North Elmham in 1839
North Elmlram in Launditch hundred, 5 miles north of East Dereham. In the Saxon time this was for four centuries (A.D. 673-1075) the seat of a bishopric ; and after the see was removed to Thetford, and subsequently to Norwich, the bishops continued to reside occasionally in the manor-house here, which bishop Spencer, in the time of Richard II, obtained leave to convert into a castle. The entrenchment surrounding this castle still remains, and encloses about five acres of land. There are a few remains of the palace overgrown with briars and thorns, and some traces of the cathedral. The parish has an area of 5,000 acres, with a population, in 1831, of 1,153. The living is a vicarage, of the clear yearly value of £316. The see was formed by dismemberment from that of Dunwich. The two sees were reunited probably about 870 or 871. |