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

The Parish

The parish of Toftrees lies in the northwestern portion of central Norfolk roughly 2 1/2 miles southwest of the market town of Fakenham. Toftrees sits immediately northwest of the A1065 road which links Fakenham with Swaffham. Toftrees is a tiny place, little more than a short run of properties lining Toftrees Road, the lane previously mentioned. Like most Norfolk parishes Toftrees is a farming parish, early gazetteers estimate as much as 2/3rds of the parish acreage as set to arable with smller areas of pasture, if anything that ratio has increased towards arable in the modern era. Toftrees sits upon a rise to the east of the infant River Wensum which drains the parish, initially northeastwards then after passing through Fakenham southeastwards to the city of Norwich, east of the city the Wensum meets the Yare and heads to the North Sea arriving through the port of Great Yarmouth. Toftrees is sited at around 60 metres above the sea, land rises gently southeastwards with a few spots southeast of neighbouring Colkirk breaching the 80 metres contour as the highest ground around. Toftrees was one of Norfolk's many small parishes, covering just under 1,200 acres it would have barely supported a population of close to 100 parishioners. Whilst Toftrees is mentioned in Domesday Book it is as part of a regional entry incorporating Great Ryburgh & Sculthorpe and not specific to this manor.

The Church

All Saints' church sits on the western side of Toftrees Road barely 200 metres northwest of the A1067. All Saints appears to be a church with its origins in the 13th century but much modified during the later 15th & 16th centuries. The Early English Gothic style is well represented by scattered lancet styled windows, lancets are on both the northern side of the nave and of the chancel. Both northern and southern doorways remain, also, from the early 13th century whilst the priest's door is from the very end of that century, all in Early English Gothic. During the later Perpendicular era many windows were replaced as well as the chancel arch. Documentary evidence shows work ongoing on the east window in 1506 and on the tower in 1523, all rather late towards the end of the style's era. The chancel roof was replaced during the 16th century, the nave's in the 18th century but the church seems to have escaped the typical Victorian restoration. Current pictures from 2025, however, show the church swathed in scaffolding as restoration is finally ongoing. The verge to the south of the site is well worn from parking, the churchyard is behind a typical set of Norfolk walling, bricks topping flint, and has no obstacles to concern the photographer.