Fordham, Norfolk

DistrictShire countyRegionCountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townDOWNHAM MARKETPostcode districtPE38Dialling code01366PoliceNorfolkFireNorfolkAmbulanceEast of England UK Parliament 52°34′16″N 0°22′59″E / 52.571238°N 0.383148°E / 52.571238; 0.383148

Fordham is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located 2.2 miles (3.5 km) north of Downham Market and 39 miles (63 km) west of Norwich, located along the A10 between London and King's Lynn and close to the confluence of the River Wissey and River Great Ouse.

History

Fordham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for a village or homestead close to a ford, likely across the River Great Ouse.^[1]

The Parish of Fordham has been the site of discovery for several significant Bronze Age artefacts, including a hammer, a decorated sword and a socketed axehead.^[2]

In the Domesday Book, Fordham is listed as a settlement of 22 households in the hundred of Clackclose. In 1086, the village was divided between the East Anglian estates of St Benedict's Abbey, Ralph Baynard, Henry de Ferrers, Reginald, son of Ivo and the Abbey of St Etheldreda, Ely.^[3]

Snore Hall dates from the Medieval period and was originally built as a timber-framed, fortified manor-house. The building that stands today was built in early sixteenth century, with extensions made in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The hall has a good example of a sixteenth-century priest hole, and was the site of a council convened by King Charles I during the English Civil War.^[4]

Geography

According to the 2001 Census, Fordham has a population of 71 residents living in 29 households. The parish has a total area of 3.45 square miles (8.9 km²).^[5]

Fordham falls within the constituency of South West Norfolk and is represented in Parliament by Liz Truss of the Conservative Party. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

St Mary's Church

The Church of England parish church, St Mary's, is now redundant and in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches.^[6] The church is a Grade II* listed building.^[7] The church was largely built in the nineteenth century, with the chancel the only surviving feature from the Medieval period. The nave collapsed in the eighteenth century and the tower fell some time after.^[8]

War memorial

Fordham shares a war memorial with the nearby villages of Denver, Ryston and Bexwell. The memorial takes the form of a stone cross atop an octagonal plinth, located on Denver's village green. The memorial lists the following Fordham men who died during the First World War:

• Sgt. Harry Dungay (1887–1914), 1st Bn., Lincolnshire Regiment
• L-Cpl. Robert Dungay (d.1916), 7th Bn., Bedfordshire Regiment
• Pvt. Alfred Symonds (1891–1917), 1st Bn., Cambridgeshire Regiment
• Pvt. Frank Place (d.1916), 17th Bn., King's Regiment
• Pvt. Harold S. Tingay (d.1917), 1/8th Bn., West Yorkshire Regiment
• Pvt. James Pope (d.1918), 1/5th Bn., York and Lancaster Regiment
• H. Fuller

And, the following for the Second World War:

• Spr. Leslie Holman (1915–1943), 251st (Field Park) Coy., Royal Engineers^[9]

Further reading

• Blomefield, F. (1807). Volume VII: An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 366–368.

References

External links

Media related to Fordham, Norfolk at Wikimedia Commons