Bessingham
Coordinates: 52°53′14″N 1°13′18″E / 52.887156°N 1.221542°E
Bessingham is a village in the North Norfolk district of the English county of Norfolk. It lies 8 mi (13 km) north-north-west of Aylsham and 5 mi (8.0 km) south-south-west of Cromer.[1] It forms part of the civil parish of Sustead (where the population is included).
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin (and for a short while after the Reformation to St. Andrew), is one of the oldest round tower churches in England and was restored in 1869.[2]
The manor was acquired by the Paston family, who are chiefly remember for their fifteenth-century letters, and later the Anson family, and in 1766 the village's main estate was purchased by John Spurrell, a yeoman farmer from neighbouring Thurgarton. The Spurrells expanded the estate and in 1870 Daniel Spurrell built a new Manor House, which became derelict after the estate was sold in 1970.[3][4] It has since been restored and now operates as self-catering holiday accommodation.[5]
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References
- ↑ Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, p. 245
- ↑ Hart, Stephen, The Round Church Towers of England, 2003
- ↑ Spurrell, Jonathan, Bessingham:The Story of a Norfolk Estate, 1766-1970, 2016
- ↑ http://www.bessinghamhistory.org
- ↑ http://www.bessinghammanor.uk