Category: Bixley

George Marmaduke Seaman was one of the two men from this parish who died in the two world wars. The two men killed were brothers, with George’s elder brother William dying during the First World War.

George was the son of William Seaman and Catherine Elizabeth Seaman, and was the husband of Marjorie Amy Seaman. During the First World War he served in the Royal Navy, stationed on HMS Royal Oak.

He died at the age of 58 on Saturday 15 March 1941.

Still on my theme of Bixley Church (I put Bixley as it’s easier to spell than Wandregesilius) I’m intrigued at the scale of the pilgrimages which went on here.

There are a few references to the pilgrimages which took place to the church, this is the last that I can find before the Reformation. It doesn’t help that generations of locals have managed to spell Wandregesilius in such a wide variety of ways, in this case Wandrede. Although, being honest, that is a lot easier to spell.

These pilgrimages were made by others to help the soul of the person who had died, helping in their salvation. All a bit of a burden on the living, although if there was a financial contribution in the will then I suppose that made things rather more tolerable.

Further to my main post about Bixley Church, there are burials of two war dead in the churchyard. I haven’t yet found these gravestones, but I will make a renewed effort to locate them. There was one war casualty in each of the two World Wars and they were brothers.

William Seaman, died aged 35 on Saturday 20 May 1916.

Lieutenant George Marmaduke Seaman, died aged 58 on Saturday 15 March 1941.

Still on my theme of graves at Bixley Church, the arson hit church near Norwich, below is the grave of George Parker. Unfortunately many of the graves are becoming unreadable, but this one has remained in decent condition.

George Parker died in January 1864 at the age of 81 years old, having been born in 1783. His death was reported in the Norfolk Chronicle, noting that he “died on Wednesday last, Mr. George Parker, Bixley, many years a resident of that parish, deeply lamented by his family, and much respected by a numerous circle of friends”.

At the time of the 1851 census, George Parker is listed as living at Bixley Hall in Bixley, along with his wife Mary (born in 1789), his son Charles (born in 1825) and his grand son Edward (born in 1840). There were also two servants, Mary Ann Sandle and Mary Flud (both born in 1826), with George and Charles listed as farmers.

The family was though bigger than this, as in the 1841 census, there were more children listed, Granville (aged 25), Thomas (aged 20), William (aged 15), Charles (aged 15) and Frederick (aged 14).

I’m doubting whether the Parkers did live at Bixley Hall itself, as this was a grand house that was owned by the Earls of Rosebery and then later on by the wealthy Colman family. But they likely lived in a building attached to the hall, or nearby. George Parker does appear on the electoral rolls though. This was at a time when not every man (let alone woman) had the vote, so everyone had to qualify. Parker qualified as he was a “£50 occupier” (a property which had the required annual value) and was listed as “living on the road from Norwich to Loddon”.

In the 1861 census, George Parker is listed as living on Bixley Road and as being a retired farmer, living with his granddaughter Julia Mary Parker and two servants, Elizabeth Walls and John Harn. I’ll have to come back to find out more about George Parker, as he seems to have had some wealth, which should mean there’s plenty more to discover about him.

When I last visited this fire hit church the former churchyard was in a state of dereliction and most of the graves couldn’t be seen. Someone has done a splendid job of cutting down some of the undergrowth so that the graves can be seen, but it hasn’t ruined the tranquillity of the site.

I have a habit, which I should probably get out of, of looking at a grave stone and wondering about who that person was and what they used to do. It’s a little bit of a random hobby (I say hobby, I don’t do it very often) as there’s no real method of which graves seem interesting to me.

This is the grave of James Betts who died on 1 August 1877 at the age of 66 years old. Born in 1811 he was married to Elizabeth (born in 1813) and the gravestone notes that he was of the parish of Bixley.

There he is on the 1871 census, right at the bottom, a gardener who lived on the Loddon Road at Bixley. This doesn’t give a whole amount of useful information, but it becomes apparent there’s more on the next page….

And here are a few more details, his wife Elizabeth, and mention of his two sons, James who was born in 1849 and Henry who was born in 1850.

