Category: Melton Constable

This is the war grave of Arthur Charles Gibson who is buried at St. Mary’s church in Burgh Parva, located near to Melton Constable. I’ve never seen a war grave with the words “buried elsewhere in this churchyard” on it, but in this case it’s because Arthur wasn’t listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list, but in 2015 he was added to the United Kingdom Book of Remembrance.

Arthur’s record at the 1911 census when he lived on Gordon Road in Melton Constable. He lived with Walter Stangroom’s family, with Walter being his brother-in-law, and he worked as a telegraph operator. They also lived with Arthur’s mother, Ellen Gibson, who had been widowed. His military records note that he signed up voluntarily on 3 January 1912, but he was discharged on 19 July 1916 due to ill health. I’m not sure if he was injured abroad, or whether he was injured whilst working at the Melton Constable railway works, which was an important industry for the war effort. It seems unlikely to me that he was serving abroad, as otherwise he would have been more likely to have been listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list. His military number was 1586 and he was a Private in the Norfolk Regiment, dying in London on 23 February 1917 at the age of 21, with his death certificate noting he died of empyema. He doesn’t seem to have a headstone of his own from the time, with his stone being added here in 2015.

Located at St. Mary’s church is the gravestone of Henry William Thomas Stimpson, the son of Henry Thomas Stimpson and Deborah Stimpson.

Henry was born in 1891, but wasn’t baptised until 18 October 1894 when he lived in Briston. He signed up to the military in 1911 when he was 18 on a 4 year territorial force contract, when he was still living in Briston but he was working as a coach painter at the railway works. Above is the 1911 census record for the family.

As he reached the end of his territorial contract, he was discharged from the military on 14 January 1916 when the documents note him to be 24 years old and 5’6″ tall. He lived at 5 Gordon Road in Melton Constable and he worked as a coach painter at the railway works. His character was noted to be “steady and sober”, but he wasn’t sent overseas to fight as it was noted he was serving at home from 5 August 1914 until 14 January 1916, I assume on what was defined as war work. He committed some minor offence on parade in Dereham on 30 November 1914 and was fined one day’s pay. He joined the National Union of Railwaymen in 1916 at the age of 24.

He served as a Private in the Norfolk Regiment, with service number 1385. I’m unsure how he died, but I’m going to take a guess that it was at the railway works as his body is located here and he doesn’t seem to have travelled overseas at any stage during his military career. I might well be wrong, I often am…..

According to his grave, he died on 13 November 1918 at the age of 28, although I’m really not sure that age is correct as it doesn’t fit in with the other dates and the death register notes him at 27 which seems correct.

The old church at Burgh Parva has mostly fallen down and if the village of Melton Constable hadn’t been transformed by the railways, then the remains of that building are likely all that would remain today. However, the village population increased tenfold in just a few decades and it was evident that a new church was needed.

This building wasn’t meant to be permanent, but they’ve never quite built a new one. On 4 April 1903, the Norfolk Chronicle reported that:

“During the process of excavating and levelling the land round the old church for the purpose of the new churchyard, the foundations of the walls of the old churchyard have been found.”

This churchyard in the front of the image above is the newly opened section. It was reported in the local press later in 1903 that:

“Mr Ritson Batson Woods, at the age of 97, has constructed an oak lectern and presented it to the new Burgh Parva (temporary) Church of St. Mary, to be transferred to the permanent building as soon as it has been restored.”

There seems to have been a difference of opinion between whether to restore the old church or whether to construct an entirely new modern church instead, which is perhaps why a decision was never quite taken on what to do. There were fund raising exercises that went on for some time, but there is something quite homely about this tin construction.

This is what remains of St. Mary’s church which is located near to Melton Constable, in what was once the parish of Burgh Parva. This medieval village has long since gone and the church was always a relatively small one. It’s thought that the church was constructed during the later part of the fifteenth century and the early part of the sixteenth century. David Kennett in his Norfolk Villages book notes:

“In 1845, White’s Directory described Melton Constable with Burgh Parva as a fertile parish of 1,700 acres. They had 114 inhabitants in 1831, but only 75 in 1841, several families having emigrated to America”.

There’s otherwise very little historical text that I can find about this church, just guesswork about the exact building dates.

The Norfolk Heritage web-site mentions that the church was likely ruinated in the reign of King Charles II, but the chancel had likely gone following the Reformation as some of the stone has been repurposed into the nearby hall. The tower is looking remarkably robust given how long it’s been standing, although it’s evident that there have been some repairs over recent decades. As can be seen, an advanced system to keep people out has been erected around the church.

The door had been filled in with stone before the church mostly fell down. I accept that I wonder about strange things, but it would be interesting to know when the last person to walk through that door was (the actual door, not the new hole that has appeared).

The church evidently wasn’t that large judging from the size and there’s no evidence of there being any aisles.

There’s one other section of wall remaining which seems to be near the end of the former nave.

Inside the church tower.

The former roof line is still visible. There have been some Saxon and early Norman finds here and it’s possible that there was a church here at that time, although equally, the stone might have been moved across to this as a new site.

Due to the substantial increase in the population of nearby Melton Constable, a temporary iron church was constructed in 1903 and it’s still there. But more on that in the next riveting instalment of this blog….