England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Little Fransham St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Little Fransham lies almost centrally within Norfolk being roughly 6 miles northeast of the market town of Swaffham, Little Fransham sits on the A47 road which links King's Lynn with the city of Norwich. Little Fransham is a rather scattered village, a loose aggregation along the main road including the village's inn whilst most properties lie to its north but nowhere is what one would call a compact village centre. Little Fransham lies in prime arable farming land, early gazetteers estimated over 75% of the parish acreage as set to arable and that percentage has probably increased with the use of modern machinery & fertilisers. Little Fransham is drained eastwards by small brooks which make their way to East Dereham and then north to join in quick succession the Blackwater River and the Wensum, the latter heads southeast to pass through Norwich and join the Yare for the final few miles to the North Sea arriving through the port of Great Yarmouth. Little Fransham is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in generally flattish terrain, to the southeast across the A47 a few spots breach the 90 metre contour as the highest ground around. Little Fransham parish was one of the smaller in the area covering only just over 1,000 acres, it would have supported a population of close to 250 parishioners. In Domesday Book Little Fransham was recorded together with its larger neighbour Great Fransham, together their populations exceeded the low threshold recording settlements in the top 20% by population, there were 2 landholders and it is tempting to associate each to a separate entity but in reality one cannot distinguish the assets separately.

The Church

St Mary's church sits north of the A47 and is accessed by a roughly surfaced track east of the lane headed for Great Fransham. As can readily be seen the church suffered a disaster with the fall of its western tower in 1700, thankfully the fall did not significantly damage the main body of the church. Both nave and chancel seem to have been built in a single campaign from the early 14th century with both showing the Decorated style of the first half of that century. There is some confusion arising as dating of bequests in the 15th century indicate a later date than that style persisted, Pevsner's explanation is that they were done to match the existing style. After the fall of the tower the western end was made safe and a simple domestic-styled transomed 4-light window inserted. For once Pevsner fails to document any Victorian restoration, so if one occurred it was clearly light and sensitive. The track to the church leaves Station Lane at a prominent right-angled bend and after 1 field turns right to the churchyard where there is parking spaces, the churchyard has few significant obstacles for the photographer.