James died in 1877, but the 1881 census has his wife Elizabeth living at Hill Cottages in Bixley, which is just south of the Norwich Southern Bypass in what is now better known as Whitlingham. She’s living with Henry, who is also a gardener, and a female called Mary Betts who is listed as the daughter, but I’m assuming who is Henry’s wife. Also living there is Charles Betts, a nine year old boy who is Elizabeth’s grand-son.

That’s unfortunately it, no other obvious records exist for James Betts, and I can’t even locate him on some of the earlier censuses.

I have more on the ruins of Bixley Church, but below is a list of rectors from the parish from over the centuries.

1294 : Roger de Bykerwyke

1304 : John de Brigham

1316 : Richard de Linnbandesheye

1318 : William de Overtone

1349 : John de Hardleston

1349 : Gilbert Arches

1361 : John de Thornham

1367 : John de Esterford

1419 : Thomas Benny

1421 : John Samson

1426 : William Wyverton

1467 : Thomas Maystyr

1482 : Robert Murcoth

1485 : Henry Bele

1490 : John Custance

1497 : John Dalle

1513 : Robert Hubbard

15?? : George Troghleye

1528 : Ronald Johnson

1540 : John Alen

15?? : Ralph Hayton

1570 : William Bainbrigge

15?? : Henry Lynney

1601 : John Holden

1615 : David Thaxter

1625 : Robert Cowell

16?? : Thomas Watts

1672 : Thomas Frost

1674 : Richard Webster

1682 : Giles Wilcox

1690 : William Dylke

1728 : David Fleming

1747 : Henry Goodall

1781 : William Dowson

1800 : Samuel Hudson

1810 : Peter Wallond Moore

1813 : John Bowman

1848 : Charles Brereton

1876 : Henry Cecil Fellowes

1878 : Charles Turner

1887 : Alfred Edward Alston

Sadly, this church was destroyed by fire on 14 May 2004, even more unfortunate was that it was an arson attack. There has been a church here since Saxon times and it seems enormously sad that a church set fire 15 years ago is still in this state. Realistically not much can now be done other than to knock down most of the nave and just keep the tower.

The tower is perhaps the most interesting part of the church, not just because it’s mostly what is left standing, but also because it’s the oldest remaining part. The tower dates to the fourteenth century whilst most of the rest of the church dates to 1868.

The church was once quite influential and important, and it is the only one in the country which is dedicated to Saint Wandregesilius. And this in itself is a slight mystery, as why does a church in rural Norfolk have a dedication to a Benedictine abbot from France? Wandregesilius, or Vandrille, went on a pilgrimage to Rome and then, to allow himself a religious life, he left his wife. History doesn’t record exactly what she thought of this. He then became a hermit before going to live and work in the Benedictine monastery at Montfaucon. After that he went to St. Ursanne, Jura, which is now in Switzerland, and then became a hermit.

However, back to the question of why the church is dedicated to him. Wandregesilius also founded the monastery of Fontenelle, and it’s that which is one possibility. The Norman conquerors of the area came from Normandy (obviously given the name) and the name and reputation could have come over at that time.

But there’s another solution suggested by a former vicar of the area, AE Alston, who said that the church likely fell into disuse by the late thirteenth century and it was refounded by William de Dunwich. It’s suggested that he possessed a devotion to, or a relic of, Wandregesilius and that is why the church was rededicated to him.

On another matter, once upon a time there was a medieval village in the area, but this has now gone and so have the roads and footpaths which served the church. The church was also once an important pilgrimage centre, so this was a significant location.

The damage to the porch, with the former nave being unreachable as there are barriers up to prevent entry.

Although the church was heavily modernised when it was restored, and indeed rebuilt, in 1868, it hadn’t changed a great deal since then until it was hit by the fire. Back in the sixteenth century there were two bells in the tower, but the mid-nineteenth century there was just one, with an inscription reading:

“I to the church the living call, and to the grave summons us all”.

Very cheery.

It seems that the oak rood-screen survived the 1868 restoration, although I assume that it was either missing before the fire or destroyed during it. The register of burials, marriages and funerals was reported to still exist in 1900, with the book dating back to the seventeenth century and it contained the baptisms since 1575, the marriages to 1563 and the burials to 1593. I shall try and locate where that book is now…..

For anyone who wants a list of rectors of the church (and I’m not expecting this to hit the tens of millions if I’m being honest) then they’re here.