Colkirk
Colkirk is a
village (population 547) situated about two
miles south of
Fakenham in the county of
Norfolk,
England. Dating from at least the time of the
Domesday Book the
village currently has about 500
inhabitants living in about 200
dwellings. The village has a
church, (St. Mary's), in the north west corner of the village, a Village Hall, a church pond (known as the Church Pit in
Norfolk dialect), a Camping Land (land once used for the game
Camping, "camp" meaning battle in
Old English). There is also a thriving village school for students from the age of four to eleven, a lively village
Pub called "The Crown" and a playing field for
soccer,
cricket,
rounders and school sports days.
The village lies close to the source of the
River Wensum which is between Colkirk,
Oxwick and
Whissonsett.
The name Colkirk is an
Anglo-Saxon or
Danish word, meaning "the church of Cola", from "kirk" meaning church and "Cola" being the name of the builder or first owner of a church perhaps over a thousand years ago. The present church may possibly be on the same site as the original building and is of
medieval origin.
At the time of the
Doomsday Book, the whole estate of the
manor of Colkirk belonged to the
bishop. At that time the
cathedral was at
North Elmham and the
Doomsday Book records how much land the bishop held in Colkirk, how many
sheep and
pigs he kept and how many people worked on his
estate.
Details of the original
moated manor house and buildings, which included a
dovecote and private chapel and was situated near Long's Lane off
Dereham Road, were described in a document of
1296.
Soon after the
cathedral was established in
Norwich in
1101, the
Bishop gave Colkirk to one of the
knights of his private army. This
knight named himself after the village "Richard of Colkirk" and he and his successors lived at the manor house until 600 years ago, after which the house within the
moat was allowed to fall into decay.
About 400 years ago in the
reign of
Queen Elizabeth I, the village began to look more like the Colkirk of today.
Brick and
flint started to replace
timber framed
wattle and clay as building materials. Some of the earliest brick and flint houses remain today, "Starre" and "Gable End" being among the oldest houses in the village and Colkirk Hall was built towards the end of the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I around
1595. The
Timperley family were one of the first recorded occupants of the Hall. The
Timperley family, after whom the
Timperley Estate was named, fell on hard times and lost most of their land as a penalty for helping to defend
King's Lynn against
Oliver Cromwell's troops in
1643. Colkirk Hall was subsequently bought by
Marquis Townshend, since when it has been occupied as a farm house.
Other changes were taking place in Colkirk at this time. One by one the small farmers who comprised the village population were becoming poor and sold their land to richer men. In this way there came to be just a few big farms in the village as there are today. With the formation of the big farms came the division of the old, big village fields into the smaller fields, bounded by
hedges, which still exist today. All the land in the
Parish was finally brought into use when the commons were enclosed and the big woods cut down about 150 years ago.
The period
1820 to
1845 saw a
population increase in the village and a number of houses were built or rebuilt about this time. These houses can be recognised as they were generally of red
brick, rather than flint. The "Crown" was rebuilt by the
Parish in
1827 and Colkirk House was built in
1837.
Since then, most of the houses on the right hand side of School Road were built as
model cottages, by Canon Hoare, when he was
Rector of Colkirk. The School was rebuilt in
1851 and the Infants' Room added in
1894. A Chapel was established in the village in the 1830s; however, the building erected in
1875 has now been demolished.
There was a
Co-op in the village founded 120 years ago, having occupied three different sites in its time and finally situated in Dereham Road was closed in the 1960s.
Other facilities, which were once part of village life and have passed into history, include a Pork Butcher's Shop, a General Store and a
Carpenter and
Undertaker, all on Hall Lane, together with a
Blacksmith and a Baker's Shop on Dereham Road. The last to be closed being the Village Shop and
Post Office which was on the junction of Dereham Road and Crown Road.
The Village Hall was built some 140 years ago by one of the Rectors of Colkirk and is now owned by the Parish.
Census population figures for the village show little change during the latter part of the 19th Century and at around 450 are about 100 fewer than the present day.
In the
1883 Kelly's Directory described the village thus:
COLKIRK is a parish about two miles south from Fakenham, in the Western division of the county, Launditch hundred, union of Mitford and Launditch, county court district of East Dereham, rural deanery of Toftrees and archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich: the village is situated on a height, commanding a fine prospect. The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a small plain Gothic building of flint consisting of chancel, nave and north aisle, and tower with 5 bells, and contains memorials to the Timperley and other families: there are several stained windows. The register dates from the year 1538. The living is a rectory, consolidated with Oxwick, joint yearly value £800, with residence, in the gift of and held since 1868 by the Rev. Walter Marsham Hoare M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford. The charities amount to £30 yearly, principally for fuel. The Marquis Townshend is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is mixed; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, turnips and barley. The area is 1,482 acres (6 km²); rateable value, £2,508; and the population in 1881 was 431.
The following people are listed as tradespersons in the village:
PARISH CLERK - Mr William Smith
POST OFFICE â€" Mr William Thompson
NATIONAL SCHOOL - Miss H. Harrold, mistress
ST. MARYS CHURCH - Reverend Walter Marsham Hoare M.A.
COLKIRK HOUSE - Mr Stephen Ratcliffe Pope
COMMERCIALMr Jones Abraham - shoe maker; Mrs Mary Chambers - Farmer, The Hall; Mr William Farrow - Shopkeeper; Mr Thomas Richard Goggs - Farmer; Mr George Harper - Basket Maker; Mrs Ann Howard - Grocer; Mr. John Howe - Publican, The Crown; Mr. James Nelson - Carpenter; Miss Elizabeth Raven and Miss Mary Ann Raven - Farmers; Mr John Rutland - Jobbing Gardener; Mr Charles Smith - Farmer; Mr Charles Spinks - Baker; Mr William Thompson - Carpenter & Post Office; Mr Matthew Wright - Beer Retailer & Blacksmith;
Ralph Tatham was rector of
St. Mary the Virgin from
1816 to
1857 while also holding the post of
Vice Chancellor of
Cambridge University. One of the "
Bentley Boys",
Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, was a good friend of Gordon Dawson of Colkirk and was a frequent visitor to Colkirk Crown in the 1920s and 1930s. Actor
Karl Howman who played Jacko in the
BBC Comedy
Brush Strokes was brought up in the village. London artist
Richard Foster owns property in the village.
*
Parish Website*
Information on the village pubs and landlords# Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council, 2001. "
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes."# Much of this text is from a
1961 presentation to Colkirk
Women's Institute by Paul Routledge.
