Our Family History
Church St &Bawburgh Village Sign
Hardingham - birth place of Dinah Dunton Watts
Bawburgh History
Bawburgh is a village and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of England, lying in the valley of the River Yare about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Norwich city centre.
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The name is first recorded as Bauenburc in 1086 and is from Old English 'stronghold of a man called Beawa.'
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Bawburgh is a significant location in the legend of St Walstan, the 10th-11th century patron saint of farm labourers.
According to legend, Walstan was born at Bawburgh (or possibly Blythburgh in Suffolk) into a Saxon noble family circa 970, but at the age of 12 gave up his privileged life, choosing instead to work as a farm labourer in Taverham.
His initial journey on foot from Bawburgh to Taverham took Walstan through Costessey, where he donated his noble garments to two passing peasants.
After many years, Walstan's imminent death was foretold by an angel and he asked a priest for the last rites; no water was available but a miraculous spring welled up on the spot.
On his death, Walstan's body was returned to Bawburgh on a cart drawn by two white oxen. The oxen stopped at Costessey, where a second spring gushed forth and at Bawburgh, where a third spring appeared.
St Walstan's Well at Bawburgh is the only one of the legendary springs that remains identifiable.
Walstan's body was taken into the church and Bawburgh became the centre of a cult of pilgrimage, with several miracles recorded.
The Watts & Duntons of Norfolk
William Dunton & Hannah Back
William Dunton and Hannah Back were my 5 x Great Grandparents. They were married on 8th December 1777 in Saint Augustine's Church, Norwich. Hannah was from the village of Bawburgh in Norfolk ( See map below).
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William and Hannah Dunton had 4 daughters
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Dinah Dunton - Dinah Dunton was born in 1779 in Hardingham, Norfolk and was baptized at Saint Paul's Church, Norwich on 20 February 1791, when she was 12 years old. See below for details of Marriage & Children
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Hannah Dunton - baptized 19th November 1780, St Augustine's, Norwich.
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Elizabeth Dunton - baptized 15th August 1784 at St Paul's, Norwich & buried 3 years later 0n 7th July 1787.
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Maria Dunton - baptized 16th April 1786 at St Paul's, Norwich.
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Thomas Watts & Dinah Dunton
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Thomas Watts and Dinah Dunton were my 4 x Great Grandparents.
Thomas Watts was born in Norfolk in 1776. His occupation was Carpenter but there is no information on his parents or family background.
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Dinah and Thomas' daughter, Mary Elizabeth was born in 1816. Dinah gave birth to her second child, George William Watts in 1818 when she was 39 years old.
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In the 1840's and 1850's the Watts family were living in Church Street, Bawburgh. Today, Church Street is still a picturesque country lane with a handful of quaint little 18th and 19th century cottages and houses scattered along it, which are sandwiched between some of the more modern homes.
By 1851 72 year old Dinah Watts was widowed and was left as a "pauper" who was financially dependent on her son George and his family until her death at the age of 81.
Dinah Watts was buried in Bawburgh on 25th March 1860.
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George William Watts & Matilda
In June 1849 George William Watts - a Carpenter like his father - had married Matilda Jane Forster from Kettering. In 1951 they already had 4 sons -Thomas, Robert, Charles & William, who by 1816 had also become a carpenter. Eliza was born in 1860. Followed by another son, called Thomas F in 1865.
In 1870 Thomas and William were no longer livng at home with their parents Robert was working as a groom and Charles, William, Thomas F and Eliza were attending school.
In 1875 George died. Matilda never remarried and in 1901 ended up moving in with her only daughter Eliza & her family inTooting Graveney, London.
Old map of Bawburgh and Map showing position of Bawburgh in Norfolk & England.
St Augustine's Church, Norwich
