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 Historical Highlights of Norfolk
 
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(By 
Henry Smith Johnson)

 


Norfolk County Place Names  

IN BEGINNING this article on the place names of our county of Norfolk, I cannot do better than to mention the name of the county itself. N-o-r-f-o-l-k is as English as a name can be. The Northfolk were the people living in the north part of the old Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia, and their nomenclature was transferred to the land in which they lived, which gradually changes to Norfolk, the name of the English county today which gradually changed to Norfolk, the name of the English county today. In like wise the Southfolk occupied the southern portion of this old realm of the Saxon Heptarchy, which is now called the county of Suffolk.


"N-o-r-f-o-l-k is as English as a name can be.


In the year 1791, Canada was divided into two provinces, Lower and Upper Canada, and John Graves Simcoe, already known in America as he had served in the Revolutionary War, was sent out as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada The following year, 1792, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe partitioned the province into nineteen counties. The sixteenth one was �hereafter to be called by the name of the county of Norfolk.�

ENGLISH COUNTY NAMES

Just here I want to draw attention to the fact that every county on the eastern side of England, with the exception of Suffolk, is represented in the names of the southern counties, beginning with Kent and ending with Northumberland, and at one time there was a Suffolk which included Elgin and part of Middlesex. So it can be readily seen that whoever had the naming of these counties came from the east of England. And not only this, but the names of English towns and families in the homeland are very frequent here. All that is needed is for one to have a good map of England and check it over with one of our own.

TOWNSHIP NAMES

 

As evidence of this all the townships in our county, with one exception, have these local English names, beginning with Townsend which bears the name of an old Norfolk family, although the name was usually spelled Townshend. Thomas Townsend, Baron Sydney, who was at one time Secretary of State in the British Cabinet, was present as one of Wolfe's generals at the battle of. the Plains of Abraham. To-day there are Townsends in the Old Country, and when I was in England I even saw the name Townsend on a tradesman�s sign in the ancient City of Norwich.

On the line of the Great Eastern Railway between Ely and Norwich is the beautiful town of Wymondham (pronounced Windham) possessing one of the many fine churches built long ago, which form one of the glories of England and of which the people are so proud. This is doubtless where our township of Windham obtained its name.

 

There are several Middletons in England, but the English Norfolk has a Middleton. So this evidently accounts for our township's name, as it is in keeping with other county appellations.

Houghton is another dear old village in the English Norfolk, which is associated with that great Norfolk man Sir Robert Walpole, the noted Whig politician of Queen Anne�s reign.

 

Then, there is the fine town of great antiquity Walsingham, lying towards the north side of the County of Norfolk. This has been rather a prominent name in English history, and the people n our own Walsingham can look with pride upon their connection with the Old Land.

 

And as to the name of Woodhouse�the surname of Wodehouse has been a famous one in Norwich. If anyone doubts this, all that person has to do is to look at the number of tablets on the south wall of the nave of the grand Norwich Cathedral of which it is said, "that every stone came from Caen in Normandy."

 

So here are six of the names of our townships all derived from the home of the North- folk in East Anglia. The only exception is Charlotteville, which was called for the Charlotte Villa laid out by the instructions of Governor Simcoe when he visited the district in the autumn of 1795. This name was bestowed to commemorate Charlotte, the Queen of King George the Third, who was the daughter of Charles Louis, the Duke of Mechlenburg in Germany, and who bore a large family of children to "Farmer George" as many affectionately called the King,

 

SIMCOE� S NAME

 

As everyone knows, our town of Simcoe bears the name of John Graves Simcoe himself. He was as doughty a Tory as ever wore a red coat, and while he was here, he laboured unceasingly for what he believed was the good of the province and its people. He died a comparatively young man, and his remains rest at Wolford Lodge in his beloved Devon.

 

Just when the first building in what is now Simcoe was erected it is difficult to say, but the probability is that it was the saw and grist mill built by Aaron Culver, where the old Quance mill stands. But the village must have been in existence a score or more of years before Abner Owen made a deed on the 23rd day of February, 1818, to William Bird, for Lot Seven on the west side of Nichol Street in the Village of Theresaville. I have never yet found any other reference to this village so it is impossible to state whether the lots numbered from the south or the north (probably from the south) but we do know that it was on the west side of the present Norfolk Street. So Theresaville was our first name for Simcoe and was in honour of the wife of Robert Nichol, the well-known and famous man who was Quarter-master-General of the Canadian Militia. Nichol Street also owed its designation to this family,

 

The William Bird above referred to kept a store on the east side of Norfolk Street near the present museum building The name Birdtown was borne by the hamlet for years but when the place arrived at the dignity of a post office in 1829, it was changed to Simcoe. Many other alterations must have occurred by this time, and there were actually two villages in existence when the neighborhood was deemed worthy of receiving a post office. There was the small group of houses at the south with Culver Mill as its centre, and if one went up what is now known as Colborne Street for almost a mile to the north, another hamlet was found where the former Sutton mill stood on the precious River Lynn, which derives its name from the River Lynn in old Norfolk.

 

But now another question came up for consideration: What was the new name the place was to be called? Duncan Campbell at the south voted Simcoe; John Kirkpatrick and his friends at the north were strong advocates of Wellington in honour of the great general who had beaten Napoleon fourteen years previously. In the end the 'southerners" won the day, and so the county town is Simcoe and not Wellington, But the Kirkpatrick forces though outvoted were not exactly beaten. The post office was Simcoe, but the northenders called their part Wellington, which name lasted for decades, and some of our older citizens still know what is meant when Wellington is mentioned. (Wellington Heights, Simcoe's north-end industrial centre, continues the old name association, as does Wellington Park).

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Henry S. Johnson
Henry Smith Johnson, author of this chapter on "NORFOLK PLACE NAMES", was for many years Curator of the Norfolk Historical Society. During his long, career, he was the best-informed writer and speaker on Norfolk historical subjects. After spending his early years in the newspaper business, as a printer and later co-publisher of the Norfolk Reformer, he became Deputy Registrar of Deeds for Norfolk County, a position that he held for half a century. Norfolk Place Names' was first published in booklet form in 1934 and re-issued in 1959. As a result, readers may note a few instances where reference is made to conditions existing quite a few years ago.

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Created 99 12 08 Updated