HARLING (EAST), a small town and a parish in Guiltcross district, Norfolk. The town stands on high ground, adjacent to the river Thet, 1½ mile SE of Harling-Road r. station, and 9 ENE of Thetford; is sometimes called Market-Harling; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a post-office,‡ of the name of East Harling, under Thetford, a banking-office, a church, three dissenting chapels, and a national school. The church is of the 15th century, in good condition; has a lofty tower, with pinnacles and spire; and contains a carved screen, three brasses of the 15th century, and monuments of the Harlings and the Wingfields. A weekly corn-market is held on Tuesday; fairs are held on 4 May, the Tuesday after the 12 Sept., and 24 Oct.; and a manufacture of cloth and linen was formerly carried on. The parish comprises 2,572 acres. Real property, £4,895. Pop., 1,109. Houses, 251. The manor belonged, in the time of the Confessor, to Ketel the Dane; and passed to the Bigods, the Harlings, and the Lovells. The manor-house, East Harling Hall, the seat of Sir T. Lovell who founded Shoreditch nunnery, and built the gate of Lincoln's Inn, is now a ruin. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £591. Patron, Mrs. Wilkinson.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))