ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH - GREAT CRESSINGHAM

The small village of Great Cressingham lies on the River Wissey and is dominated by the parish church of St. Michael's. The church is one of the large, square towered, Norfolk wool churches, dating mainly from the late fifteenth century. Inside, the church is light and spacious with a number of interesting monumental brasses.

Location and Local History

Recent archaeological evidence has revealed that man has been settled in the Great Cressingham area since prehistoric times: flint tools have been found in the area and a flint knapping site identified; numerous artefacts have also been found from the Iron Age, Roman and Saxon periods.

Great Cressingham is listed in Domesday Book as 'Cresinegaha' which means: - The homestead of Cressa's people. The area at the time was rich in all types of agricultural activity with mention made of three mills, three fisheries, and woodland for sixty-six pigs, sixty sheep and eleven acres of meadow. The church is also mentioned and the main landowner was the Bishop of Thetford (before the See moved to Norwich). The area between the River Wissey and the village is rich in earthworks which date from the mediaeval period, e.g. hollowed ways, fishponds, enclosures, moats and tofts (platforms on which mediaeval houses stood).

The main manor, Priory Manor, was granted to the Prior and Convent of Norwich in the thirteenth century and passed to the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. There were three further, lesser manors, named after the families who held them, these were Hockham's, Glosebrig's and Risley's. By the end of the fifteenth century, these manors had all been acquired and amalgamated by Richard Risley Esquire (see Brasses). A fourth manor known as Street-Hall (Strehall) also existed.

During the mid sixteenth century, the Jenney family who also rented the lands of Priory Manor from the Dean and Chapter at Norwich Cathedral amalgamated Street-Hall Manor and Risley Manor. (More information on the changes that took place at this time will be mentioned when we look at the brass monuments in the church). The Jenney family continued to farm the two manors, leasing Priory Manor, until the 1680's when the estate passed to the Chute family, from the neighbouring village of South Pickenham. They held the land until 1827 when they sold it to Edward Applewaite, who also bought Priory Manor from the Dean and Chapter at Norwich Cathedral.

The Tudor manor house that is connected with Priory Manor still survives today; it is a short distance from the church along Priory Road on the left-hand side. Enclosure took place in 1801 and, according to White's Norfolk Directory,   1845,   Priory   Manor   appears   to   have   been renamed Collin's Manor: the other manor listed uses the old mediaeval manorial name of Glosebrigg's!

During the mediaeval period, there also existed in the parish a Hermitage Chapel dedicated to St. George. It was located one mile to the south east of the village, close to the road to Bodney. The chapel has long since disappeared and its presence can only be detected by a slight undulation in the field. However, aerial photographs of crop marks show a plain rectangular nave with a short apsidal chancel, suggesting a church of the twelfth century. There was a rectangular bank enclosing the site, which used to be known as 'Stone Close'.

A cattle and horse fair was held on the site on the first Wednesday in August, with tolls being paid to the Rector. It is thought that the chapel was dissolved in the first half of the sixteenth century and the fair was terminated by Rev. Charles Taylor in 1872. The area where the fair was held is still marked on the Ordnance Survey Map as 'Fairstead'.

The village appears to have thrived as an agricultural community during the nineteenth century: there were three public houses; a National School built, in 1840 at the expense of the Rector; and a Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1856. The population peaked in 1854 at 583 souls.

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