Tittleshall is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 238 - East Dereham & Aylsham''. .

Location

The village and parish of Tittleshall has an area of 1376 hectares or . The parish is bordered to the north with the parishes of Raynham and

Colkirk Colkirk is a village (population 2001-547) 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 including Oxwick , Pattesley and South Raynham currently (201 ...

, to the west with Wellingham All Saints, to the south with the parishes of Litcham and Mileham and to the east with the parishes Whissonsett. The western edge of the parish also marks the border between the local government districts of Breckland, of which Tittleshall is part, and the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. The Village is situated approximately south-west of the town of

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norw ...

, north-east of the town of

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

, and north-west of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Population

In the 2011 census had a population of 406 in 161 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of Breckland.Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
''. Retrieved 2 December 2005.

History

The village name of Tittleshall is thought to derive from the Old English for Tyttel's nook. The earliest evidence of human activity within the parish are a number of Neolithic pits and ditches as well as a prehistoric pit. At least three ring ditches have also been discovered, along with a double ring ditch containing cremation pits.

The Domesday Book

Tillleshall has an entry in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 where its population, land ownership and productive resources were extensively detailed. In the survey Tittleshall is recorded by the name of ''Titeshala''. The main tenants were Wymer from William de Warenne, and Ralph Sturmy from Ralph Baynard. The survey also lists that for the Wymer tenancy, there had always been 7 smallholders on this land. Meadow , always 3 ploughs, woodland, 40 pigs and 1 fishery. Value then 20s, now 30. For Ralph Sturmy's tenancy there were 12 villagers, now 8. Then and later 4 smallholders, now 14. Then and later 6 slaves, now 2. Meadow , always 2 ploughs in lordship. Then and later 4 men's ploughs, now 2. Woodland, 100 pigs; always 1 mill. Then 6 head of cattle. Then 30 pigs, now 19. Then 100 sheep, now 80. Then 40 goats, now 73. 4 beehives. Also 1 Freeman, acres . Value then 70s, now the same. Also 1 church, acres , value 5d. The whole has 9 furlongs in length and league in width, tax 5d.

Tittleshall Murder

In 1853 the village was he scene of the murder of

Lorenz Beha Lorenz Beha (c.1825–1853) was a German watchmaker and silversmith living in Britain who was murdered in Norfolk in 1853. Life Coming from Baden Baden in south-west Germany his profession, locality and rare surname would indicate he was a b ...

by William Thomson.

Notable buildings

Parish church of Saint Mary

The parish church of Saint Mary has a nave built in the perpendicular style which is illuminated with transomed windows. There is a

canonical sundial A tide dial, also known as a Mass or scratch dial, is a sundial marked with the canonical hours rather than or in addition to the standard hours of daylight. Such sundials were particularly common between the 7th and 14th centuries in Europe, at w ...

on the south wall. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and west tower are in the decorated style. The

has a large Decorated five-light window with reticulated

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

, and there is an elaborately moulded tower arch on the west tower. The church has a Kingpost roof. The church was used over many years by members of the Coke family who had bought the Tittleshall manor following the reformation, as part of their expansion of the Holkham Estate. Saint Mary's was chosen as the final resting place for many of the Coke family during the post medieval period. There are a number of Coke family monuments at Saint Mary's dating from 1598 up unto the building of the family mausoleum at Holkham in the 1870s, including memorials to Edward Coke and to his first wife Bridget Paston. On the west wall of the nave there is an old Tittleshall School honours board which bears the names of eighteen children who passed scholarships to grammar school during the first sixty years of the twentieth century. Several of these names also appear on the war memorial.

Notable residents

* Edward Coke, English jurist and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

whose writings on the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

were the definitive legal texts for nearly 150 years *

William Hoste Captain Sir William Hoste, 1st Baronet KCB RN (26 August 17806 December 1828) was a Royal Navy captain. Best known as one of Lord Nelson's protégés, Hoste was one of the great frigate captains of the Napoleonic wars, taking part in six majo ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

captain during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

* E. W. Bullinger, noted and controversial Anglican scholar, served as parish curate in Tittleshall from 1863 to 1866. * Reginald Digby (1867–1927), cricketer; born at Tittleshall *Benjamin Whatley, Lance Corporal of 42 Commando Royal Marines, who was killed in Afghanistan on 24 December 2008.

Notes

External links

* http://www.tittleshall.com *
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Tittleshall. {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District