NORFOLK. 
fJ|iiared ftones, and the former are difpofed in the fliape 
•of an acute triangle. The tower is of very remote an¬ 
tiquity, and the pointed loops or windows are coeval with 
the original building. Mr. King, author of Munimenta 
Antiqua, confiders thefe ftruftures to be Saxon ; and fays, 
“ another of thefe round Saxon towers is at Wittingham 
church, nearTrowfe in Norfolk, only its top has been 
raifed in height and repaired.” 
The buildings of a county are ufually conftrufted with 
the natural materials of the diftrift; whence the geological 
charafter of a province may be generally afcertained by 
its public ftruftures. Thus, Norfolk producing fcarcely 
any ftone, the builders were obliged to fubftitute flints, 
as being very abundant. Thefe, being ufually found in 
fmall irregular pieces, were not eafily adapted to flat fur- 
faces, or to facilitate the making of a wall. In large caftel- 
lated ftruftures, where the walls were required to be very 
thick, they proved fuperiorto any other fubftance ; but in 
thofe buildings they were commonly enclofed with fquared 
ftones, and ftrongly cemented with fluid mortar. In this 
manner they are ufed in the walls of Garianonum and of 
Venta Icenorum; alfo in Norwich-caftle, Caftle Riling, 
and in l'everal old churches in this county. In the former 
Mr. Wilkins, in the Archaeologia, dates, that “ alternate 
courfes of fquared flints were employed.” The fame 
fcientific architeft further obferves, that “ no material 
whatever can exceed the durability of flints; for we do 
not find an inftance any where of their perifning by frofty 
or wet weather; and, when fquared or laid with care, 
they are extremely beautiful. In building, notwithHand¬ 
ing, they have but little bond, and depend much on the 
mortar or cement they are fixed with ; for, if wet by any 
means gets behind them, the fro ft foon levels the work. 
Many, indeed molt, of our churches and public buildings 
in this county are built almoft wholly of this material; 
but the raoft remarkable I have obferved in flints faced 
and fquared, and laid in fmall regular courfes, is the con¬ 
vent-gate to Norwich cathedral, which was built in the 
reign of Edward I. where the walls to the eaft and the 
fouth have a tracery-work formed with free-ftone, and 
the intervals are filled with fquare flints; and fbme about 
Erpingham’s-gate, built in penance for Lollardifm in the 
reign of Richard II. The chapel of the Virgin Mary on 
the louth fide of St. Michael’s Coflany church, which is 
indeed a mafter-piece, (where the ftone tracery is beauti¬ 
fully filled with black flints, fo as to referable the old 
cabinets we fometimes fee inlaid with ivory,) was built 
about the year 1500; and a building in St. Andrew’s 
parifh, which is recorded as a very rare and beautiful 
piece of flint-work, built in 1403, by William Appleyard, 
who was the firft mayor, and ferved the office in this 
lioufe, which was afterwards fold to the corporation, and 
is the prefent Bridewell. Many country churches have 
been alfo built in this way, as at Cromer, &c. in Norfolk, 
and many in Suffolk and Eflex. The art of fquaring the 
flints in this curious manner is now almoft totally neg¬ 
lected ; though I am convinced it might very foon be 
brought to perfection again, from the facility I obferved 
the workman acquire by a little praftice in repairing 
under my fuperintendance, in bifhop Bagot’s time, a 
tower belonging to the palace.” 
Different parts-of this county communicate the fol¬ 
lowing titles to the peerage : Norfolk dukedom and earl¬ 
dom to Howard, hereditary earl-marfhal of England and 
premier peer next to the blood royal, who is alfo Baron 
Howard of Caftle Riling. Norwich earldom to Gordon 
duke of Gordon in Scotland. Suffield barony to Harbord. 
Thetford vifcounty to Fitzroy duke of Grafton. Wal- 
fingham barony to De Grey. Winterton Iriffi earldom 
and barony to Tumour. Yarmouth earldom to Con way - 
Seymour marquis of Hertford. Of Blicking, Hobart ba¬ 
rony to Hobart earl of Buckinghamfhire. Of Calthorpe, 
Calthorpe barony to Calthorpe. Of Hillborough, Nelfon 
barony to Nelfon earl Nelfon ; the barony of Nelfon of 
Burnham Thorpe became extinCl on the death of the 
Vol. XVII. No. 1167. 
