Hickling, Norfolk

Description
Hickling, a village and a parish in Norfolk. The village stands 1 mile N by E from Hickling Broad, 2 1/2 miles WNW from the nearest part of the coast, 3 SE from Stalham, and 3 NE from Catfield stations on the Midland and Great Northern Joint railway, 8 from Worsted station on the-G.E.R., and 18 NW from Norwich. It has a post and money order office under Norwich; telegraph office, Stalham. The parish comprises 3948 acres of land and 296 of water; population of the civil parish, 807; of the ecclesiastical, 811. Hickling Broad is a lake of about 700 acres, with a depth of rarely more than 4 1/2 feet, and is navigable, for small vessels, to the Thurne and the Bure. Much of the land is marshy. A priory of Black Canons was founded here, in 1185, by Theobald de Valentia, and given at the dissolution to the-Woodhouses. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £60. The church, a fine building of flint and stone, was restored in 1875-76. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and some small charities. In former times a market was held here, but this has become obsolete. A pleasure fair is held here on the-23 April.