The Mill Stone which is sited on the grass area outside the Church was erected in 1977 to mark the Queens Silver Jubilee and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the WI in Buxton.
The Mill Stone actually comes from Tharston but was erected to record the fact that there had been a mill at Buxton for 1000 years. It was erected by Mr Clarke of Aylsham Rd, Buxton, and it was appropriate that he should do it as his grandfather and father had altered the Church Tower and built Tower House.
Underneath the sign is a time capsule with various items from the time such as an EDP, a 2p coin, and a list of members of the Parish Council and WI. The Council added a plaque saying that the sign was an enhancement to the area but this has fallen off and disappeared. The WI have recently put on another plaque to mark the Queens Golden Jubilee.


There was a settlement at Buxton in Roman times - a Roman burial site has been found at the Heath. Referred to in the domesday book as Buckes-tuna meaning the town of Buck. There are 4 possibilities as to where the Buck came from:
1. Buck is a very old Danish name.
2. Boke is an old Saxon name.
3. Buck, an enclosure for buck deer.
4. Buccings - an Anglo Saxon name with tun or ton meaning enclosure or District belonging to the Buccings.

Stratton was on the Roman road from Caister to Brancaster and came to be known as Street Town. It grew no corn as it was all heathland and so was called Strawless.



The area was divided up into Manors and Common Land.
The Original Buxton Manor stretched from Buxton up to Hevingham, towards Cawston (Buxton Heath) and to Bolwick.
It was owned by 5 brothers in the time of Edward the Confessor. We know it extended to Bolwick in the 14th century from the following story.

The Bishop of Norwich had a house in Hevingham and at the end of the 14th century the Lord of Buxton (Lord Morley) shot one of Bishop Bateman's deer somewhere near Bolwick just over his own boundary. The Bishop was angry and sentenced the Lord to walk bare-headed and bare -footed through the streets of Norwich (which were paved with cobblestones) to the cathedral carrying a 6lb candle to be offered there.


Various manors were hived off from the original Capital Manor:

1. Manor of Buxton Burgh with Kineshall

This was situated at the river end of Buxton. A large manor house was built NE of the Church half way to the river and stood in 4 acres surrounded by a moat. If you walk up the Avenue towards Buxton Lodge it lay up a lane to the right. It was probably built in 1200's and fell into disrepair in 16th century (Geoffrey Kelly's Story of the Mill House). We don't know where the hamlet of Kinneshall was located.




2. Dudwick Manor.

The Old Dudwick Manor House was thought to be on the site of the present house. Lord de Dudwik owned a large estate there in 1198. The Lord of Dudwick had the right given to him by the King to hang criminals and he had his Gallows in the field just passed Sandy Lane on the left as you go to Norwich. Henry de Dudewic left the Manor to his sister Rignare and she sold it to the Lord of Brampton (Herbert de Brampton) and the close connection between Brampton and Buxton dates from those times. There is said to have been a herd of deer in Dudwick Park since the time of King John. It was thought to be the oldest herd in Norfolk but unfortunately the deer escaped during the 2nd World War and now populate the Marsham woods.




3. Levishaw Manor

This was granted from the capital Manor to Halfred de Leveshagh ( also called Levis-Hall) in about 1200. It stretched from Birds Place through the present housing estate to Dudwick Park. In 1588 John Jeggon, Bishop of Norwich bought the Manor of Levishaw and gave it to his son Robert who built a large house - the Old Hall, in the South East corner of Dudwick Park. It was surrounded by a moat and it is said that King Charles II breakfasted there on his way to Oxnead.
The Manor belonged to the Jeggons until 1688 when the Earl of Yarmouth became Lord, followed by Thomas Anson, around 1765, Samuel Bignold in 1836 and Sir Edward Stracey in 1841 & Sir Henry Stracey, around 1859. In 1896 Mr Edward Stracey owned it and it subsequently passed to Mr Williamson of Lammas Hall, and the present Lord, who lives out of the village but in Norfolk, bought it on his death. We are uncertain who lived in the Old Hall during this time but in the nineteenth century the Old Hall was owned by a yeoman named Bambridge. Their last daughter married Thomas Lane and the Lanes occupied it as a farmhouse around 1897 until it fell into disrepair and passed to Mr Smith Case. Philip Sewell of Dudwick then bought it and pulled it down and it became part of Dudwick Park. The wall along the west of Brook Street was part of the Old Hall.
Levishaw Manor (Part II).
The old Buxton Vicarage was a grand building and was situated in the middle of Levishaw just south of the present bridge at Manor Close. The vicarage was renamed Levishaw Manor by the Rev Benson when he built the present vicarage in 1936. Mr Bainbridge bought the Old Vicarage (now called Levishaw Manor) in 1937, and it was sold off as a housing estate in the late 1960's when his wife died.




4. Buxton-with-the-members

This is probably what was left of the original Buxton Manor. In Kelly's directory of 1896 it is stated that Philip Sewell was Lord of the Manor of Buxton-with-the-Members. Some earlier Lords of this Manor were Lord Anson in 1827, Lord Repton in 1840 & William Martin Hazard in 1869, The Court records show that there was property held in Lammas, Scottow and parts of Buxton. In 1897 the cottages on the east side of Brook Street between the Beck and Levishaw were sold to George Gowing under the Court of Buxton-with-the-members. The final transaction was handled by Thomas Woods Purdy of Aylsham in 1924.



More information about the Manors would be welcome.