Place:Frettenham, Norfolk, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Frettenham is a civil parish in Norfolk, England. Known in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Fretham', Frettenham is located six miles northeast of Norwich, surrounded by countryside. The village is well known for its rich farmland. It covers an area of 6.33 km2 (2.44 sq mi) and had a population of 727 in 288 households at the 2001 census, increasing slightly to a population of 740 in 307 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the District of Broadland.

The parish church of St. Swithin dates from the 14th century; the chancel was rebuilt in 1869 by the architest Richard Phipson.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Frettenham from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1871-72:

"FRETTENHAM, a parish in St. Faith [registration] district, Norfolk; 2 miles WSW of Coltishall, and 6½ NNE of Norwich [railway] station. Post town: Coltishall, under Norwich. Acres: 1,581. Real property: £2,537. Population: 221. Houses: 47. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Staining-hall [Stanninghall], in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £395. Patron: Lord Suffield. The church is ancient. There are a Primitive Methodist chapel and a national school. A fair is held on the first Monday of April."

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Frettenham. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• GENUKI also supplies a map illustrating the individual parishes of Taverham Hundred. Parishes labelled with letters should be identifiable from the Ordnance Survey Map of 1900.
• 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.