Place:Besthorpe, 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

Besthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England, about a mile east of Attleborough, on the A11 road. According to the 2001 UK census it had a population of 561, increasing to 778 at the 2011 UK census.

The church is located in a remote part of the parish, giving rise to the belief that plague, the Black Death (noteably 1347 to 1351), once decimated the original community, resulting in the destruction of many local dwellings. Although no factual evidence exists to support this theory, the plague hit Norfolk very badly.

The village possesses two halls or manors; the Old Hall and New Hall. The Old Hall is located close to Burgh Common and was also known as Plassing Hall. For many years it was a farm but has recently been converted into a private dwelling. It still possesses a section of moat and some original stained glass.

New Hall was built between 1560 and 1593 by the family of Robert Drury (c.1456-1535), who gave his name to Drury Lane in London.

Somewhat notoriously, the village possesses a road known as Sluts Hole Lane, although this is most likely a spelling mistake made by late Victorian census takers which has passed into relatively modern usage (maps and census documents held in Norwich's Library, 'The Forum', show it was originally known as Slutch Hole Lane). Attempts to restore the original name have been opposed by local historians; a residents' petition for a change was resisted in 1999. Slutch is an old English word meaning 'slushy' or 'muddy'; an alternative etymology is that it comes from the Dutch word for 'sluice', used in draining the fens.

Research Tips

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