Place:Kimberley, Norfolk, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"KIMBERLEY, a village and a parish in Forehoe [registration] district, Norfolk. The village stands near the river Yare and the East Anglian railway, 3½ miles NW of Wymondham; and has a station on the railway. The parish comprises 1,460 acres. Post town: Wymondham. Population: 112. Houses: 28. The property belonged to the Falstolfs; passed to the Wodehouses, one of whom was at the battle of Agincourt; and belongs now to the Earl of Kimberley. Kimberley Hall is Lord [Kimberey]'s seat, but stands within Wymondham parish; it was built about 1660, in lieu of a previous edifice where entertainment was given to Queen Elizabeth in 1578; it contains a necklace of Henry V.'s queen, and some valuable paintings; and it has a beautiful park of about 646 acres, - 312 of which are in Kimberley, 276 in Wymondham, and 58 in Carleton-Forehoe. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the rectory of Barnham-Broom, in the diocese of Norwich. The church comprises nave and chancel, with tower and spire; and was repaired and beautified in 1835."

Kimberley was a separate parish in Forehoe Rural District until 1935 when it absorbed the smaller neighbouring parish of Carleton Forehoe. The civil parish is now known as Kimberley and Carleton Forehoe and is in the South Norfolk District.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Kimberley. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• GENUKI also supplies a map illustrating the individual parishes of Forehoe Hundred.
• 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.