GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK, INTENDED TO CONVEY ALL THE INFORMATION OF A Norfolk Tour, WITH THE MORE EXTENDED DETAILS OF ANTIQUARIAN, STATISTICAL, PICTORIAL, ARCHITECTURAL, AND Miscellaneous Information ; INCLUDING BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. VOLUME II. Norfolk and Suffolk near; so named of the sites, To the beholding eye, that every where are seen, Abounding with rich fields, and pastures fresh and green; Drayton. NORWICH: PRINTED BY AND FOR JOHN STACY. LONDON: SOLD BY LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND green. MDCCCXXIX. 1361257 367 FREEBRIDGE HUNDRED AND HALF. over. IN the grand national record made by the Conqueror, and called by him Domesday-book, this hundred and half was written Frednebruge, or Fredebruge, and comprehends what is now called Freebridge Lynn hundred, and Freebridge Marshland half hundred. It is supposed to have taken its name from the bridge that crosses the Ouse, at St. German's, which was at that time, according to Dugdale, twelve perches, or one hundred and ninety-eight feet The hundred court was anciently held at Flitchamburgh, at which place there is a remarkable hill or tumulus, surrounded with a ditch, in the form of a square, where it is said the business of the hundred was done.* Freebridge hundred and half is situate at the W. extremity of the county of Norfolk, and bounded by Lynn channel and the Wash on the N. W.; by part of Lincolnshire and¡ Cambridgeshire on the W.; by the hundreds of Clackclose and South Greenhoe on the S.; by Launditch and Gallow hundreds on the E.; and Smithdon on the N. The extent from Massingham on the E., to Wisbeach river on the W., may be about twenty-two miles; and the breadth, from Pentney abbey to Dersingham, eleven miles and a half. The whole of this hundred and half constitutes the deanery of Lynn, and is in the archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich, excepting Emneth, which belongs to the bishopric of Ely, and contains forty-nine parishes. Besides the Ouse, there are several rivulets, of less note, which influx themselves with the sea, at or near Lynn. A small brook rises and passes into the Lynn channel in Dersingham parish. By Flitcham, Hillington, Castle Rising, and Babingby, a The custom of holding courts on a hill, under a tree, or in a booth erected pro tempore, seems to have been first established by the Saxons in England. Justiciarie itinerantes, Justices in Eyre, were instituted, according to Camden, in the reign of Henry II., whose business it was to decide such causes as were too high for the county courts; for which purpose they were sent by commission into the different counties. Justices of the Forest, sent to determine offences committed in the king's forests; and their court was called "The Justice Seat of the Forest." The hundred court was afterwards held under an oak tree, at Gaywood, near Lynn; and till about 1710, was also held at a tree, called Fitton Oak, in the manor of Fitton, and parish of Wiggenhall St. German's, Thomas Howard, eighth duke of Norfolk, being then lord. 119 |