Botesdale in 1842
Botesdale is in the hundred of Hartismere, 15 miles north-east from Bury, on the road to Norwich by Scole. With the village of Rickingall Inferior, which is in Blackburn hundred, it forms a street of more than a mile long, lined with indifferently built houses. The area of the two parishes is 2,050 acres ; there joint population in 1831, 1,120, nearly half agricultural. The market, formerly held at Botesdale on Thursday, has been discontinued, but there is a yearly fair. The chapel at Botesdale ( the parish is only a parochial chapelry) has some good portions of perpendicular architecture. It is dedicated to St. Botolph ; and the name of the village is a corruption of St. Botolph’s dale. Near the church is the grammar-school, which had, in 1833, above 30 scholars. Near Botesdale is Redgrave Hall, the handsome seat of Admiral Wilson ; and in Redgrave church, which is about 2 miles from Botesdale, is a handsome monument to chief-justice Sir John Holt. |