WORSTEAD, a parish (formerly a market-town)
in the hundred of TUNSTEAD, county of NORFOLK, 2
miles (S. S. B.)'from North Walsham, and 121 (N. E.
by N.) from London, containing 706 inhabitants. This
place was formerly celebrated for the invention and
manufacture of woollen twists and stuffs, thence called
worsted goods; but this branch of trade, soon after
its introduction by the Flemings, in the reign of Henry
I., was, on the petition of the inhabitants of Norwich,
removed to that city in the reign of Richard II., where
it was finally established in the reign of Henry IV.
The town at present has neither any manufacture nor
trade; a navigable canal, which, joins the sea at Yarmouth,
passes through it. The market is entirely disused
5 but a fair for cattle is held on the 12th of May,
and another at Scotto, an adjoining, parish, on Easter-
Tuesday. A manorial court is held annually, at which
constables and other officers are appointed. The living
is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of
Norfolk, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's
books at £10, and in the patronage of the Dean and
Chapter. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a
spacious and elegant structure, partly in the decorated,
and partly in the later, style of English architecture,
with a lofty square embattled tower, strengthened
with enriched buttresses, and crowned with pinnacles;
forming, both in its combinations and details, a beautiful
specimen of the decorated style; the chancel and
the nave are principally in the later style, and are. ornamented
with screen-work of wood richly carved: the font
is peculiarly rich, the sides being highly ornamented, and
the pedestal on which it is supported is relieved with
buttresses and canopied niches, and the risers of the
steps are panelled in compartments; the cover is of tabernacle-
work elegantly designed. There is a place of
worship for Baptists, connected with which is a Sunday
school, conducted on the National plan, and supported
by subscription.