LITCHAM, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Mitford district, Norfolk. The village stands 3 miles NNW of Fransham r. station, and 8 NE of Swaffham; was once a market-town; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a post office‡ under Swaffham, a good inn, and a fair on 1 Nov. An adjacent tract, of upwards of 50 acres, is a common for recreation and for the uses of the poor. The cricket-ground of the Litcham club also is here; and annual meetings of the Odd Fellows and the Order of Foresters are held here, respectively about Whitsuntide and in July. The parish comprises 1,932 acres. Real property, £4,631. Pop., 903. Houses, 199. The property is subdivided; but most of the land belongs to the Rev. W. A. W. Keppel, and W. T. Collison, Esq. Some tracts, formerly in commonage, have been enclosed. A hermitage formerly stood on one of the small commons. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of East Lexham, in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £441.* Patron, the Rev. G. W. Winter. The church is ancient and large; has been thoroughly repaired; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with S porch and bricktower; and contains an oak screen of the 15th century, two handsome memorial windows of 1851 to the family of Lynes, and several monumental memorials. There are chapels for Wosleyans and Primitive Methodists, a large national school, an alms house with £8 a year, and other charities £22.—The sub-district contains also fourteen other parishes. Acres, 26,585. Pop., 5,413. Houses, 1,169.

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