Crostwight (pronounced "cosset"https://friendsofnorfolkdialect.com/portfolio-items/norfolk-placenames/ (text and recorded audio)) is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Honing, in the North Norfolk district, in the north-east of the county of Norfolk, England. In the past, it was sometimes called Crostwick, but this risks confusion with the different village of Crostwick, also in Norfolk. In 1931 the parish had a population of 61.
Apart from the church, the village consists of Crostwight Hall, its cottages and outbuildings, an old rectory, and a few other houses.
Name The name of Crostwight is considered to be Old Norse in origin (kross, 'cross' + þveit, 'clearing'). There are seven such names in Norfolk ending in -thwaite, and one in Suffolk, showing early Scandinavian settlement. While the suffix -thwaite was familiar north of the Humber and has survived there, it has been corrupted elsewhere. Forms of Crostwight's name recorded include Crostwit in 1086, Crosthueit in 1198, and Crostweyt in 1810.Bandle, Oskar, The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages volume 2 (Walter de Gruyter, 2005) p. 2069 online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 23 March 2008)
History Crostwight is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which spells its name 'Crostwit'.Crostwight online at probertencyclopaedia.com (accessed 21 March 2008) At that time, it was held by Geoffrey Baynard under Ralph Baynard. Tempore Regis Eduardi (in the time of King Edward the Confessor), twelve freemen at Crostwit had one hundred and of land, and there were twelve borderers, with of meadow. The whole was described as one league (leuca) in length and seven furlongs broad.Parkin, Rev. Charles, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk Volume XI (London, William Miller, 1810) pages 8-13 online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) There is a reference to the church of St Benet's of Hulme, and the people mentioned include Esger the staller and Geoffrey Baynard.Crostwight, Norfolk online at nationalarchives.gov.uk (accessed 23 March 2008): Folio 248r, Little Domesday Book (1086)
At the time of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the area of North Walsham was "the cradle, the supreme fortress, and the tomb of the Norfolk rebels", generating surveys of households, and Crostwight is one of the few places for which complete records survive. Its heads of households were found to consist of nine cultivators, three weavers, two spinsters, one dyer and one fuller.Hilton, Rodney Howard, Bond Men Made Free: Medieval Peasant Movements and the English Rising of 1381 (1973, new edition by Routledge, 2003, ) pp. 173-174
According to William White's Gazetteer of 1845:White, William, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, 1845
More was said in the 1883 edition of White's Gazetteer:William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, 1883
At the time of the 1841 census, the surnames recorded for Crostwight are Atkins, Bacon, Burton, Cinlon, Colman, Crowe, Flowerday, Frary, Furnace, Hubbard, Lane, Jarvis, Mays, Salmon, Reed, Shephard, Webster and Wright.Lowe, Geoff, online at rootsweb.com (accessed 21 March 2008)
At the census of 1921, the parish's population was seventy-one, and by 1931 it had fallen to sixty-one. On 1 April 1935, Crostwight was abolished as a civil parish and incorporated into its larger neighbour, Honing.Relationships / unit history of CROSTWIGHT online at visionofbritain.org.uk (accessed 21 March 2008)
The parish records, dating from 1698 to 1988, are held by the Norfolk Record Office at its Archive Centre in Martineau Lane, Norwich.
Church of All Saints
The parish church stands on its own not far from the Old Rectory, but is distant from the rest of the village.All Saints, Crostwight at norfolkchurches.co.uk (accessed 26 March 2008) It is grade I listed.
In 1810, Charles Parkin wrote of the church:
John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–1872) says of it: "The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £66. Patron, M. Shephard, Esq. The church is old but good, and has a tower."Place: Crostwight Norfolk online at visionofbritain.org.uk (accessed 22 March 2008)
The church has a series of late medieval wall-paintings (see below). Its massive tower of flint and local stone was reduced in height in 1910, after ivy had made part of it unsafe, and the bells were hung lower. Inside the church is a rood screen carved with dragons, wild men, and flying hearts, but the carving may be modern or restored. The chancel arch, like some walls, is decorated with paintings, but not the screen. There is an octagonal Purbeck stone font, which stands on pillars and on a substantial two-tier octagonal base. The church has no electricity and is lit by oil lamps. The church is a Grade I listed building .
Crostwight lost only one man during the Second World War, and he is commemorated by his own memorial inside the church, which reads: "In honoured memory of HUBERT ARTHUR FRANCIS, who gave his life aboard H.M.S. Royal Oak at Scapa Flow 14th October 1939 Faithful unto death".
Despite the smallness of its ecclesiastical parish, the church is still used.Crostwight: All Saints, Crostwight online at acny.org.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) Crostwight is now part of the Church of England united benefice of 'Smallburgh with Dilham with Honing and Crostwight', which has a rector.Benefice of Smallburgh with Dilham with Honing and Crostwight online at acny.org.uk (accessed 22 March 2008)
The Crostwight Passion Cycle The medieval wall paintings on the church's north wall date from the late 14th or early 15th century and have been called the Crostwight Passion Cycle. An article at paintedchurch.org considers that this is "...despite its fragmentary condition, one of the most interesting Passion Cycles in England".Crostwight, Norfolk (‡Norwich) Late C.14/Early C.15 online at paintedchurch.org (accessed 21 March 2008)
All of the scenes are in fragments and few are clear. The order of the scenes is illogical, beginning on the bottom left with Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. To the right of that is the Last Supper, and further right comes the Washing of Feet. Above is the Arrest in Gethsemane, and to the right of that a scene which may be Christ before Herod or Pilate, then the Crowning with Thorns, above which is the Crucifixion. This includes one of the crucified thieves, and behind him is the Roman Stephaton with a bucket of vinegar and a spear. On a lower tier, underneath the Last Supper, is the Ascension. In the splay of a window is the Agony in the Garden, with Christ kneeling in the foreground, St Peter, St James and St John the Apostle behind him. Above this are the remains of another scene which may be the Resurrection.
