Beachamwell
| Beachamwell | |
| Norfolk | |
|---|---|
| File:St Mary, Beachamwell, Norfolk - geograph.org.uk - 339065.jpg St Mary's Church, Beachamwell | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF752054 |
| Location: | 52°37’8"N, 0°35’28"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 339 (2011) |
| Post town: | Swaffham |
| Postcode: | PE37 |
| Dialling code: | 01366 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Breckland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South West Norfolk |
Beachamwell is a village in Norfolk, found about five miles south-west of Swaffham and ten miles east of Downham Market. It has four ancient churches, two of them in ruins. The former parish of Shingham is now part of the parish.
This location is isolated, and the main access is a country lane running south-west of Swaffham. The core of the village itself is south of this lane, around a rectangular village green, with the church of St Mary at the west end and a pub at the east end.[1]
The name as spelt is the official one, but the alternative Beechamwell is found in modern publications as well as in historical sources. The correct spelling was a source of dispute in the village, until a parish council meeting in 1977 decided the matter.[2]
Geography
The light and sandy, free-draining soil of the parish easily loses its fertility,[3] which made traditional farming difficult. The north of the parish is occupied by Beachamwell Warren, once one of the most important mediæval rabbit warrens in the Breckland. Modern arable farming and conifer plantations have defeated the poor soil.[4]
To the east, the hamlet of Shingham retains its own church building, St Botolph's.
The village includes the deer park of Beachamwell Hall. The mansion was rebuilt in 1906 after a fire, but the original 18th-century stables, ice-house and ha-ha survive.[5][6]
A small menhir of uncertain date, called the Cowell Stone, marks the meeting point of the parishes of Beachamwell, Swaffham and Narborough. It stands today a short distance from its original location, on a track leading north of the A1122 to Narford, and is no longer upright.[7]
History and archaeology
The parish has been the source of a rich collection of archaeological finds, back to Neolithic worked flints.[8] A possible cursus exists just south-west of the All Saints church ruin.[9] From the Bronze Age a copper alloy hammer was found near Lodge Farm.[10] There are at least nine round barrows in the parish.
The A1122 to the east of Fincham follows the course of a Roman road that connected the Fen Causeway with Venta Icenorum (Caistor St Edmund), and ran through Beachamwell Warren.[11] Two Roman coin hoards were found in the 19th century.[8]
The Devil's Dyke is an Anglo-Saxon linear bank and ditch running in an almost straight line from Narborough to near Oxborough, parallel to the western boundary of the parish.
The church of St Mary is described as originally late Saxon,[12] although the listed building description does not commit as to whether any of the surviving fabric is of this date.[13]
The Domesday Book of 1086 listed three Saxon settlements in the present parish: Bicham (Beacham), Wella (Well) and Shingham. There was a church in Bicham, taken to be St Mary's. Wella had two mills and was around the later church of All Saints, which was not mentioned in Domesday – although a fragment of a Saxon stone cross was found incorporated into later fabric here.[14][15] Shingham was very small, with two households.[16] Its settlement was in the Hundred of Clackclose, but part of the parish was in the Hundred of South Greenhow with the brook running through it being the boundary.[17]
Beacham and Well consolidated to become Beachamwell when the settlements became contiguous in the early Middle Ages. Deserted mediæval village earthworks around the All Saints church ruin, and in what is now Nut Wood, indicate that the resulting village was at least twice the size that it is now.[18] There were three manors, called Well-Hall, Chervile’s and Ashfield and Joce’s; the latter two were named after families which had held them. Chervile's Manor included that part of Shingham in the Clackclose Hundred, and also had St Mary's Church.[15]
All Saints’ church was built in the 12th century,[2] as was Shingham church.[19] However St John's seems to have been a later foundation, since the first rector (priest in charge) was recorded in 1304 and the surviving fabric is of that period. It was attached to Well-Hall Manor.[2]
The farming of rabbits on an industrial scale at Beachamwell Warren was first recorded in about 1275, and continued in importance for five hundred years.[4]
All Saints’ church also seems to have fallen into decay, but it was restored in 1612 by Thomas Athow, the Lord of the Manor of Well-Hall, and the family used it as a mausoleum. However, it was abandoned in 1688 when the roof collapsed. The problem allegedly arose when the Athow family sold the manor, for the new Lord declined to accept responsibility for the upkeep of the whole church (the Lord of the Manor was responsible for the chancel only). The church was in ruins by 1721, and Blomefield was indignant about the dereliction when he visited around 1750.[2]
The three manors were consolidated into one country estate by 1760, based on Beachamwell Hall, which was rebuilt and provided with an ornamental deer-park.[15] The Warren was enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1777; although rabbits were still reared, it was recorded in 1785 that much of the Warren had been arable farmland for some time.[4] The Beachamwell Estate owned almost all the land in the Beachamwell and Shingham parishes, in the form of a few large tenant farms (there was only one in Shingham, called Shingham Farm).[2]
In 1685 a Huguenot family named Motteux had fled Rouen in France for the City of London, in response to the Edict of Fontainebleau of that year ending any toleration of Calvinism in France.[20] They did well (Peter Anthony Motteux was a noted playwright), and a descendant named John Motteux bought the Estate in 1780.[21] He was a keen gardener, and propagated a new variety of eating apple called Beachamwell Seedling.[22] This still exists and is available (2021) as a heritage variety.[23]
John died in 1793, and his son inherited who was also called John.[8]
Shingham church was united with St Mary's in 1800, becoming a chapel of ease.[2]
John Motteux the younger was a beneficent landlord, and improved the village. The timber-framed cottages were replaced with brick ones, beginning in 1815 (which is why the domestic buildings in the village lack interest). In 1832 the south aisle of St Mary's church was extended by him, and given a new lead roof.[24] In 1835 he provided a school, the village's first. He died in 1843, and his monument is in the church.
