Forncett – One “t” or two?

Having lived in Forncett for nearly thirty years, I've always spelled our village's name with two "t"s. However, some recent research about an old Forncett family taught me that this wasn't always the case!

In August last year, Wreningham Heritage Group was approached by a couple researching their Norfolk origins. Tom and Belinda (née Burton) Peet had inherited a hand-drawn family tree of the Burton family stretching back to around 1700. It showed that many of the Burtons lived in Wreningham during the 18th century, but the earliest records were of two Burton sons, Thomas and Edward, who were baptised in Forncett St. Peter in 1706 and 1708, and their nephew, Henry, who married Mary Smith in Forncett in 1783. So, who were the Burton family and where did they live in Forncett?

Records from the 18th century are rare but a clue came from an article published in the Norfolk Chronicle in May 1786. The article was an advertisement for the sale of an "estate" in Forncet St Peter occupied by Mr. Henry Burton. Further searches of the newspapers showed that this spelling with one "t" was quite common in the 1700s and still persisted occasionally into the 1800s.

Norfolk Chronicle - 13th May 1786

The farm in question was Maltings Farm in West Road, Forncett End which was easily identified by the presence of a Baking and Malting Office. The activity of malting grain undoubtedly gave the farm its name which persists to this day. The malting house was still there in 1839 but I can find no record of it after that.

The advert also tells us that Henry Burton owned a "capital and compleat POST WIND MILL" that had been "rebuilt within twelve months". Many years later, Maltings Farm was owned by James Spratt who also owned the windmill that stood on the land opposite Austhorpe House. However, there has been much speculation about the origins of that windmill. When it was finally dismantled in 1932, mill enthusiast, Harry Clark, recorded that the framing of the mill was definitely constructed in 1785. However, the 1786 advertisement makes it clear that the mill was not constructed in 1785 but rather it was rebuilt then. Where it stood before that date is the topic for another story.

So, we cannot say for certain where the Burtons baptised in the early 1700s were living but it's quite possible that they occupied Maltings Farm, which later passed to Henry Burton after his marriage in 1783. Why Henry sold up in 1786 isn't clear. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Wreningham, where she died in 1796 and Henry died six years later, in 1802.

Henry and Mary left one son, Thomas Burton who was baptised in Forncett St Peter in 1785. So, at the age of just seventeen Thomas was an orphan and this may have made him decide to leave Forncett and move to London where he initially became a carpenter. However, Thomas was an entrepreneur and he set up a building firm in Aldersgate which subsequently made him a very rich man. The portrait of Thomas Burton below (now owned by Belinda Peet) attests to Thomas's wealth and shows what was probably one of Forncett's (or should that be Forncet's ?) most successful sons. 

With thanks to Tom and Belinda Peet and to David Kirk for their help with the material in this article.