Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KENNINGHALL

KENNINGHALL, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Guiltcross district, Norfolk. The village stands 4 miles ESE of East Harling r. station, and 6 S by W of Attleborough; was the seat of Boadicea and the East Anglian kings; took thence the name of Cheninkhala or Cyninghalla, signifying "king's house, " and modernized into Kenninghall: retains vestiges of the royal castle in mounds, which are now called Kenning hall Place; and has a post office under Thetford, a hotel, a weekly cattle market on Monday, and sheep and cattle fairs on 18 July and 30 Sept. The parish comprises 3, 600 acres. Real property, £7, 810. Pop. in 1851, 1, 648; in 1861, 1, 405. Houses, 280. The property is much subdivided. The chief landowners are the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Albemarle. The manor was held by the De Albinis; passed to the Monaltos, the Mowbrays. and the Howards; and belongs now to the Duke of Norfolk. A palace, on the site of the royal castle, and in the form of the letter H, went to the Crown on the attainder of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk; was, for some time, the residence of Queen Mary; was used by Queen Elizabeth, as a summer seat; and was taken down about 1650. The Guiltcross workhouse stands 1½ mile S of the village; and, at the census of 1861, had 194 inmates. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £250.* Patron, the Bishop of Norwich. The church is large and good; has a tower of flint and stone; and bears, on the buttresses of its S side, the crest of the Norfolk family. There are chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans, and charities £67.—The sub-district contains also twelve other parishes. Acres, 25, 904. Pop., 6, 025. Houses, 1, 336.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Kenninghall AP/CP       Kenninghall SubD       Guiltcross RegD/PLU       Norfolk AncC
Place: Kenninghall

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