Great Witchingham
| Great Witchingham | |
| Norfolk | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Great Witchingham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TG100193 |
| Location: | 52°43’51"N, 1°6’33"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 542 (2021) |
| Post town: | Norwich |
| Postcode: | NR9 |
| Dialling code: | 01603 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Broadland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Broadland and Fakenham |
Great Witchingham is a village in Norfolk, along the River Wensum. The civil parish also includes the smaller village on Lenwade. It is to be found in the heart of the county, eight miles north-east of East Dereham and eleven miles north-west of Norwich.
The River Wensum (and the A1067, between Fakenham and Norwich) both run through the parish.
The 2021 census recorded Great Witchingham's population as 542.
The name 'Witchingham' is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for 'homestead of Wic's people', after an otherwise unrecorded Anglo-Saxon chieftain.[1]
History
In the Domesday Book, Great and Little Witchingham are listed together as a settlement of 92 households Eynsford Hundred. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of the King, Count Eustace of Boulogne, St Benet's Abbey, William d'Ecouis, Reginald, son of Ivo and Walter Giffard.[2]
During the reign of King Henry I, a Cluniac monastic cell was founded in the village. It had been destroyed by the fifteenth century. The site was excavated in 1935.[3]
Witchingham Old Hall was founded in the sixteenth century or seventeenth century and was eventually demolished in the nineteenth century.[4]
In October 1944, a V-2 rocket landed in the parish causing a large crater which was subsequently turned into a pond.[5]
Parish church
Great Witchingham's parish church, St Mary's, is located outside of the village on Heath Lane. It dates from the fourteenth century and is a Grade I listed building.[6] The church is still open for Sunday services about twice a month.[7]
St. Mary holds a fifteenth century font with some of its original paint remaining as well as a lecturn topped with an eagle which was brought to the church from New College, Oxford in the nineteenth century.[8]
Great Witchingham Hall
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Great Witchingham Hall is a Grade II* listed country house built in the 16th or 17th century but extensively remodelled in the 19th century. It is built in two and three storeys of red brick with stone and plastered brick dressings and a steeply pitched slate roof. The Hall was owned and occupied by country squire Oliver Le Neve between 1678 and 1711. Le Neve is significant for his 1698 mortal duel with Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling Hall, the last duel fought in Norfolk.[9]
The south wing was added in 1812 by Timothy Tompson and the north frontage redesigned in 1872 for Charles Kett Tompson, High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1827.[10] After the latter's death it passed to his son-in-law, Viscount Canterbury. It later became the seat of William James Barry J.P. (1864–1952), High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1912, and his son Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Barry (1896–1977). The dilapidated post-Second World War property was bought in 1950 by Bernard Matthews, and after being initially used for turkey rearing and processing, became the head office of his turkey business, Bernard Matthews Farms.
Sport
- Cricket: Great Witchingham Cricket Club, who play home games at Walcis Park
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Great Witchingham) |
References
- ↑ Place-Names
- ↑ and Little Witchingham Great Witchingham in the Domesday Book
- ↑ "MNF3033 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF3033.
- ↑ "MNF15276 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF15276.
- ↑ "MNF31019 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer". https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF31019.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1076900: Church of St Mary, Great Witchingham (Grade I listing)
- ↑ "Great Witchingham St Mary". https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/2789/service-and-events/events-all/.
- ↑ "Norfolk Churches". http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/greatwitchingham/greatwitchingham.htm.
- ↑ Nicolson, Adam (2012); Gentry: Six Hundred Years of a Peculiarly English Class, Part III: The Great Century 1610-1710, "Honour: The le Neves, Great Witchingham, Norfolk", HarperCollins. ISBN 0007335504
- ↑ National Heritage List 1076861: Great Witchingham Hall (Grade II* listing)