Wymondham
| Wymondham | |
|
|
  Wymondham Wymondham shown within Norfolk | |
| Area | 44.31 km2 (17.11 sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Population | 23,120 (UKCrimeStats) |
| - Density | 522 /km2 (1,350 /sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TG1101 |
| District | South Norfolk |
| Shire county | Norfolk |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WYMONDHAM |
| Postcode district | NR18 |
| Dialling code | 01953 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Mid Norfolk |
Wymondham /ˈwɪndəm/ is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It lies 9.5 miles (15 km) to the south west of the city of Norwich, on the A11 road from Norwich to London.[1] The parish includes large rural areas to the north and south of the town itself. It is the fourth largest civil parish in Norfolk.
History
Before the Great Fire
Wymondham's most famous inhabitant was Robert Kett (or Ket), who led a rebellion in 1549 of peasants and small farmers in protest at the enclosure of common land. He took a force of almost unarmed men and fought for and held the City of Norwich for six weeks until defeated by the King's forces. He was hanged from Norwich Castle. Kett's Oak, said to be the rallying point for the rebellion, can still be seen today on the B1172 road between Wymondham and Hetherset, part of the former main road to London.
The Great Fire of 1615
The Great Fire of Wymondham broke out on Sunday 11 June 1615. Two areas of the town were affected, implying there were two separate fires. One area was in Vicar Street and Middleton Street and the other in the Market Place, including Bridewell Street and Fairland Street. About 300 properties were destroyed in the fire. Important buildings destroyed included: the Market Cross, dating from 1286; the vicarage in Vicar Street; the 'Town Hall' on the corner of Middleton Street and Vicar Street; and the schoolhouse. However, many buildings such as the Green Dragon pub did survive and many of the houses in Damgate Street date back to 1400, although this is now masked by later brickwork.
The fire was started by three Gypsies - William Flodder, John Flodder and Ellen Pendleton (Flodder) - and a local person, Margaret Bix (Elvyn). The register of St Andrew's Church in Norwich records that John Flodder and others were executed on 2 December 1615 for the burning of Wymondham. Rebuilding of the destroyed buildings was quick in some cases and slower in others. A new Market Cross, the one we see today, was started and completed in 1617. However, by 1621 there were still about 15 properties not yet rebuilt. Economic conditions in the 1620s could have been a contributory factor to the delay in rebuilding.
After the Great Fire
Kett's Rebellion was evidence of an undercurrent of ferment in 16th-century Wymondham. Comparable discontent showed itself in the 17th century when a number of Wymondham citizens, including Thomas Lincoln, John Beal and others, moved to Hingham, Norfolk in the wave of religious dissent that swept England in the years preceding Cromwell's Commonwealth.
In 1785, a prison was built using the ideas of John Howard, the prison reformer. It was the first prison to be built in this country with separate cells for the prisoners and was widely copied both in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The collapse of the woollen industry in the mid-19th century led to great poverty in Wymondham. In 1836 there were 600 hand looms, but by 1845 only 60 existed. During Victorian times the town was a backwater and never experienced large-scale development. The town centre remains very much as it must have been in the mid-17th century, when the houses were rebuilt after the Great Fire. These newer houses, and those which survived the Great Fire, still surround shoppers and visitors as they pass through Wymondham's narrow mediaeval streets.
World War Two
Wymondham played a part in the Second World War that is very poorly documented. It was home to one of MI6's Radio Security Service direction finding stations; the type at Wymondham was a “Spaced Loop” design newly developed by the National Physical Laboratory. Unfortunately, this was soon found to be unsatisfactory and was converted to the more traditional Adcock type.. The station at Wymondham was located at latitude=52.583333, longitude=1.121667, just north of Tuttles Lane and east of Melton Road. Based on information from one of the WW2 operators it transpires that another spaced loop station was later installed alongside the first in 1944 after the Normandy invasion. This may have been due to increased interest in transmissions from western Europe where the shorter distance made the spaced loop more reliable. See http://www.secretlisteners.org/ for more details.
Governance
The civil parish of Wymondham has an area of 44.31 km2 (17.11 sq mi) and in the 2001 census a population of 12,539, in 5,477 households, was recorded. This relatively large parish includes one nearby village, Spooner Row.
Wymondham is governed by a town council of 15 councillors. The town is split into five wards, each of which returns three members. Since the last election (2011) and subsequent by-elections, 11 councillors are members of the Conservative Party, two are from the Liberal Democrats and two are independent. The current mayor is Robert Savage.
For the purposes of local government, Wymondham civil parish falls within the district of South Norfolk, returning five district councillors, one for each ward. The town as a whole returns one county councillor to Norfolk County Council – Joseph Mooney.[2] Nationally, Wymondham is in the Mid Norfolk constituency and is therefore represented at Westminster by George Freeman.
Buildings
In the town centre, there is a market cross, which is now used as a Tourist Information Centre and is owned by the Town Council. The original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of Wymondham in 1615; the present building was rebuilt between 1617-18 at a cost of £25-7-0d with funds loaned by local man, Philip Cullyer.[3] The stilted building was like many others designed to protect valuable documents from both flood and vermin. According to T.F. Thistleton Dyer's "English Folklore" [London, 1878], live rats were nailed by their tails to the side of the building by way of a deterrent. This bizarre superstition ended in 1902 after a child was bitten, later to die of blood-poisoning.[4]
Wymondham Abbey is the Church of England parish church.
The headquarters of Norfolk Constabulary are located in Wymondham.
The former town jail or bridewell now houses the Wymondham Heritage Museum.
Transport
The Wymondham railway station (voted Best Small Station in the 2006 National Rail Awards) possesses a piano showroom and a locally famous Brief Encounter-themed restaurant. The latter featured in Mark Greenstreet's 1996 comedy film 'Caught In The Act', which starred Sara Crowe, Annette Badland, Nadia Sawalha, Paul Shelly and Leslie Phillips. (N.B. 'Brief Encounter' was shot 250 miles away, using Carnforth railway station, Lancashire.) The whole site has been restored by owner David Turner and also houses a small railway museum. The station was featured as the "Walmington-on-Sea" station in the popular BBC comedy series "Dad's Army". Wymondham station is the junction for the Mid-Norfolk Railway, although their trains, running 11.5 miles (19 km) north to Dereham operate from the separate Wymondham Abbey station. The town once had another station Spinks Lane, but this closed only a short time after opening in the 19th century.
Notable people
As of 2009, notable residents living in or close to Wymondham include/have included: George Szirtes, poet; Oliver Winterbottom, car designer; Simon Beaufoy, writer of the films 'The Full Monty' and 'Slumdog Millionaire'; Bill Bryson, humorist, author and travel writer; Justin and Dan Hawkins of The Darkness; and the late Edwin Gooch, MP and President of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers.
See also
- Wymondham Abbey
- Wymondham College
- Wymondham High School
- Kett's Rebellion
- Mid-Norfolk Railway
References
- ↑ Ordnance Survey (1999). OS Explorer Map 237 - Norwich. ISBN 0-319-21868-6.
- ↑ Norfolk County Council
- ↑ "Wymondham Town History". Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- ↑ "'Wymondham Child Dies Of Rat Bite' Eastern Daily Press, November 24th 1902".
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wymondham. |
- Wymondham Town Council Website
- Wymondham Music Festival
- Information from Genuki Norfolk on Wymondham.
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