page_title: Spurrell
section_title: Bessingham branch
hierarchical_section_title: Spurrell / Bessingham branch
caption_attribution_description: English: St Mary's church - east window. St Mary's church still has its original round Anglo-Saxon tower which was built entirely from carstone. A triangle-headed doorway can be seen high up on the west wall, above the tower arch &gt; 783296. The rest of the building was extensively restored during the 1870s. The stained glass windows date from this time, with the east window having been created by J. Powell &amp; Sons (seen here). Both inside the church and in the churchyard there are several memorials to members of the Spurrell family &gt; 783300, a branch of which used to live in the neighbouring Manor House for several generations. The church is open every day. For more information see: http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/bessingham/bessingham.htm
context_page_description: Spurrell is a surname found in Norfolk, Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom, as well as in various countries around the world.
context_section_description: In 1766 John Spurrell, the younger son of William Spurrell who built Thurgarton House in 1733, purchased land in neighbouring Bessingham from the Anson family. The Spurrells expanded the estate, benefiting from the enclosure of the common land in the 1820s, and in 1870 Daniel Spurrell built a new Manor House, with lawns, a walled garden and parkland laid out around it. Daniel's daughter Katherine Anne Spurrell bred daffodils in the grounds of the Manor House, some of which received the Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, and the daffodil Narcissus 'Katherine Spurrell' was named after her by Edward Leeds. Another famous resident of the Manor House in the late nineteenth century was a bear, brought to Bessingham from India by Daniel's son Robert John Spurrell, a cavalry officer who had rowed for the University of Cambridge in the 1878 boat race.
  The Bessingham estate included farms in Roughton, Billockby and Sidestrand (including Sidestrand Hall, which was sold to Sir Samuel Hoare in 1880) and was eventually broken up and sold in 1970. The Manor House now operates as self-catering holiday accommodation.
caption: The east window of St Mary's church, Bessingham, installed in memory of Lt.-Col. Robert John Spurrell.
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