England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Fring All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Fring lies in northwestern Norfolk not too far from its coast with The Wash. Fring is located about midway between the coastal settlement of Snettisham and the large village of Docking. Fring is a small and compact village built largely in the valley of the Heacham Brook in a delightfully rolling part of the county. Fring sits in lanes about 2 miles south of the B1454 road which connects Docking with Heacham. A feature of Fring is the ancient trackway of Peddar's Way which crosses the west of the parish, if studiously ignoring the village (it predates the village, of course), and is now one of England's National Trails. Today Fring is largely dominated by arable farming but at the time of this transcript a more pastoral regime would have been prevalent on the light soils (the area is underlain by chalk). The Heacham Brook drains northwestwards to reach The Wash through Heacham. Fring is sited at 30 metres above the sea but local heights of twice that height are nearby and Fring is quite indented into its little valley. By Norfolk standard Fring parish was of a fairly typical size, it covered just over 1,700 acres and would have supported a population of just over 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Fring was shared three ways, the majority being in the hands of Bishop William of Thetford, a smaller portion held by Count Eustace of Boulogne and a token portion by William of Warenne The parish could offer 23 ploughs, meadows and an impressive 5 mills.

The Church

All Saints' church lies to the east of the lane running northwestwards from the village towards Sedgeford, it is almost at the northwestern limit of the village area. Documentary evidence can date the building of the church to at least as early as 1327 and much of the building is 14th century in style. The church follows the standard design of that period namely nave, chancel and western tower. The principal change made by Victorian restorers was too re-roof and lower the pitch of the roof-line, the former angles can be seen in trace on the eastern face of the tower. The church sits quite a way back from the lane screened by some trees, a wooden gateway and sign marks the entrance where a gravel path passes through the screen of trees to the churchyard. Once through the trees the site is relatively unobstructed for photography.