Extract from 

 

'The Norfolk Village Book' 

 

by the Norfolk Federation of Women's Institutes

(re-printed 1999:  ISBN 1 85306 579 X)

 

 

“Horsford is now an urban village situated on the B1149 Norwich to Holt road. The lords of the manor of Horsford go back to the time of the Norman Conquest, although they were non-resident until the mid 1800s when Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard acquired a small farmhouse and converted it into the present manor. He lived there until his death and his nephew, Sir Richard Barrett Lennard, resided there until 1971 when he moved away and the manor was sold, the estate remaining in the Barrett Lennard family.

 

The church of All Saints dates back to the 14th century and has two lovely stained glass windows, one of which is a memorial to three sisters, Edith, Dorothea and Nona Day, who died of consumption in the 1890s and whose family lived at Horsford Hall for many years and were great benefactors of the village at that time.

 

The Methodist chapel, built in the mid 1800s, has been extended, and the old school, built in the mid 1800s by Rev Ballance and now the primary school, has retained its character.

 

The small river Hor, which starts as a spring in the churchyard of the nearby village of Felthorpe, meanders through the village, crossing The Street on its way across country to join the river Bure.  The beck as it is called has been the happy playground for many children over the years.  Until water was piped to the village in the 1950s residents living in The Street regularly used water from the beck for washing purposes.  Farmers also used to fill their water carts from it for their cattle.

 

To the east of the village are the Castle Hills reputed to be the site of an old motte and bailey.  There is also supposed to be an underground passage from there to St Faith's Benedictine Priory.

 

There are several public footpaths in and around the village, some of which take one through the many woods that surround the village.

 

The village sign was made by the late Mr Carter of Swaffham and was presented to the village by Horsford Afternoon WI in 1978 on the occasion of their 50th birthday.  It depicts the manor, the church window dedicated to the Day sisters and the river Hor.

 

Until the Second World War, Horsford was a quiet little village but after hostilities ceased in 1945 development began to take place and has continued steadily to the present time. This has completely altered the character of village life as we knew it years ago."