VILLAGE HISTORY
Separate parishes of Gunthorpe and Bale were amalgamated to form the civil parish of Gunthorpe in 1935. In the 19th century they were in the Walsingham Poor Law Union which became Walsingham District Council (part of North Norfolk District Council, based at Cromer, since 1973).
The two villages are about 1½ miles apart and separated by the A148 King’s Lynn to Cromer road. There is a combined BP Filling Station, Post Office and Convenience Store in Bale, but no longer any shops or public houses.
Two parish churches date from about 1300 and the oldest houses and barns date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Employment for residents is generally found outside the Parish, which has agriculture as the predominant business. The population declined dramatically in the 19th and 20th centuries and the current parish electoral register contains only 192 names. Many residents are retired people, and there are also several owners of second homes who contribute to the local life of the villages. The majority of the land has been owned by Albanwise Ltd. since 1995, and farmed in hand or by tenants. Land in Bale was subject to the Enclosure Act in 1811, and Gunthorpe in 1829.
In 1919 Sir Lawrence Jones gave Bullfer Grove, Gunthorpe and the site of holm oaks next to Bale Church to the National Trust. The remains of a giant Bale Oak had been felled and carted away in 1860. This native English oak tree had become hollow and large enough for up to a dozen men to stand inside. The village sign close to its site depicts a cobblers workshop, and a pigsty, which once occupied the trunk.
Gunthorpe School closed in 1968. A Gunthorpe Hall complex including converted buildings, is now in multiple ownership, and is a venue for weddings, corporate events and social gatherings, as well as the local village fete. Bale also has an annual fete in June at Manor Farm.
