The information has been entered exactly as written in the original book. Sorry it's long-winded, but that's the way they did it then.

STALHAM is a parish and market town, pleasantly situated on the high road from North Walsham to Yarmouth, near the navigable Ant, with station on the Midland and Great Northern joint railway and 1 1/2 miles from Wayford Bridge, 8 south-east from North Walsham, 16 north-west of Great Yarmouth and 15 miles north-east from Norwich, in the Eastern division of the county. Tunstead and Happing petty sessional division, Happing hundred, Smallborough Union, Walsham county court district, rural deanery of Waxham (Happing division), archdeaconry and diocese of Norfolk.

The church of St Mary is a fine structure of flint with stone dressings, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and a western tower, which has been injured by lightning and contains one bell; the chancel was reconstructed in 1827, and in 1886 its roof was raised to the original pitch, the walls, floors and windows entirely restored, and the east window filled with stained glass, at the sole expense of the lay rector, George Randall Johnson esq. MA of Heavitree, Exeter. In 1854 the nave and aisles were repaired and the church reseated at a cost of £115; In 1864 and organ was erected and choir stalls placed in the chancel. In 1872-3 the south porch was rebuilt, new floors laid down and windows in the aisles renovated at a total cost of £395. In 1886 the roof of the nave was relaid, a new vestry erected and a stained window in the south aisle inserted by the vicar to his sister, Catherine Nevelle White, and his mother, Charlotte White; the east window is also stained; in 1889 a carved oak reredos was erected. There is a brass to the Riches family, dated 1624 and another, with figures of a civilian and his wife, circa 1460. There is a finely carved octagonal font with representations of the Apostles and the Baptism and Crucifixion of our Saviour, restored in 1864; in 1894 the aisles were reseated at a cost of £177 and in 1895 a new cross was placed over the porch, the whole being carried out at the cost of the vicar. there are 350 sittings, 200 being free.

The Register dates from the year 1560. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £138; including 32 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of James Sewell Neville esq and held since 1852 by the Rev Joseph Neville White BA of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The Baptist chapel erected in October 1884 at a cost, including site, of £2000, is an edifice of brick, seating 450 persons and has a Sunday school adjoining. The total cost, including site, was upwards of £2,000. The organ cost about £200; in 1895 a manse was erected at a cost of £550. There is also a small Wesleyan chapel.

The Corn Hall, built by a company in 1855, is no longer used as such, owing to the abolition of the market formely held here on Tusdays, but it is still available for concerts and meetings and also serves as a reading room. The Police station is used as an occasional courthouse. The river Ant affords facilities for landing coal, corn, malt and all kinds of merchandise. Stalham and Sutton Broads form a sheet of water connected with this river, three-quarters of a mile from south-west to north-east and 1mile from west to east. It is mostly overgrown with reeds, but there are two channels, one to Stalham and the other to Sutton.

The poor's allotment, of over 72 acres, awarded under the Inclosure Act of 1807 (47 George III) is let yearly to several tenants and the rents are now (1900) distributed in money to such poor persons as have gained a settlement here under the 34th secton of "The Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1876" (39 and 40 Vict c61). A sum of £10, left by John Riches in 1626, was invested in house property, subsequently sold for £80 and the money re-invested in the form of a loan towards the erection of the Smallburgh workhouse. John Riches' charity is under the control of the vicar and trustees appointed by the parish council; in 1870, the enactments of the local Government Board having effected a change in the mode of electing the guardians, this sum was transferred to the vicar and churchwardens for the time being and by them invested in Consols, the interest of which now amounts to £2 7s 8d. In 1634 Thomas Smythe, of Stalham, bequeathed an annual sum of £5, invested in certain properties in the parish, now (1900) producing £26 yearly, out of which a sum of 13s 4d is paid every year to the vicar. These two benefactions constitute the "Donation Charity" and are administered by trustees appointed by the Charity Commissioners for the benefit of the aged and deserving poor.

In 1718 Mrs Catherin Smith left six acres of land, called "the Long Closes" for the use and benefit of the vicar for the time being, subject to a half-yearly payment of 8s at Christmas and 8s at Easter, for the purchase of bread for the poor and of 4s to the parish clerk for keeping clean her monument in th chancel of the church. The parish consists of two manors, the trustees of Robert Cooke esq are lords of the manor of Linford and Wilds and George Randal Johnson esq of Feniton Court, Devon, is lord of the manor of Stalham Hall and chief impropriator of the rectorial tithes, which amount to £363 and are divided amongst eight impropriators. The principal landowners are James Sewell Neville esq of Sloley, and the trustees of Robert Cooke esq and George Randal Johnson esq. The soil is fine strong land, subsoil, brick-earth, sand and and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley, roots and beans. The acreage is 1,773 of land and 27 water.; rateable value, £4,078; the population in 1891 was 867.

Parish Clerk, George Stimpson

Post, Money Order & Telegraph Office
• Express Delivery, Parcel, Post, Saving Bank & Annuity & Insurance Office.
• Mrs Emily Cattermoul, sub-postmistres.
• Letters received from Norwich by mail cart & by train from Yarmouth. Deliveries commence at 7am and 2pm, dispatched at 10.20am 4.10pm and 6.15 pm.
• On sundays they are not delivered but may be called for from 7 to 10pm , dispatched at 4.20pm.

Police Station, John Clipperton, inspector and 5 constables.

Public Officers

• Admiralty Surgeons & Agents, Ernest Buxton Cutting MRCS Eng and Charles Frederick Rudd MRCS Eng.
  
• Assistant Overser, Boardman Charles Silcock.
  
• Collector of Taxes, Robert Joseph Perfitt.
  
• Medical Officr & Public Vaccinator, Stalham District, Smallburgh Union, Charles Frederick Rudd MRCS Eng.
• Registrar of Marriages, Smallburgh District, Herny Andrews; deputy, John Batchelor.
• Surveyor to the Smallburgh Rural District Council, Solomon Pemberton.
• A School Board of 5 members was formed 20th November 1875 for the united district of Stalham & Brumstead, J Meale, clerk to the board; William Henry Cooke, Stalham, attendance officer.
• Board School (mixed), opened in June 1878 and enlarged in 1887 for 159 children; average attenance, 140; Henry Thomas Hardwicke, master; Mrs Louisa Hardwicke, mistress.
• Railway Station (Midland & Great Northern joint), Samual Bull, staton master.

Conveyance to:-

NORWICH - Leatherdale's coach, from Maids Head inn to "Wagon & Horses", Tombland, on mon, wed and sat. at 8am returning same days at 4.45pm.

WATER CONVEYANCE to and from Yarmouth, from Mrs Sarah Burton's Wharf, also from wharf.

CARRIER TO NORWICH - George Stimpson, to 'Wagon & Horses' Tombland, every wed and sat and returns the same day at 4pm.

Private Residents
Bates Miss, The Laurels Bird Rev Benwell Vernon (Baptist), The Manse Coleman John Abraham Cutting Chetwynd house Daniels Thomas Abbot, Bank House Fox Frederick W Gedge Mrs Gibbs George, St John's Road Grimes Henry Hook Misses, St John's Road Hunting George Crans Jones William, Licinda house, The Green	Lingwood Miss Middleton Robert, Sunnyside Mulles Mrs Pestell Mrs, High street Potter George, St John's road Rudd Charles Frederick Savory William, Hawley house Silcock Boardman Charles, Staithe road Tuck Miss S, St John's road White Rev Joseph Neville BA, Vicarage Youngman Mrs, Yarmouth road

Commercial
See separate page