File:St Peter's church - C20 memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1707344.jpg

English: St Peter's Church, Riddlesworth, Norfolk, mural monument to William Needham Longden Champion (1850-post 1937) of Riddlesworth Hall and of Edale in Derbyshire, who married Constance Sarah Bentley (1856-1918) (see her mural monument in the same church), a daughter of Robert John Bentley (1822-1890), JP, DL, of Eastwood House, Rotherham, Yorkshire (later of Finningley Park near Doncaster and West House, Rotherham), a brewer and proprietor of Bentley's Brewery, founded by his grand-father Timothy Bentley. In September 1875 R.J. Bentley was pronounced "a person of unsound mind" and some time later committed to an asylum, Moorcroft House, Hillingdon near London. ([1]). Kelly's Directory of Norfolk 1933[2]: Riddlesworth Hall, a fine mansion of white brick with stone dressings in the Italian style, standing in a well-wooded park of 176 acres, was destroyed by fire in 1898, but rebuilt in 1900 in the Classic style, from designs by Mr. H. Green, of Norwich, and is the property and residence of William Needham Longden Champion Esq. J.P. lord of the manor and sole landowner. Arms of Champion of Riddlesworth, Norfolk, as seen here: Per saltire argent and or, three mullets in fess between as many trefoils slipped sable ( Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank; but Uninvested with Heritable Honours, London, 1836, p.384; not listed in Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.183, which does however list other Champion arms with three trefoils slipped).

( Burke, John, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank; but Uninvested with Heritable Honours, London, 1836, p.384, "Champion of Riddlesworth Hall")

• John Champion (d.1844) of Edale, who in 1800 married Frances Beresford, a daughter of Francis Beresford of Ham.
  • Rev. John Champion (1802-), son, Rector of Taxall and Incumbent of Edale, who married Margartet Elizabeth Murray, a daughter of William Murray of Duncrievie, Kinross. 3 sons and 9 daughters.
    • William Needham Longden Champion (1850-post 1937), eldest son, of Riddlesworth Hall and of Edale. His younger brother was Rev. Francis Beresford Champion (d.1931), Vicar of Edale 1881-91, during which time the Church of Holy & Undivided Trinity, Edale, was rebuilt, as is inscribed on the stained glass windows (showing St Paul and St Barnabus) erected in his memory in that church (see image[:File:Edale, Church of Holy & Undivided Trinity, stained glass 2.jpg]). Rev. Francis Beresford Champion married Annie Maud Aldrich (d.1940), a daughter of Pelham Aldrich, MRCS (Burke, 1937)

The building > 1707334 dates from the 14th century but the chancel was rebuilt in 1855. The C14 octagonal font > 1707358 has survived, its cover is Jacobean. The royal arms for Charles I > 1707361 - overpainted for Charles II - came from the ruined Knettishall church which also provided the Jacobean pulpit > 1707339. The church houses a number of memorials, the most noteworthy of them to Sir Drue Drury > 1707353 who died in 1617 at the age of 99. He was Governor of the Tower of London and had guarded Mary Queen of Scots before her execution in 1587. The church is adjoined by Riddlesworth Hall > 1707322.

The village of Riddlesworth is mentioned in Alan Davison's book 'Deserted Villages in Norfolk' as having been a small and moderately prosperous place in the 1340s. By 1584 it was tiny, consisting of manor house, church, rectory and 10 houses, and in the 1670s its size had dwindled to two houses and 15 people. Whether as a result of depopulation by the Drurys, the Lords of the Manor, is not known. The modern-day hamlet consists of Manor Farm, a handful of cottages and St Peter's church. The Hall, and attractive Georgian-style house surrounded by 30 acres of parkland, now functions as a school.