Elsing

History

Elsing's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the settlement of Elesa's people.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Elsing is listed as a settlement of 20 households in the hundred of Eynesford. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of William de Warenne.

Elsing Hall was built in the late fifteenth century as a fortified manor house for the Hastings family of Gressenhall. The agricultural land surrounding the hall has yielded many medieval artefacts including a pilgrim's badge, a French jeton and parts of a crossbow, with a good example of a sixteenth-century priest hole inside. The hall was heavily restored in the mid-Nineteenth Century by Thomas Jeckyll.

Some sources suggest that medieval Elsing had a large population with its own marketplace and guildhall.

Elsing Mill was first built in 1809 and operated as a paper mill until 1818. The mill subsequently reopened in 1854 as a grain mill and remained open until 1970. Today, the mill building is a private residence.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Elsing has a population of 263 people which shows an increase from the 244 people recorded in the 2011 census.

The River Wensum runs through the parish.

St. Mary's Church

Main article: St Mary's Church, Elsing

Elsing's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and was built in the Fourteenth Century, largely as a mausoleum for Sir Hugh Hastings. St. Mary's is located within the village on Church Road and has been Grade I listed since 1960.

St. Mary's holds a good collection of Medieval stained-glass, including depictions of Sir Hugh Hastings alongside Saint George and King Edward III.

Governance

Elsing is part of the electoral ward of Upper Wensum for local elections and is part of the district of Breckland.

The village's national constituency is Mid Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's George Freeman MP since 2010.

War memorial

Elsing War Memorial is a stone column topped with a Celtic cross with the names of the fallen inscribed on a small plinth below, located inside St. Mary's Churchyard. The memorial was unveiled in August 1921 by a party of local dignitaries led by Bertram Pollock, Bishop of Norwich. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:

The following names were added after the Second World War:

References

References

1. "Key to English Place-names".
2. "Elsing {{!}} Domesday Book".
3. "mnf3009 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer".
4. "Norfolk Mills - Elsing watermill".
5. "Elsing (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location".
6. "CHURCH OF ST MARY, Elsing - 1342548 {{!}} Historic England".
7. "Norfolk Churches".
8. "Elsing - WW1 and WW2".
9. "Roll of Honour - Norfolk - Elsing".
10. "Geograph:: Earlham to Erpingham :: War Memorials in Norfolk".