HOLT, a market-town and parish in the hundred
of HOLT, county of NORFOLK, 23 miles (N.N.W.) from
Norwich, and 120 (N.N.E.) from London, containing
1348 inhabitants. This place, from the quantity of
timber which grew upon its site, or by which it -was
surrounded, was by the Saxons called Holt, signifying a
wood. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it was
held in royal demesne, and after the Conquest the lordship
belonged to the family of De Vaux, or De Vallibus.
The town is pleasantly situated on rising ground, in the
midst of a fertile district, remarkable for the purity of
its air, and commands a delightful prospect of the surrounding
country, which is justly styled " the Garden of
Norfolk." The houses are neatly built of brick and
stone -, the streets are paved with flint-stones, and
the inhabitants are well supplied with water from a
spring, and from several wells in the neighbourhood.
Here are a circulating library, and two book clubs, supported
by subscription; and assemblies are occasionally
held in the sessions-house. The town has undergone
great improvement since 1708, in which year a verydestructive
fire took place on a market day, that consumed
a considerable number of houses, the market
stalls, &c. In 1810, the commons and heaths that surrounded
the town were enclosed for cultivation; and on
the east side, towards Cromer, are now handsome and
thriving plantations of forest trees, interspersed with
neat dwelling-houses. The market is on Saturday,
which is well attended; the fairs, chiefly for live stock,
are held on April 25th and November 25th. An adjourned
session for the county is held twice a year, in the sessions-
house, a handsome and commodious building, in
which all public business is transacted; and constables
and other officers are annually chosen at the court leet
of the lord of the manor, held on the 21st of December.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's books at
£11. 17. 3., and in the patronage of the Master and
Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge. The church,
dedicated to St. Andrew, had, previously to the fire, a
lofty steeple crowned with a spire, which was a useful
land-mark; but this has never been rebuilt. There are
places of worship for the Society of Friends and Wes-
leyan Methodists. The free grammar school was founded
in 1556, by Sir Thomas Gresham; annexed to it are
a scholarship and fellowship in Sydney Sussex College,
Cambridge; the management is vested in the Fishmongers'
Company. Sir Thomas Gresham, born here in
1507, became celebrated as a merchant and financier,
and displayed his genius, not only in contriving schemes
for paying the debts of the crown, and extending our
foreign trade, but also in introducing into the kingdom
various new branches of manufacture; besides othergreat
and charitable endowments, he founded Gresham
College and the Royal Exchange; he died in 1579.