Guestwick

Infobox UK place
official_name= Guestwick
country= England
region= East of England
shire_district= Broadland
shire_county= Norfolk
civil_parish= Guestwick
static_

static_image_caption =Saint Peter Parish Church, Guestwick
population= 135 (parish, 2001 census)
population_density=
os_grid_reference=
latitude= 52.801
longitude= 1.05726
post_town= DEREHAM
postcode_area= NR
postcode_district= NR20
dial_code= 01362
constituency_westminster=
london_distance= convert|131|mi|km

Guestwick is a village [ OS Explorer Map 238 Dereham & Aylsham. ISBN 0 319 23810 5 ] and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 19.6 miles south-west of Cromer, 18.7 miles north-west of Norwich and 131 miles north-east of London. The village lies 10.2 miles west of the nearby town of Aylsham. The village lies far from any High roads. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport.

Location

There are two settlements that make up the parish of Guestwick. Guestwick Green in the south west of the parish and Guestwick which is centered around the parish church of Saint Peter.In the parish there is a scattering of farms and isolated properties. The Parish largely relies on near-by settlements of Foulsham and Reepham for its facilities. Guestwick is situated south of the North Norfolk coast which is only 13.6 miles or 20 minutes by car.

History

In the Domesday Book, Guestwick is mentioned but as the settlement of Guistthwaithe and is described as an area of pasture land used by the people of the nearby village of Guist. By the beginning of the 11th century it has been recorded that the settlement had its own church and so had become independent. The village has an Old Station House, which belonged to the former Midland and Great Northern Railway which ran from Norwich to Sheringham on the North Norfolk Coast.

aint Peter’s Parish Church

The Parish church of Saint Peter has a Saxon-Norman tower constructed of carstone set in the angle between the chancel and the north aisle [The King’s England, Norfolk, by Arthur Mee, Page 109 ISBN 0 340 15061 0] . Originally it was set in the center and the arches to its chancel and nave are still there although they are filled with masonry now. In the south aisle there are two windows with examples of 15th century Norwich Glass [The King’s England, Norfolk, by Arthur Mee, Page 109 ISBN 0 340 15061 0] . The alter rails and alter table are from the Georgian period.

To the north of the church can be found the Congregational Chapel which is one of the earliest in England [The King’s England, Norfolk, by Arthur Mee, Page 109 ISBN 0 340 15061 0] . It was built in 1652 but has been altered in 1809 and again in 1840. The one time minister John Godwin was the father of the political philosopher William Godwin and the grandfather of Mary Godwin who became Mary Shelley [The King’s England, Norfolk, by Arthur Mee, Page 109 ISBN 0 340 15061 0] who is best known for her Gothic novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818).

References