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Holt in Norfolk County England History and GeographyHOLT, a market town and parish in the hundred of HOLT, county of NORFOLK, 23 miles (N.N.W.) from Norwich, and 120 (N.N.E.) from London, containing 1348 inhabitants. This place, from the quantity of timber which grew upon its site, or by which it was surrounded, was by the Saxons called Holt, signifying a wood. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it was held in royal demesne, and after the Conquest the lordship belonged to the family of De Vaux, or De Vallibus. The town is pleasantly situated on rising ground, in the midst of a fertile district, remarkable for the purity of its air, and commands a delightful prospect of the surrounding country, which is justly styled 'the Garden of Norfolk.' The houses are neatly built of brick and stone; the streets are paved with flint-stones, and the inhabitants are well supplied with water from a spring, and from several wells in the neighbourhood. Here are a circulating library, and two book clubs, supported by subscription; and assemblies are occasionally held in the sessions-house. The town has undergone great improvement since 1708, in which year a very destructive fire took place on a market day, that consumed a considerable number of houses, the market stalls, &c. In 1810, the commons and heaths that surrounded the town were enclosed for cultivation; and on the east side, towards Cromer, are now handsome and thriving plantations of forest trees, interspersed with neat dwelling-houses. The market is on Saturday, which is well attended: the fairs, chiefly for live stock, are held on April 25th and November 25th. An adjourned session for the county is held twice a year, in the sessions-house, a handsome and commodious building, in which all public business is transacted; and constables and other officers are annually chosen at the court leet of the lord of the manor, held on the 21st of December. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £11. 17. 3½., and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, had, previously to the fire, a lofty steeple crowned with a spire, which was a useful land-mark; but this has never been rebuilt. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school was founded in 1556, by Sir Thomas Gresham: annexed to it are a scholarship and fellowship in Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge; the management is vested in the Fishmongers' Company. Sir Thomas Gresham, born here in 1507, became celebrated as a merchant and financier, and displayed his genius, not only in contriving schemes for paying the debts of the crown, and extending our foreign trade, but also in introducing into the kingdom various new branches of manufacture; besides other great and charitable endowments, he founded Gresham College and the Royal Exchange; he died in 1579. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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