Place:Forncett St. Mary, Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Forncett St. Mary from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"FORNCETT-ST. MARY, a village and a parish in Depwade [registration] district, Norfolk. The village stands near Forncett [railway] station, 2½ miles WNW of Long Stratton; was the head of the honour of Norfolk, and the seat of the Bigods' "knighten" court; and has a post office, of the name of Forncett, under Long Stratton, and a fair on the first Thursday of Sept., o. s. The parish comprises 728 acres. Real property: £1,838. Population: 299. Houses: 71. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £525. Patron: the Earl of Effingham. The church is tolerable; and there is a Primitive Methodist chapel. An endowed school has £70."

In a transcription of William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845, GENUKI explains that Forncett St. Mary was "the seat of the Bigods' "knighten" court" because it was the head manor of the Liberty of the Duke of Norfolk (the Bigods were the original Earls of Norfolk), which comprises 127 parishes in this county, and formerly had a court here every three weeks.

In 1935 the parish of Forncett St. Mary was abolished and the area and its inhabitants, together with those of Forncett St. Peter, were absorbed into the civil parish of Forncett.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Forncett-St. Mary. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:

• England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997
• England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941
• England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901

• 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.