North Elmham
| North Elmham | |
| Norfolk | |
|---|---|
 Remains of the Saxon cathedral, North Elmham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF985208 |
| Location: | 52°44’55"N, 0°56’23"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,433 (2011) |
| Post town: | Dereham |
| Postcode: | NR20 |
| Dialling code: | 01362 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Breckland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Mid Norfolk |
North Elmham is a village in Norfolk, in the north of the county, beside the River Wensum, which flows south-eastwards from here to Norwich.
The village is about five miles north of East Dereham, on the west bank of the Wensum. Including Gateley, the civil parish had a population of 1,433 at the 2011 Census.
North Elmham was the site of a pre-Norman cathedral, which was the seat of the Bishop of Elmham until 1075. At the site of the abandoned cathedral a chapel was built, and it in turn was replaced by a fortified manor house, North Elmham Castle, the ruins of which are to be found in the meadows beside the river on the eastern edge of the river.
The village stands along the B1145, which runs between King's Lynn and Mundesley.
History
The name 'Elmham' comes from the Old English for 'Elm homestead (or village)' and is first mentioned in 1035.[1] Only ruins now survive of a Norman chapel which is now looked after by English Heritage.[2] The chapel is on the site of an earlier Anglo Saxon timber cathedral which housed the episcopal throne of the Bishops of Elmham from around 672 until the episcopal see was moved to Thetford in 1071. A mid-9th-century copper-alloy hanging censer was discovered at North Elmham in 1786. The earthworks and ruins at North Elmham stewarded by English Heritage are thought to be the remains of Bishop Herbert de Losinga's late 11th-century episcopal church and the late 14th-century double-moated castle built on this by Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich. Henry came from a powerful family who had strong links with the House of Plantagenet and the notorious 'favourites' of King Edward II.
To the south lies Spong Hill, the home of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, excavated in the late twentieth century, by Dr Catherine Hills.[3]
To the north of the village was the Norfolk County School which, on closing in the 1890s, was taken over for the Watts Naval School; the fine buildings have now been demolished. This was the birthplace of the actor John Mills.
County School railway station served the school and today is preserved by the Mid-Norfolk Railway as a small visitor centre. North Elmham railway station once served the village on the line from Wymondham to Fakenham East. The building still exists but is now a residential home, although the railway line remains and is under restoration to use. A section of the line, between North Elmham and County School station, includes a permissive footpath.
North Elmham Mill, known locally as Grint Mill, had two breastshot waterwheels until the early 20th century when they were replaced by two turbines. By the 1970s the milling machinery was driven by mains electricity while the turbines were used to drive a sack hoist and two mixing machines. The mill continued to produce animal feed into the late 20th century.[4]
See also
- South Elmham in Suffolk
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about North Elmham) |
References
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 4th edition, 1960. ISBN 0198691033
- ↑ "Find events near you". http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/north-elmham-chapel/.
- ↑ Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 210 , March 1980 , pp. 52 - 54 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00112104
- ↑ "Norfolk Mills - North Elmham watermill". http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/elmham.html.
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History of England
- Rainbird Clarke, R. East Anglia (London, 1960)
- White, William. History, Gazetteer, & Directory of Norfolk, (1845)
- Whitelock, Dorothy. 'The pre-Viking Church in East Anglia', Anglo-Saxon England, 1 (1972), doi:10.1017/S0263675100000053