In 1883, Shingham church's roof was reported as being in thatch over the nave, and slate over the chancel. Only the latter was in use as a mortuary chapel for the graveyard, but the former was derelict. Services had ceased, and the altar was moved to St Mary's.[25][26]
A reading room was opened in a village cottage in 1891. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was opened in 1892, on the lane to Shingham.[2]
In 1902 a fire completely destroyed the Hall, and this was rebuilt in 1906 in the Queen Anne style by the architects Wimperis and Best. No photograph of the old mansion has been traced, so it is not known if the rebuilding resembled the original edifice.[5][27]
In 1911, the roofless nave of Shingham church was re-roofed in corrugated iron, subsequently replaced with copper sheeting. It was then used for services until 1941.[28]
After the First World War, a demobbed army hut was acquired for use as a village hall and re-erected on the village green.[2]
[[File:Burnt fenceposts at Narborough ROC monitoring post - geograph.org.uk - 2162432.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Site of a [[Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post] The Royal Observer Corps had a monitoring post on a lane called Narborough Hill (east side), which had an Orlit A post. This was in operation during the Cold War, from 1959 to 1991.[29]
In 1963, a proper village hall was built to replace the old army hut, and was named the Memorial Hall so as to do duty as the village's war memorial. It took over as a venue for school dinners from the pub in 1972, and continued this function until 1983.[2]
The church was gutted by fire in February 2022, losing its thatched roof.[30]
About the village
The village's main social amenity is the village hall. The village green is used as a recreation ground. The village has no other amenities.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Beachamwell) |
- Parish Council Website
- Group 4 News Website Beachamwell History page
- Norfolk Heritage Explorer Beachamwell Parish Summary
- Norfolk Churches website, Beachamwell St Mary page
- St Mary's on the European Round Tower Churches Website
- Information on Beachamwell from GENUKI
- Information on Beachamwell from GENUKI
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1277928: K6 telephone kiosk (Grade II listing)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Group 4 News website, Beachamwell History page". http://www.group4news.co.uk/bwell_hist_pics.html.
- ↑ Mitchell, L: Slow Norfolk and Suffolk 2010 p. 167
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Breckland Society website, Beachamwell Warren web-page". https://www.brecsoc.org.uk/projects/warrens-project/warrens/beachamwell/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings website, Beechamwell Hall page". 21 March 2019. https://www.spab.org.uk/whats-on/events/beachamwell-hall-norfolk.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 4506 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF4506-Beachamwell-Hall&Index=9&RecordCount=166&SessionID=04cf0e63-c7e0-46f0-a034-5f64deea557c.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer, Cowell Stone page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF4557-Cowell-Stone&Index=45&RecordCount=166&SessionID=b39c4221-d7b5-477d-bf41-d6084197fc3e.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, Beechamwell Parish Summary page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?TNF167.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website NHER 22997 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf22997.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 4533 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf4533.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 2796 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf2796.
- ↑ "Group 4 News website, Beachamwell history page". http://www.group4news.co.uk/bwell_hist_pics.html.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1077301: Beachamwell (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 2635 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF2635-%27Wella%27-deserted-mediæval-settlement-Beachamwell.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "British History Online, Bicham-Well page". https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol7/pp286-298.
- ↑ Beachamwell in the Domesday Book
- ↑ "British History Online, Shingham page". https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol7/pp431-433.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 2635 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF2635-%27Wella%27-deserted-mediæval-settlement-Beachamwell.
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, Shingham church page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF4559-St-Botolph%27s-Church-Shingham-Beachamwell&Index=49&RecordCount=158&SessionID=601ad912-07a0-4ce7-83ba-15b82eca3e7a.
- ↑ Jones, C. Rachel: Sandringham, Past and Present 1888 p. 114
- ↑ Jones, C. Rachel: Sandringham, Past and Present 1888 p. 132
- ↑ Hogg, R: The Apple and Its Varieties, 1859 p. 32
- ↑ "Bernwood Fruit Trees website, List of Apple Varieties". http://www.bernwodeplants.co.uk/descriptions/apple4.htm.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1077301: Church of St Mary (Grade @ listing)
- ↑ Kelly’s Post Office Directory of the Norfolk Counties, 1883 p. 491
- ↑ "GENUKI website, Shingham Norfolk page". https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/NFK/Shingham/White1883.
- ↑ "Lost Heritage website, Beachamwell Hall page". https://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_norfolk_beechamwellhall_info_gallery.html.
- ↑ Batcock, N: The Ruined and Disused Churches of Norfolk 1991 p. 45
- ↑ "Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, NHER 39553 page". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf39553.
- ↑ Beachamwell: Blaze rips through 11th Century thatched roof, www.bbc.co.uk, 2.2.2022