HOLKHAM, a parish in the northern division of
the hundred of GREENHOE, county of NORFOLK, 3
miles (W.) from Wells, containing 810 inhabitants. The
living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Norfolk, rated in the king's books at£8.13.4.3
endowed with £200 royal bounty, and £200 parliamenttary
grant, and in the patronage of T. W. Coke, Esq.
The church, dedicated to St.Withiburga, is situated on
an eminence north of the town; it has a massive quadrangular
embattled tower, serving as a land-mark, which
was repaired in 1767, at an expense of £1000, defrayed
by the Countess Dowager of Leicester, who also built
and endowed almshouses for the support of three aged
persons of each sex. A school for boys, and another
for girls, with a house and garden attached for the
master and mistress, are supported by T. W. Coke, Esq.
Holkham was formerly a sea-port of some eminence,
and in the reign of Edward II. furnished, conjointly
with Burnham-Deepdale, one ship, to assist in the
transportation of English troops from Ireland to Scotland.