hillock)}, Smale being the old name for the River Ant.

Development of the settlement

It has been suggested that the field to the north of the church was the site of a Saxon settlement and the field to the east of this was a Saxon graveyard, but there is no evidence for this.

In the Doomsday Book, the village is portrayed as a quiet, small place. There are two entries: one indicating that a freeman of St Benedict's held IC of Freeland. He gave it to St Benedict before 1066 but still held it from the Abbot. There are two villagers with 1.5 lengths of plough land and two acres of meadow, the value of this being 20s. In the same village were 28 freemen, 1c of land, always 4 ploughs and 1 acre of meadow., the value of this being 20s. The whole has 10 furlongs and 12 perches in length and 6 furlongs on width, the tax for this being 1d. The second recorded that in Smallburgh there are 3 freemen and 1c of land. Always there are 12 smallholdings and 3 freemen. Then and later 3 ploughs, now 4. Two of these are in the valuation of Antingham; the value of the third is 10s.

A 1588 map of the village shows a three-field system and various tracks, some of which align with modern roads. The two main areas of settlement then were the present village centre and also Low Street which was a considerable sized hamlet and constituted the manor of Smallburgh, the other manor being situated at the present Holly House and was the manor of Smallburgh Catts. This is because the lord of the manor at that time was Robert Catte. He enclosed much common land and that is why the area towards the Norwich Road is known as Catt's Common. Robert Catte is drawn on the original map in Elizabethan costume, and with a monkey on his shoulder. Much of the land was cultivated in the traditional strip system with a large area of common land to the south and west. One extraordinary feature of this old map is that it does not indicate the presence of the present Union Road/Anchor Street that is reputed to be a Roman Road leading to the Roman camp near Wayford Bridge.

From then until modern times, the village developed slowly as an agricultural community, with a fairly consistent population of 4 - 500 and was in many ways self-supporting.

In 1845 (White's Directory) there were two shoemakers, blacksmith, surgeon, Jeremiah Hannant of the Crown Inn was a joiner and victualler, wheelwright, grocer, draper, school mistress and school, a shopkeeper, surgeon, another blacksmith and farrier, tailor, plumber and painter.

Twenty years later a directory of 1864 (White's Norfolk) indicates a thriving village with many occupations being centred in the village. These include carpenters, bricklayers, plumber, shoemaker, grocer and draper, surgeon and registrar, blacksmith, a master of the Workhouse, a mistress of the school, three public or beer houses, carrier, tailor, Rector, book-keeper, many farmers and smallholders.

Even seventy years later in 1938, life was still going on much as it did in 1864 with many farmers and smallholders, 3 public houses, boot repairer, a cycle agent and dealer, chimney sweep, grocer and draper's shop and a general stores, a carpenter, a surgeon, a blacksmith, and a builder and decorator, a school mistress at the village school, and the Workhouse.

Life in the village has changed radically since the end of the Second World War. There is now only one public house open, but the post office and church remain open. However the school closed in the nineteen eighties. Many farms have been taken into the ownership of one person and a minimal number of people are employed on the farms. The only industries left in the village are a garage and motor mechanic, a builder, a paving slab and garden ornament maker, gardeners, and a lawn-mower maintenance establishment in the old workhouse. Some roads have been straightened to enable faster motor traffic and there has been considerable building of houses and bungalows in the village, but the majority of the inhabitants work outside the village.

The Workhouse

For some reason the House of Industry, or House of Correction, commonly called the Union Workhouse, for the Hundreds of Tunstead and Happing was built in this small village in1725, and was altered in 1836. Its work was completed when the National Health Service was founded in 1948 and much of the old Workhouse was demolished in the 1950's. It was a sizeable place with accommodation for 800 souls although in 1876 there were only 51 people there; however, the highest number staying there between 1866 and 1876 was 116 in January 1869. Incidentally the annual salaries bill for the officers and those who worked at the Union Workhouse was £293. The graveyard where the people were buried when they died in the workhouse lies to the south of the site.

It also appears from a Terrier of 1806 that "A Town-house, built upon ground purchased by the parish for that purpose and inhabited by poor persons," but the site to which this refers is unknown...

Smallburgh Rural District Council

Perhaps because the Workhouse was situated in the village, the local district council was the Smallburgh Rural District Council and indeed the members of that council met in the Board Room of the Workhouse until its closure. The Smallburgh Rural District Council then met in special Council Offices in Stalham until its demise on 31st March, 1974 when it was subsumed within the North Norfolk District Council under Local Government re-organisation.

Interesting Buildings

The village church of St... Peter's is still open for worship. It is thought that the church was built in the thirteenth century but the walls were raised in height and given the present large windows around 1400. The tower collapsed in 1677 demolishing the west wall and damaging the font, leaving the church in a quiet ruinous state. A makeshift tower had been constructed in 1822 but in 1902 the present bell cote was constructed and the west wall rebuilt. This was because the village was very poor at that time, and the church had to use its money for the care of the poor.

The Crown Inn is a fifteenth century coaching inn with a fascinating history. It is an attractive thatched, timber-framed structure, hipped to the east and gabled to the west. It has been suggested that the large upper room above the bar (now divided into rooms by stud walls) was used for public occasions. The Crown was enlarged with an extra wing in the eighteenth century.

Smallburgh Hall was constructed in 1837 by the Rev. Gunn, who owned the land in those days, for the Postle family who farmed the land belonging to the hall. It is a large ostentatious building in its own grounds.

Smallburgh Old Hall is an early sixteenth century flint and brick house which was added to in the eighteenth century, resurfaced in the nineteenth century and any remaining character lost in the work of 1922 - 3. A cellar remains as do bits of timber and some patches of original brickwork.

The Grange is an early eighteenth century brick five bay façade with rusticated quoins.

There are many other interesting houses of varying sizes to be seen on a walk around the village but their stories are not known.

And More...

Like all villages much history has been lost and there is much more detail that could be added to this preliminary sketch. Genuine contributions would be very welcome.