Swaffham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map sources for Swaffham at grid reference TF8109

Swaffham is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town was originally situated on the A47, some 20 km east of the town of King's Lynn and 50 km west of the city of Norwich. The A47 now avoids the town, using a bypass opened in 1981.^[1]

The civil parish has an area of 29.57 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of Breckland.^[2]

The town was named after an Anglo-Saxon tribe named the Swaefas.

About 8 km to the north of Swaffham can be found the ruins of the formerly important Castle Acre Priory and Castle Acre Castle. By the 14th and 15th centuries Swaffham had a flourishing sheep and wool industry. As a result of this prosperity, the town has a large market place. The Market Cross here was built by the writer Horace Walpole and presented to the town in 1783. On the top is the statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest.

On the west side of Swaffham Market Place are several old buildings which for many years housed the historic Hamond's Grammar School, as a plaque on the wall of the main building explains. Harry Carter, the school's art teacher in the 1960s, was responsible for a great number of the carved signs that are now found in many of Norfolk's towns and villages, most notably perhaps Swaffham's own sign commemorating the legendary Peddlar of Swaffham, which is in the corner of the market place just opposite the old school's gates.

Today the town is perhaps best known for the presence of two large wind turbines, and the associated Ecotech Centre. The turbines are owned and operated by Ecotricity, and together generate more than 3 Megawatts.^[3]

The infamous 'lotto lout' Michael Carroll has a home in the town. He is currently subject to an ASBO in the Swaffham area.