Place:Pensthorpe, Norfolk, England

Watchers
NamePensthorpe
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish, Deserted settlement
Coordinates52.822°N 0.881°E
Located inNorfolk, England     ( - 1935)
See alsoGallow Hundred, Norfolk, Englandhundred in which it was located
Walsingham Rural, Norfolk, Englandrural district 1894-1974
North Norfolk District, Norfolk, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
Kettlestone, Norfolk, Englandparish into which it was absorbed in 1935
source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"PENSTHORPE, a parish in Walsingham [registration] district, Norfolk; on the river Wensum, 2 miles E S E of Fakenham [railway] station. Post-town: Fakenham. Acres: 753. Real property: £900. Population: 12. Houses: 2. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £50. Patrons: Trustees. There is no church."

Pensthorpe was a thinly populated parish within the Gallow Hundred. It became a civil parish in the Walsingham Rural District in 1894. In 1935 it was abolished as a civil parish and was absorbed into the neighbouring parish of Kettlestone. The area is now covered by the non-metropolitan North Norfolk District. By the time of its move to Kettlethorpe it had a population of 41.

The parish, or at least part of it, is now a nature reserve. (Source: Wikipedia)

Research Tips

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