Methwold, Norfolk

Description
Methwold, a small town and a parish in Norfolk. The town stands 2 1/2 miles SSW of the river Wissey, 2 1/2 WNW of the Devil's Dyke, 4 SW from Stoke Ferry station on the G.E.R., and 5 1/2 NW by N of Brandon. It was once a market-town ; has still a cattle market on Mondays and a cattle and pleasure fair on the day of the patron saint, 23 April; and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Stoke Ferry (S.O.) The parish contains also the hamlet of Otter-inghythe, commonly called Methwold Hythe, situated 1-k mile W by N of the village, and also the hamlet of Poplot or Powplot, vulgarly known as Poppylot, in the SW portion of the fen. Acreage, 13,370 ; population, 1362. The parish council, under the Local Government Act, 1894, consists of eleven members. The town has a bank, and a reading and news room. An extensive tract was formerly heath, famous for rabbits, known as Muel or Methwold rabbits, and is now all under cultivation. The inhabitants are exempt from. serving on juries out of the manor, and from tolls at markets and fairs. A part of the village is still known by its earlier Saxon name of Buntings. A small priory, a cell to Castle Acre, was once at Slevesholm, and has left some traces. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich; net value, £194 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church, dedicated to St George, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with pinnacled tower and octagonal lantern and spire; and is a large and beautiful building of flint, clunch, and freestone. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels, besides a Wesleyan chapel at Methwold Hythe. Metropolitan Railway. See LONDON. Metropolitan District Railway. See' LONDON. Mettingham, a village and a parish in Suffolk. The village stands near the river Waveney, at the boundary with Norfolk, 2 miles E of Bungay station on the Waveney Valley section of the G.E.R. It is a scattered place, and has a post office under Bungay; money order and telegraph office, Bun-gay. The parish comprises 1392 acres; population, 325. The manor belonged from the time of Edward I. till that of Edward III. to the family of De Norwich, and passed afterwards to the Ufford family. A castle was built here in the time of Edward III. by Sir John de Norwich; appears to have been a large and strong structure, and is now an ivy-clad ruin. A red brick mansion in the Early English style, built in 1880, now stands pleasantly within the ruin. A college, for a master and thirteen chaplains or fellows, was founded about the same time as the castle; was endowed with the manor of Mettingham and with other manors; educated and maintained a number of boys at an annual charge of £28; and had revenues at the dissolution valued at £202. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich. The church stands on an eminence commanding fine views of the Waveney's valley, and is a small but ancient building in the Norman style, with a round tower. There is a town estate yielding upwards of £50 a year.