Place:Bawdeswell, Norfolk, England

Watchers
NameBawdeswell
Alt namesBaldereswellasource: Domesday Book (1985) p 186
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates52.75°N 1.017°E
Located inNorfolk, England
See alsoEynesford Hundred, Norfolk, Englandhundred in which it was located
Mitford and Launditch Rural, Norfolk, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Breckland District, Norfolk, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bawdeswell is a small rural village and civil parish on the northeastern boundary of Breckland District of the county of Norfolk, England. At the time of the 2011 census it had a population of 828 and an area of 487 hectares. As of June 2012 there were 360 dwellings with some 314 in the village itself and a further 46 within the parish boundary.

Bawdeswell Village is situated almost in the centre of Norfolk, about 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Norwich, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Fakenham, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of the market town of East Dereham (more commonly known just as Dereham) and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the small market town of Reepham which is in Broadland District. The main area of the village is situated immediately to the north of the A1067 road but there are also a few dwellings to the south of the A1067 on Dereham Road, Billingford Road and Elsing Lane. There is also a small amount of development on Reepham Road to the North of the village. The main area of the village varies between 140 and 150 feet (46 m) above sea level.

Bawdeswell is close to the village of Foxley and to Foxley Wood, the largest remaining area of ancient woodland in Norfolk.

Bawdeswell was the home of Chaucer's Reeve in The Reeve's Prologue and Tale in the Canterbury Tales, written in the 1380s. He was "Osewald the Reeve",

"Of Northfolk was this reeve of which I telle,
Byside a toun men callen Baldeswelle".

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bawdeswell.

Research Tips

  • Ancestry.co.uk has the following lists as of 2018 (UK or worldwide Ancestry membership or library access required). With the exception of the index to wills these files are browsible images of the original documents. The files are separated by type and broken down into time periods (i.e., "Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812" is more than one file). The general explanatory notes are worth reading for those unfamiliar with English parish records.
  • Index to wills proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich : and now preserved in the District Probate Registry at Norwich
  • Norfolk, England, Bishop's Transcripts, 1579-1935
  • Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
  • Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915
  • Norfolk, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1990
  • Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940
  • FindMyPast is another pay site with large collection of parish records. As of October 2018 they had 20 types of Norfolk records available to browse including Land Tax Records and Electoral Registers.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Bawdeswell. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.