ST BENET'S ABBEY ARMS (16).
BACON FAMILY ARMS. 
CALTHORPE
FAMILY ARMS (17)A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDIEVAL LUDHAM
The manor and church of Ludham (with its lands elsewhere) was given to St Benet's Abbey of Holme by King Cnut around 1020, which was confirmed by Edward the Confessor in a charter dated between 1044 & 1047 (1). Before the Norman Conquest the Abbey held 5 carucates of arable land, 15 villagers, 13 smallholders, 2 slaves, 3 ploughs held by the Abbey and 2.5 ploughs held by others. There were 16 acres of woodland, 100 acres of meadow, 3 horses, 16 pigs and 3 beehives. There were also 115 freemen with 3 carucates and 15 acres of arable land with 10 ploughs and 15 acres of meadow. There was also another freeman with 30 acres, 4 smallholders, 3 acres of meadow and half a plough. Eadric, a man of Eadric de Laxfield, held 19 freemen (the Abbot had patronage only), 1.5 ploughs, 4 acres of meadow plus another 4 freemen with 1 carucate and 15 acres of arable land, 3 smallholders, 2 ploughs and 5 acres of meadow. There were also another 7 freemen with half a carucate of arable land with a plough and 1 smallholder. At the Domesday Survey, the Abbey continued to hold Ludham although Eadric (a man of Count Alan) held large parts of it after seizing it at the time of Earl Ralph's rebellion in 1075. Possibly the Abbey lost lands in Ludham (and elsewhere) after the Conquest as a punishment for their part in the Saxon defence of England. King William held freemen with 12 acres and half a plough (2).
It is considered that the river at Ludham would have been too wide and deep for a bridge before medieval times although with the early place names of 'Upper Street' in Horning and 'Johnson Street' in Ludham there may have been a Roman or Anglo-Saxon river crossing (6).
ST BENET'S ABBEY ARMS (16).
BACON FAMILY ARMS. CALTHORPE
FAMILY ARMS (17)
In 1215, Robert de Gloucester was the Rector, presented by the king (5) and Ludham church was appropriated to St Benet's Abbey in 1220 by the Bishop of Norwich (5). In 1246, the Abbot of St Benet had free warren, 105 acres of arable land and 10 acres of meadow in Ludham and in 1286 he had right to fix prices, right of the dung cart, etc (3). Around this time, Robert de Ludham (one of the justices of the Jews), having lied or breaching a trust was brought before the Barons of the Exchequer and was put out of office and committed to prison (3). During the reign of Edward I (1272 - 1306), the Vicar had a house with 16 acres of land and the Peter-pence was 28d, suggesting that there were 28 houses (5).
In 1306 (?), Sabrina, the daughter of Robert de Ludham and her son, John, gave 35 acres of land in Ludham & Catfield to the Abbot of St Benet (3). In 1318, Robert de Biskele was Vicar presented by the Abbot and in 1342, Roger de Stow was Vicar (5). Plague mortality in 1349 was at least 55% at Martham (13) and at the manor of Runham near Martham, "all the tenants were reported dead" (14). It is probable that Ludham suffered a similar fate. In 1361, William de Laverton was Vicar, John Ulvesoft was Vicar in 1388, John Morris was Vicar in 1390 (5). In 1381, there were 4 rebellions in Ludham as part of the Peasant's Revolt (11). St Benet's Abbey was attacked and documents were destroyed in June, but eventually the uprising was crushed with a final confrontation between Bishop Despenser of Norwich and the rebels near North Walsham (12). Sometime in the 14th century, Bacon's manor was formed and in 1391 the will of Sir Bartholomew de Bacon of Erwarton, in Suffolk, stated that he was lord of Bacon's manor. His sister and heir, Isabel, brought the manor by marriage to Sir Oliver Calthorpe (5).
The church is dedicated to St Catherine, the tower dates from the 14th century and it has a Poor Box that is thought to be 15th century. Inside the Chancel is a 15th century painting of the Crucifixion. The font has carvings of Woodwoes (semi-humans who lurk in dark woodlands). The later Ludham Hall was Jacobean in date and abutted a 17th century Chapel that burnt down in 1611 (9). There is note of a medieval Deer park (10), but I'm not sure exactly where this was.
THE SITE OF OLD WALTHAM HALL.
In 1418, William Watton was Vicar, Thomas Thelnetham was Vicar in 1424 followed by John Robyns, Henry Candeler was Vicar in 1439 and Edmund Oldcorn in 1452 (5). In 1428 the Abbot's revenue from Ludham was £30 6s per year (4). Originally there were three manors in Ludham. Bacons (now the Grange), Waltham Hall (next to the parish boundary with Catfield - 15) and Ludham grange, now Ludham Hall farmhouse (7). Ludham Hall became the Palace of the Bishop of Norwich in 1536 (7&8). During this time an old manuscript reports that a 'Dragon' or 'Lizard with wings, covered in scales and with a mouth filled with teeth' was seen around the church. This story could be connected with an earlier one regarding a Dragon and St Benedict called 'The Legend of the Seal' (7). During the reign of queen Elizabeth I (1558 to 1603), the Bishop procured a market and a fair for Ludham (4).
References:
1. S 1055.
2. Little Domesday Book, fols 148, 150, 220, 220v & 272v.
3. Bloomfield F, "An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, volume 9", 1808: 336.
4. Bloomfield F, "An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, volume 9", 1808: 337.
5. Bloomfield F, "An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, volume 9", 1808: 338.
6. Green C, 'Broadland fords and causeways', 1961, Norfolk Archaeology volume 32: 317 & 319.
7. Ludham church guide.
8. Snelling J, 'Ludham - a Norfolk village 1800-1900', 1999, University of East Anglia: 85.
9. Pevsner N, "The Buildings of England - Northeast Norfolk and Norwich', 1970, Penguin: 190.
10. Yaxley D, ' Medieval Deer parks - An Historical Atlas of Norfolk', 1998, Witley Press: 54.
11. Cornford B and Reid A, ' The Uprising of 1381 - An Historical Atlas of Norfolk', 1998, Witley Press: 86.
12. MacDonald, 1984: 9.
13. Campbell B, 'Medieval arable and pastoral husbandry', An Historic Atlas of Norfolk, 1998, Norfolk Museums Service: 26.
14. Cornford B, 'Medieval Flegg', 2002, Larks Press: 10.
15. Snelling J, 'Ludham - a Norfolk village 1800-1900', 1999, University of East Anglia: 83.
16. Bloomfield F, "An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, volume 9", 1808: 292.
17. Rye W, 'The Visistation of Norfolk', 1891, London: 66.