1896  Kelly's                        

DEOPHAM is a parish, 3 miles from Kimberley station, 4 north from Attleborough station on the Thetford and Norwich line of the Great Eastern railway, and 4 south-west from Wymondham, comprising the small village of Deopham Green, a mile south-west from the church. The parish is in the Mid division of the county, Forehoe hundred, petty sessional division and union, Wymondham county court district, rural deanery of Hingham, Forehoe division, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Andrew is a building of flint and stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, lofty nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with octagonal turrets and pinnacles, and containing 5 bells: in 1864 the chancel was entirely restored and new roofed, and in 1867 the south aisle was restored at a cost of £230: the nave was thoroughly restored and new roofed and new windows inserted in 1884 at a cost of over £2,000, and the porch has also since been restored: the estimated cost for the restoration of the tower is £750: there are 280 sittings. The register dates from the year 1560. The living is a vicarage, gross tithe rent-charge £190, net yearly value £135, with 20 acres of glebe in Shipdham and 6 acres in this parish, and residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, and held since 1895 by the Rev. John Samuel Treglown B. A. of Downing College, Cambridge, who is also Sunday evening lecturer at Wymondham parish church. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are impropriators of the rec­toriaI tithes. There are two Primitive Methodists chapels, one at Deopham Green, erected in 1837, and the other at Low Common. The Rev. Henry Rix, who died in 1728, left £60 to be invested in land, which produces a rental of £9 yearly, now appropriated for teaching four poor children and for an annual sermon, the minister receiving 10s., the clerk 1s., and each child 8s., the remainder being given in bread to the poor. A  sum of about £10 10s. arising from 14 acres of land, awarded at the inclosure in 1814 in lieu of common rights, is distributed among the poor in coal annually. The Earl of Kimberley, the Sutton family and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The princi­pal landowners are the Earl of Kimberley K.G., P.C. the trustees of the late J. B. Graver Browne, esq. and the Crown. The soil is marl; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips and hay. The area is 1,661 acres; rateable value, £2,325; the population in 1891 was 365.

Parish Clerk, Charles Hurrell.

Post Office.- Robert Phœnix, sub-postmaster. Letters through Wymondham, arrive at 8.40 a.m. & are dispatched at 6 p.m. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Hingham

Pillar Letter Box,  Low Common, cleared at 5.30 p.m. week days

National School (mixed), erected in 1851, for 84 children; average attendance, 67;   Mrs. Georgina Penlington, mistress

Carriers.-  Williams, from Rockland, & Knott, from Rockland, pass  through to Norwich on wed. & sat.

Porter Rev. Jacob M.A.  (rector of Hackford)

Rowing Miss,  The Green

Treglown Rev. John Samuel B. A.  Vicarage

COMMERCIAL

Allen Herbert,   farmer, Old farm

Allen William,   farmer & cattle dealer, Hall farm

Baldwin Frederick,   farmer, South hill

Barker Walter Clark,   farmer

Bowman Walter,   farmer, High elm

Bush Frederick,   farmer

Bush John,   farmer & shopkeeper, The Green

Clarke Hannah (Mrs.),   farmer, Mill farm

Clarke James William,   farmer

Clarke Thomas Leeder,    farmer, Stalland

Clements James Blackwell,    carpenter & wheelwright, The Green

Dack Robert,   farmer

Dix James Henry,   farmer

Gathergood William,   beer retailer and farmer, Low common

Gibson Arthur,   Halfmoon P. H.

Hart John William,   farmer, Glass Bottle farm

Harwood George Jabez,   farmer, Stalland

Hurrell Charles,   farmer, High Elm farm & Hingham road

Jude Charles,   farmer & drill owner, Hingham road

Lake George,   farmer, Low common

Lane John,   farmer & overseer

Leverett John,   farmer

Nicholls Alfred,   farmer, Low common

Page William,   shopkeeper

Palmer William,   miller (wind)

Patrick William,   farmer, South hill

Peacock William Liddow,   farmer

Phœnix Robert, jun.,   thrashing machine owner, Stalland

Phœnix Samuel,   farmer, Low common

Phœnix Walter C,   farmer, The Green

Phœnix-Stone Martha Ann (Miss),   farmer

Pitts Jane (Mrs.),   farmer

Potter Alfred,   carpenter, Stalland

Read Frances (Mrs.),   beer retailer, The Green

Shaw Maria (Mrs.),   farmer, Hingham road

Smith Fras. Robert,   farmer, Church farm

Smith George,   shoe maker, The Green

Smith Isaac,   tailor, The Green

Smith Thomas,   shoe maker, The Green

Stone George,    thatcher

Turner William,   draper & grocer       

Watling Arthur,   farmer

Webster James,   farmer

Whitehand Charles,   farmer, The Green