• see also:
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syderstone 
  • http://www.syderstone.com/ 
  • St Mary's church, Syderstone:
    • http://www.roundtowerchurches.de/Karte/A3/Syderstone_St_Mary/syderstone_st_mary.html 
  • my ancestors
  • Ayton family
  • Tas emigrants by origin

Introduction:

• Syderstone is a small agricultural village in the British county of Norfolk some 47km north-west of Norwich.
• this is the village from which my AYTON ancestor's emigrated from in the mid-19th century after one of their relatives, Edward AYTON (an uncle) was deported to Australia as a convict in 1837.
• Syderstone's population was 258 in 1801, 317 in 1821, 504 in 1841, 552 in 1851, and 424 in 1901. In 1971 it was still only 357.
• In 1851, there were 100 houses.
• The picturesque village of Syderstone is situated midway between Kings Lynn and Norwich, about five miles west of the town of Fakenham. It is about ten miles inland from the North Norfolk coast. 
• The village dates back well over a thousand years. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1066, but the village pre-dates even this.
• The original Anglo Saxon name was Sidsterne, which means "large estate", from the Old English "sid" meaning broad or extensive and "sterne" meaning property.

A brief history of Syderstone until the mid 19th century:

• 1550:
  • the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley who was presumed to have had an affair with Queen Elizabeth I, was married to Amy in 1550 whose father was Sir John Robsart, Sheriff of of Suffolk & Norfolk, and a wealthy landowner who lived at Syderstone Hall. Amy died in mysterious circumstances in 1560 after "falling" down stairs in her marital home in Oxfordshire - Cumnor Place. This was a 14th century hall built by monks of the Abingdon Abbey which was "privatised" when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and gave it to his physician George Owen.
  • see http://www.norfolkcoast.co.uk/pasttimes/pt_amydudley.htm
•