Place:Westfield, Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Whinburgh and Westfield is a civil parish in Norfolk, England. It covers an area of 7.56 km2 (2.92 sq mi) and had a population of 307 in 134 households at the 2001 UK census. Ten years later it had a population (including Brakefield Green) of 342 according to the 2011 UK census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the District of Breckland. The civil parish is located south of the nearby town Dereham.

Whinburgh and Westfield is formed from the two ancient parishes which centred round the churches of St Mary's Whinburgh and St Andrew's Westfield, and until 1894 the two churches performed all the functions of local government, Norfolk being a county of small villages and parishes. The County of Norfolk Review Order, 1935, sought to rationalise this, and Westfield Parish was 'abolished' and merged with Whinburgh Parish. The name of the resultant parish was not changed from Whinburgh. For many years nothing was done about the parish's name, but on 2 August 1995, at the request of the Parish Council, Breckland Council sealed a 'Notice of the Change of Parish Name' and the parish then became Whinburgh and Westfield.

Westfield is northwest of Whinburgh.

Westfield

St Andrew's Church has an early 14th-century west tower. There is also a 15th-century porch with some flushwork and the nave retains the tracery window which would have originally been part of the chancel, which was demolished around 1700.

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

"WESTFIELD, a parish in Mitford [registration] district, Norfolk; ¾ mile W of Yaxham [railway] station, and 12¼ S by E of East Dereham. Post town: Dereham. Acres: 569. Real property: £1,215. Population: 124. Houses: 31. The manor belongs to Mrs. Grigson. The living is a rectory, annexed to Whinbergh. The church is early English."

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Westfield. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• A map illustrating the individual parishes of Mitford 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.