A pleasant excursion may be made to Bacton, a village twelve miles from Cromer, on the low road to Yarmouth, where the ruins of Bromholm Priory deserve attention.

This priory was founded by William de Glanville, for Clugniac monks, as a cell to Castleacre Priory, in 1113, and dedicated to St. Andrew. Like many others, it owed much of its former wealth to fraud and superstition. A cross was here preserved, which was said to be made of the wood of that on which our Saviour suffered, and which was possessed of such virtues, that nineteen blind persons, it is gravely asserted, were restored to sight by it. At the dissolution it was granted, with the adjacent estate, to Sir Thomas Woodhouse, ancestor of the present nobleman of that name. The building, like that of almost every other in Norfolk, was chiefly of flint. The hand of time has been ruthless in its damages; a lofty pointed arch-gateway is the only part still entire, the walls being, in many places, only a few feet high.

Paston is distant from Bacton about three miles. The church, which is dedicated to St. Margaret, boasts of several handsome monuments to the Paston family, of which the Earls of Yarmouth are the representatives, and who formerly possessed the manor. One of these, erected to the memory of Lady Katherine Paston, wife of Sir Edmund Paston, deserves notice. On it is a recumbent effigy of that lady, beautifully executed, in 1629, by Nathaniel Stone, at the cost of three hundred and forty pounds. John Mack, Esq. possesses a neat mansion here, which was erected on the site of the old one, formerly the seat of the Paston family.

The late celebrated Sir Astley Paston Cooper derived descent, by his mother’s side, from this family.

Knapton is situated on a lofty eminence, three miles from North Walsham, and one from Paston. The object of attraction here is the roof of the church, which is of Irish oak, richly ornamented with carvings of saints and angels. The church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and has a nave and chancel, with a tower at the west end. The rectory is in the alternate gift of Lord Suffield and the Master and Fellows of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge.

Proceeding another mile we reach Trunch church, the tower of which, rising above the trees that surround it, forms a beautiful object, in every direction from which it is viewed. The church, dedicated to St. Botolph, contains an ancient font, which is well worthy of inspection.

The proximity of this parish, with several others, has given rise to the following familiar “memoranda:”

“Trimingham, Gimingham, Knapton, and Trunch,
Southrepps, and Northrepps, lie all in a bunch.”

The return by the latter places shortens the length of this excursion by one mile.