Gresham is a village and civil parish in North Norfolk, England, five miles (8 km) south-west of Cromer.
A predominantly rural parish, Gresham centres on its medieval church of All Saints. The village also once had a square 14th-century castle, a watermill and a windmill. The moat and some ruins of Gresham Castle survive.
History The name of Gresham is derived from a local stream known as the Gur Beck, plus -ham, meaning a settlement.
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Gresham is recorded as one of the holdings of William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey.Hinde, Thomas, The Domesday Book, England's Heritage Then and Now (), p. 189
Sir Edmund Bacon of Baconsthorpe held the manor.Rye, Walter, Some Rough Materials for a History of the Hundred of North Erpingham (1883) p. 72 After his death in 1336 or 1337, there was much fighting over his property, which included the manor of Gresham. A William Moleyns married Bacon's daughter Margery and tried unsuccessfully to deprive John Burghersh, the son of Bacon's other daughter and heiress Margaret, of his inheritance. A partition of Bacon's property was made between his heirs in the 35th year of King Edward III, and when the division between Moleyns and Burghersh was complete, Gresham went to Margery, who died in 1399. She granted Gresham to Sir Philip Vache for nine years after her death, but in 1414 his widow still held it and Sir William Moleyns agreed to buy it from Margery's executors for 920 marks. He held it for two years, but did not complete the payment. The manor then fell into a complicated contract for the future marriage of Moleyns's daughter Katherine which did not take place, and Thomas Chaucer (c. 1367–1434), Speaker of the House of Commons, and the son of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, acquired the manor of Gresham and sold it to William Paston. (Thomas Chaucer was married to a granddaughter of Maud Bacon, almost certainly another daughter of Edmund Bacon.Rye, Walter, Chaucer: a Norfolk man (1972) p. 58: "...but there is little doubt she was daughter of Sir Edmund Bacon of Gresham in Norfolk".) However, Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns, then claimed it and seized it by force.Richmond, Colin, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: the First Phase (Cambridge University Press, 2002, ) pp. 47-50 at books.google.com, accessed 24 January 2009
Margaret Paston, in one of the Paston Letters, writing to her husband John Paston in a letter dated 19 May 1448, says:
The James Gresham here referred to is James Gresham, gentleman, of Holt, who appears often in the Paston Letters as a confidential agent.
Eight months later, when Paston's attempts to recover the manor through negotiation and legal action had failed, he sent his wife to occupy "a mansion" in the parish. In response, Moleyns sent an armed force which the Pastons claimed amounted to a thousand men, attacked the house, which was badly damaged, and expelled Margaret Paston.Castor, Helen, The King, the Crown, and the Duchy of Lancaster (Oxford University Press, 2000) p. 125, accessed 4 January 2009
Writing to her husband in a letter dated 28 September, Margaret Paston says:
Moleyns was able to hold onto possession of Gresham for three years.
In 1620, the manor was sold to the Batt family, in which it has remained ever since. The present lord of the manor is Robert Batt.Cooke, Rachel, Batt out of hell in The Observer dated Sunday 11 June 2006 online, accessed 25 January 2009
A curious case of 1786 in the Court of King's Bench called The King against the Inhabitants of Gresham was to do with the master-servant relationship in the case of William Thompson, a settled inhabitant of Gresham until 1780, who had entered the service of a Mr Creemer of Beeston Regis and later became a pauper.Term Reports in the Court of King's Bench (J. Butterworth and Son, 1817), pp 101-102, accessed 4 January 2009
The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–1872) described Gresham:
The records of the Aylmerton and Gresham School from 1874 to 1991 are held in the Norfolk Record Office.Aylmerton and Gresham School at nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed 25 January 2009
Governance An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward had a population of 8,584 at the 2011 Census.
Church
The parish church of All Saints is one of 124 round-tower churches in Norfolk.
The church contains one of the East Anglian seven sacrament fonts, in which there is much interest. Scenes represented on it include a baptism, a holy eucharist, and parishioners clustering around a neighbour's deathbed.'Sculptured Representation of Baptism on English Fonts' in Walford, Edward, J. C. Cox, & G. L. Apperson, Antiquary: A Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past (E. Stock, 1912) p 453Wall, James Charles, 'Sculpture of Baptism, Gresham, Norfolk' & 'Sculpture of Holy Eucharist' in Porches and Fonts (W. Gardner, Darton & Co., 1912) p. 318Duffy, Eamon, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c. 1400 - c. 1580 (Yale University Press, 2005, ) p. 124
The church was built on a pagan site, and in 1910 the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia was shown an ancient polished axe which had been dug up in the churchyard and a chipped celt which had been built into the church tower. Walter Johnson, in Byways in British Archaeology, comments that "Its presence there was probably accidental, but it is well to recall the Breton practice of building stone axes into chimneys to ward off lightning".Johnson, Walter, Byways in British Archaeology (1912), pp. 79-80
In 1940, the executors of Joseph Cox of Gresham presented Norwich Castle Museum with a prehistoric handled beaker of the Bronze Age which had been found near Gresham.'A Handled Beaker from Norfolk' in Childe, V. G., (ed.) Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society for 1940 (London: Prehistoric Society, 1941) p. 144
Gresham was the site of a famous clerical battle in the 1940s. Although it was then seen as an Anglo-Catholic parish, the inside walls of the church are now bare and whitewashed, due to the efforts of the squire of the day, Colonel Batt, who was a determined Protestant, while his parish priest was an Anglo-Catholic. The Colonel demanded that all high church decorations be removed, the clergyman refused, and Batt took the matter to a consistory court and won. The case became famous, but it was one of the last of its kind.