145 
heroic native of that place. Of Kimberley, Wodehoufe 
barony to Wodehoufe. Of Rainham, Townffiend mar- 
quifate and vifcounty; and of Lynn Regis, Townfhend 
barony to Townfliend. Of Walpole and of Wolterton, 
Walpole barony to Walpole earl of Orford. 
Norfolk, according to the laft cenfus, contains 291,999 
inhabitants; of whom 138,089 are males, and 153,910 
females, dwelling in 52,807 houfes ; and confiding of 
62,805 families, of whom 31,454 are employed in agri¬ 
culture, 23,802 in trade, and 8,279 in neither. The 
people are generally ftrong and aCtive, fugacious and 
acute. That they are fo robuft, is the more to be won¬ 
dered at, becaufe the common people live much on pud¬ 
dings, Norfolk dumplings. They were formerly reckoned 
to be very quarrelfome and litigious. In confequence of 
this difpofition, lawyers fwarmed among them to fuch a 
degree, that a ftatnte was made fo early as the reign of 
Henry VI. to reftrain their number. The manufactures 
of the county are chiefly woollen and worited ftuft's and 
dockings, for wdiich they are well fupplied with wool 
from the vaft flocks of theep bred in it. Norfolk fends 
twelve members to parliament, viz. two knights for the 
ffiire, two citizens for Norwich, and two burgelfes for 
each of the boroughs of Lynn Regis, Great Yarmouth, 
Thetford; and Caftle Riling. The county has fent mem¬ 
bers to parliament lince the firft fummons for knights of 
the lhire in the reign of Edward I. It has been contefted 
between the court and country parties at almoft every 
general election for many parliaments ; but the refult has 
always been favourable to the caufe of liberty. That 
highly-diftinguiffied character, Thomas William Coke, 
of Holkham, efq. who ranks as the firft commoner in 
point of wealth, and fecond to none in the pride of in¬ 
dependence, has always been the fuccefsfui champion of 
the caufe he fo honourably efpoufes. The other member 
is now E. Wodehoufe, efq. who fucceeded the late fir 
Jacob-Henry Altley, bart. 
The charitable inftitutions are very numerous in this 
county ; and, as in other counties, have been much abufed. 
A very interefting “ Account of the different Charities 
belonging to the Poor in the County of Norfolk, abridged 
from the Returns under Gilbert’s Aft in 1786, and from 
the Terriers in the Office of the Bilhop of Norwich,” was 
publiffied in 1813 by Mr. Zackary Clark, a quaker, and 
edited by the amiable and benevolent Mr. Clarkfon. We 
fhall have occafion to avail ourfelves of this work under 
the articles Norwich, Thetford, Walsingham, Yar¬ 
mouth, &c. and we hope and truft that, during the pre¬ 
fent feifion of parliament, thefe charities (fuch at leaft as 
relate to education) will undergo a thorough revifion. 
Other authorities for the prefent article and for thofe juft 
mentioned are—An Effay towards aTopographical Hillory 
of the County of Norfolk, by F. Blomefield, 11 vols. 8vc. 
A general View of the Agriculture of Norfolk, by A. 
Young, 8vo. 1804. General View of the Agriculture of 
the County of Norfolk, by N. Kent, 8vo. 1796. Beauties 
of England, vol. xi. Phil. Tranf. abr. vol. ix. and xviii. 
Oldfield’s Reprefentative Hift. vol. iv. Monthly Mag. 
May 1806. Gent. Mag. Oft. and Nov. 1818. 
NOR'FOLK, a county in Upper Canada, bounded north 
and eaft by the county of Lincoln and the river Thames, 
on the weft by lake Erie, until it meets the Barbue (called 
the Orwell river), thence by a line running north 16 de¬ 
grees weft until it interfefts the Thames, and thence up 
the faid river until it meets the north-weft boundary of 
the county of York. 
NOR'FOLK, a populous maritime county of Mafla- 
chufetts, in N. America, lately taken from the fouthern 
part of the county of Suffolk, and lying to the fouthward 
round Jhe harbour and town of Bolton : it contains twenty 
townffiips, of which Dedham is the feat of juftice. The 
number of inhabitants is 27,216, 
NOR'FOLK, a populous county of Virginia, bounded 
north by James’s river, which divides it from Warwick. 
It contains 7758 free inhabitants, and 4735 flaves. 
P p NOR'FOLK; 
