Place:Foulsham, Norfolk, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Foulsham is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is 19.6 miles (31.5 km) west-southwest of Cromer, 17.7 miles (28.5 km) northwest of Norwich and 119 miles (192 km) northeast of London. The village lies 9.4 miles (15.1 km) north-northeast of the town of East Dereham. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich.

Puritan emigration

The village gave its name to a family of Puritan dissidents who fled England for the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, (and later Exeter, New Hampshire) and whose spelling of the name was slightly changed to Folsom. Today these American descendants of Foulsham have given rise to Folsom, California, Folsom Street in San Francisco, Folsom Prison—all named for California pioneer and New Hampshire native Joseph Libbey Folsom—as well as General Nathaniel Folsom, who represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress.

World War 2 activity

In World War 2 RAF Foulsham played host to No. 100 Group RAF, a special operations unit who flew bombers including the Handley Page Halifax and De Havilland Mosquito in electronic warfare missions. All that remain now are a couple of dilapidated hangars and a few small outbuildings.

The village is largely unspoilt, with a number of attractive 16th and 17th century buildings.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Foulsham. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• A map illustrating the individual parishes of Eynesford or Eynsford Hundred may be useful.
• 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.