LESSINGHAM, a parish in the hundred of HAPPING,
county of NORFOLK, 7 miles (E. by S.) from
North Walsham, containing 195 inhabitants. The living
is a discharged rectory, with that of Hempstead, in
the archdeaconry of Norfolk, and diocese of Norwich,
rated in the king's books at £6. The church is dedicated
to All Saints. Here is a small endowment for
a school, bequeathed by Jonathan Challenor, in 1727
An Alien priory, subordinate to that of Okeburn in
Wiltshire, the chief of all the houses in England belonging
to the abbey of Bee in Normandy, was founded
here in the time of William Rufus, and, at the suppression,
was given to Eton College, but afterwards to
King's College, Cambridge.