1086....... A Church, with 20 acres, is listed in the Domesday Book.
1185....... An Augustinian Priory, some half a mile from the Parish Church, was founded by Theobald de Valoins.
1204....... The Priory’s foundation was confirmed by King John, who also granted a Friday market to the Priory.
1209....... About this time, and certainly during the first half of the thirteenth century, the present Parish Church (then called All Saints) was begun.
1287....... In a violent storm, in December, the sea burst in, no fewer than nine score people being drowned in Hickling.
1349....... The Black Death struck, and many villagers died. Two Priors succumbed to the plague on successive days and eventually only two Canons were left alive. One of these, a novice, was elected Prior.
1400....... The bell tower of the Priory collapsed.
1536....... Religious houses throughout the kingdom, including Hickling Priory, were dissolved under Henry VIII. Henceforth the Parish Church is called St Mary’s.
1542....... The Priory was granted by the Crown to Sir William Wodehouse.
1568....... The present chalice (inscribed ‘This Cup is for the Toune of Hicklynge’) and cover were presented and first used.
1653....... The Church Registers – of baptisms, marriages, and burials – are complete from this date, and are now held at the Norfolk Record Office.
1700....... Hickling Hall, to the north-west of the Church, was built.
1825....... The last remaining window of Hickling Priory was taken down. Over the centuries the Priory had decayed and had been used as a quarry for building stone.
1834....... Foundation of the Primitive Methodist Society in Hickling. Later there were Primitive and Wesleyan Methodist chapels in the Village.
1849....... The Vicarage (‘The Old Vicarage’ opposite the Church) was built by the Rev. Sotherton Nathaniel Micklethwait, at a cost of £1,400.
1860/1.... Hickling Diocesan School, now Hickling Church of England Voluntary Controlled School, was built (cost £420); and enlarged in 1874 and 1886.
1875/6.... The chancel and nave of the Church was restored at a cost of £2,450, largely paid for by the Vicar, the Rev. Micklethwait.
1879....... The School House was built at a cost of £300 paid for by H.N.S. Micklethwait Esq., Patron of the Living.
1882....... The Primitive Methodist Chapel (the present Methodist Chapel) was rebuilt.
1883....... The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, near the present Rest Homes, was rebuilt. It has since been demolished, the Deed of Union having brought the two Methodist congregations together.
1910....... The Church Hall was built, and later sold in 1975 to Hickling Parish Council. It is now the Community Hall, near the School.
1932....... Consecration of Burial Ground Extension at St. Mary’s by the Bishop of Norwich.
1974....... Hickling Village Sign was erected and unveiled, (incorporating representations of Hickling Priory, the crafts of reed cutting and peat digging, and the swallowtail butterfly and the bittern). The base was built with flint stones from the north wall of the churchyard.
2003....... Publication of “St. Mary’s Churchyard Survey”, and new “Visitor’s Guide to St. Mary’s Church” by Hickling Local History Group.
2004....... Commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the confirmation of the foundation of Hickling Priory and the grant of a weekly Friday market by King John.
2008....... At the Village School, building works to extend and refurbish the school commenced. These were completed in early 2009.