Shipdham, Norfolk

Description
Shipdham, a large village and a parish in Norfolk. The village stands 3 1/2 miles SW by W of Yaxham station on the Wymondham and Dereham section of the G.E.R., and 4 1/2 SW by S of East Dereham; was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Watton (S.O.) The parish comprises 4634 acres; population, 1471. There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. A temperance hall was erected in 1875, which is now used as a town-hall. A market hall was built here by a bishop of Ely in the time of Henry III., and a hermitage of Thomas a Becket was here about 1490. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £640 with residence. The church is a large building of flint and stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled western tower with spire. It contains two good stained windows, and a very beautiful ancient lectern of wood. It was restored in 1884-87, and again in 1889-90. There are Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, a public cemetery of about 2 acres in extent with a mortuary chapel, fuel allotments of about 126 acres worth £100 a year, a town estate worth about £30 a year, an endowed elementary school, and some small charities.