Other paintings Other paintings in the parish church include one of the Seven Deadly Sins. This is estimated to date from the late fourteenth century and was discovered in the 1840s by a Mr Gunn.Norfolk Archaeology, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to the Antiquities of the County of Norfolk Volume II (Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, 1849) page 352 et seq. online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) It centres on a tree growing out of the jaws of hell, which appears as the mouth of a giant fish, full of sinners who are being pushed down into hell by a devil. Above, the seven deadly sins grow on the tree like fruit. One of these is clearly marked in Latin with the name of one of the deadly sins, Socordia, or Sloth.
Another painting shows two women approaching the gates of Heaven, with an angel to greet them and a devil watching from below. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner suggests that this is a warning against gossip, and it has also been compared to a church painting at Swanbourne which is an allegory of penitent and unpenitent souls.
In June 1848, The Gentleman's Magazine noted that Dawson Turner had exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries "two sets of drawings, illustrative of the fresco paintings, and other ancient remains, in the parish churches of Gateley and Crostwight, in the county of Norfolk."urban, Sylvanus, The Gentleman's Magazine for July to December 1848, p. 72 online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 22 March 2008) Turner later reported on the Seven Deadly Sins and other paintings at Crostwight in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's Norfolk Archaeology for 1849, with drawings by Mrs Gunn.
Crostwight Hall
Crostwight Hall is a notable country house and is described by Michael Sayer in Burke's & Savills Guide to Country Houses (Volume III, East Anglia). Its garden is one of thirty-three Historic Parks and Gardens listed in the Local Plan for North Norfolk.F21 Schedule 8 - Historic Parks and Gardens on North Norfolk District Council's web site northnorfolk.org (accessed 21 March 2008) The historic main house, Old Crostwight Hall, was considered as a project by the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust but was instead rebuilt by a developer.Considered Buildings at the web site of the Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust (accessed 21 March 2008)
The house has sometimes been called 'Crostwick Hall', for instance in Parkin's Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (1810), where it is called "an agreeable old seat".Parkin, op. cit., p. 9
The Strangers' Hall Museum at Norwich has an unusual survival from the mid-19th century: an anonymous St Valentine's Day card dated and postmarked 1862, said by the museum to be addressed to "Miss Jenny Lowe [query Love], Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk". The coloured card is embossed with couples, cherubs and roses, and in the middle is a silver bird on a silk panel. On the pictorial side of the card are the printed words "My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss", and on the other is written by hand "Good Morrow Valentine".St Valentine's Day Card dated 1862 online at culturalmodes.norfolk.gov.uk (accessed 21 March 2008) As the Hall was then occupied by the Lane family, the addressee may be Miss Jenny Lane.
Geography Crostwight Heath (dense acidic scrubland) and Crostwight Common (broad-leaved coppiced semi-natural woodland) are both designated in the North Norfolk Local Plan as County Wildlife Sites.F5 Schedule 4 - County Wildlife Sites on North Norfolk District Council's web site northnorfolk.org (accessed 22 March 2008)
List of rectors of Crostwight To 1756:
1300: Ralph de Somerton, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn 1305: ( - ) de Billokby 1313: Robert de Warham 1313: Richard de Halesworth, presented by Sir Peter Roscelyn 1335: John Taillor, by Sim. Kemyng 1348: William de Ely, by John Kenyng 1373: Nich. Lomb, by Joan, widow of John Costeyn 1389: Roger de Holand 1391: William Nethergate, by John Costeyn 1404: John Blake, by Margery, widow of Henry de Betele 1413: Henry Lesyngham, by John Elmham 1414: Richard Newman, by Thomas Derham 1447: Robert Casmond, by Nicholas Waterman 1449: John Bullock, by Nicholas Waterman, gent. 1452: John Leigh 1461: Robert Wilkys, by Henry Heydon and Thomas Brampton 1483: Thomas Curteys, by John Bishop 1484: John Rudham 1493: Roger Humfrey 1493: Thomas Lyng, by Sir John Paston 1497: Thomas Miles, by John Bishop 1503: John Trew, by Robert Harridaunce, Esq. 1510: Stephen Drury 1556: Robert Lindley, by Margaret Bishop, widow 1557: Robert Best 1579: William Olyver, by Thomas Groos, Esq. 1598: Edmund Alphen 1602: Thomas Cannam, by Thomas Groos, Esq. 1630: Thomas Ramsey, by Sir Charles le Groos 1665: Thomas Falke, by Thomas le Groos, Esq. 16--: Charles Spicer 1669: And. Call. 1672: Valentine Husband, by Robert Tutpill, gent. 1674: Henry Gooch 1687: Bambridge Dean, by Charles le Groos alias Harman, Esq. 1694: John Rolfe 17--: Noah Violas 1720: Mundeford Spelman (on the death of Violas), presented by Charles Harman alias le Gross, Esq. 1736: John Wakeman, by Robert, Lord Walpole 1753: Thomas Batman, by Margaret, Countess of Orford