The parish registers for the years 1559 to 1969 are held in the Norfolk Record Office at Norwich.Gresham parish at nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed 25 January 2009
For centuries, the church had its own rector, but it now shares a clergyman, who lives at West Runton, with neighbouring villages. It is still used for religious services, with Morning Prayer at 11 a.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month and Holy Communion (Order 1, Traditional) at the same time on every second and fourth Sunday.All Saints, Gresham at achurchnearyou.com, accessed 25 January 2009
Parish Much of the parish of Gresham belongs to Robert Batt, lord of the manor of eighteen villages. The estate at Gresham has been in his family since 1620.
The village is also the ancestral home of the famous Norfolk family of Gresham, whose members included Sir John Gresham, founder of Gresham's School, and Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of Gresham College and the Royal Exchange.Burgon, J. W., The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham (London, 1839, new edition 1968)Leveson-Gower, Granville William Gresham, Genealogy of the family of Gresham (1883) The Gresham family moved to Holt in the 15th century. According to Francis Blomefield in An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk (1808), James Gresham, the grandfather of Sir John Gresham, was "the son of John Gresham, Gent., of Gresham".p. 173, accessed 4 February 2009
Gresham Castle
The remains of a fortified house called Gresham Castle are near the village, opposite the Chequers Pub. It is thought to have been similar to the neighbouring Baconsthorpe Castle, and both were moated.Gresham at northnorfolkimages.co.uk, accessed 24 January 2009
The castle was built by Sir Edmund Bacon after 1319, but it stood on the site of an earlier castle. The Paston family acquired it in the 15th century, and later it was looted. Little of the castle remains above ground, and much of the site is overgrown. Bacon's castle was about forty metres square, with round towers at the four corners and a moat.NHER Number 6620, Gresham Castle at norfolk.gov.uk, accessed 24 January 2009 The moat survives, is twelve to fifteen feet wide, and still contains water. The central platform is about 2,378 square metres in area, while the round towers were about eleven metres in diameter.Emery, Anthony, Great Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500 (Cambridge University Press, ) p. 110
Mills Gresham had a small watermill, sold by the incumbent of Plumstead and Matlaske to Capt. R.C. Batt, 1908Title Deeds 1698-1910 - Norfolk Record Office, on a site later known as Old Watermill Farm, in Lower Gresham. In 1819 the mill was grinding flour from wheat with two pairs of French burr stones. By 1977, nothing remained of this mill except the water channel and some foundations.Gresham Mill at norfolkmills.co.uk, accessed 24 January 2009
There was also a windmill in the parish, which stood on one of the highest points in the county of Norfolk, and it was reported in 1864 that "from it may be distinctly seen 36 churches and objects at a distance off 25 miles."'Gresham', in White's Directory, 1864
In 1828, the two mills were advertised together:
War Memorial Gresham War Memorial is a stone obelisk which a stepped plinth in All Saints' Churchyard. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War: +RankNameUnitDate of deathBurial/CommemorationLSgt.Ernest W. Painter1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment30 Apr. 1915Perth CemeteryASn.George WoodhouseHMS Laurel28 Aug. 1914Chatham Naval MemorialDvr.Wallace LoadesRoyal Horse Artillery22 Dec. 1918All Saints' ChurchyardOSn.Leonard StagemanSS Borg10 Jun. 1918Plymouth Naval MemorialPte.William Williamson1st Bn., Essex Regiment13 Aug. 1915Helles MemorialPte.Frank W. Ramm2nd Bn., Norfolk Regiment22 Nov. 1915Basra MemorialPte.Daniel Lowder7th Bn., Norfolk Regt.30 Nov. 1917Bedford House CemeteryPte.Thomas H. Chapman7th Bn., Norfolk Regt.28 Apr. 1917Arras MemorialPte.Albert H. Field9th Bn., Norfolk Regt.27 May 1918Tyne CotPte.Lewis Thaxter9th Bn., Norfolk Regt.20 Nov. 1917Fifteen Ravine CemeteryPte.George Lark2nd Bn., Royal Sussex Regiment13 Nov. 1917Tyne Cot The following names were added after the Second World War: +RankNameUnitDate of deathBurial/CommemorationMaj.Edgar C. Batt107 Regt, Royal Horse Artillery8 Oct. 1940Alexandria War CemeteryMaj.Thomas R. D. Batt MC1st Bn., Coldstream Guards3 Aug. 1944Saint-Charles CemeteryLt.Robert W. BattRoyal Army Ordnance Corps21 Aug. 1944St Nicholas' Churchyard, GosforthLCpl.James R. LakeRoyal Army Service Corps14 Jul. 1942Asmara War CemeteryGdsm.Alfred J. Craske1st Bn., Coldstream Guards30 May 1940Veurne CemeteryPte.Stanley J. Bumfrey6th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment19 Feb. 1942Kranji War Memorial
Further reading Richmond, Colin, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century (Cambridge, 1991) pp. 47–63
Footnotes
Notes
References
Gallery
External links
Gresham at heritage.norfolk.gov.uk All Saints on the European Round Tower Churches Website All Saints', Gresham at geograph.org.uk Photographs of All Saints, Gresham at flickr.com All Saints' Church, Gresham at norfolkchurches.co.uk Gresham village war memorial at roll-of-honour.com