Wymondham
Wymondham is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road to London. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to the north and south, with hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield. It had a population of 14,405 in 2011, of whom 13,587 lived in the town itself.
Development
The community developed during the Anglo-Saxon period and expanded with the establishment of a priory in 1107 and a market in 1204. Industrially, Wymondham became known as a centre of woodturning and brush-making, retaining its brush factories until the late 20th century. New housing to the north and east of the town centre brought rapid expansion. Dual carriageways for the A11 and the development of rapid rail links to Norwich and Cambridge means Wymondham is now a commuter town. Major local employers include the headquarters of Norfolk Constabulary and the Lotus Cars factory at nearby Hethel.The ancient centre, much damaged in a fire of 1615, contains landmarks and listed buildings that include the twin-towered Wymondham Abbey. Modern Wymondham continues to grow. The current local-authority action plan envisages building 2,200 new homes by 2026, while promoting it as "a forward-looking market town which embraces sustainable growth to enhance its unique identity and sense of community."
History
Origin of the name
The uncertain, Anglo-Saxon origins of the name probably consist of a personal name such as Wigmund or Wimund, with hām meaning village or settlement, or hamm meaning a river meadow. The place has been referred to as Windham on occasions.Early history
The site where Wymondham stands shows evidence of occupation from the earliest period of human settlement in Norfolk. Pot boilers and burnt flint have been found in nearby fields, as have flint axe-heads, scrapers and many other objects. Evidence of the Bronze Age appears in a number of ring ditches, enclosures and linear crop marks. Objects found include an arrowhead, fragments of rapiers, assorted metal tools and pottery sherds.Iron Age artefacts were investigated systematically while the A11 bypass was being built in the early 1990s. There are postholes, quarries and evidence of iron smelting and bone working. Objects from the period include coins, jewellery and pottery.
Roman remains include an aisled structure and a copper-alloy metal-working site. A Roman road from Venta Icenorum to Watton and beyond is visible as cropmarks. Large numbers of coins and pottery sherds have been found, as have personal items such as brooches, cosmetic tools and a duck figurine.
Few Saxon buildings survive, although excavations showed a sunken-featured building with Early and Middle Saxon pottery. Remains of a possible Late Saxon church were discovered during excavations at Wymondham Abbey in 2002.
Middle Ages
By 1086, Wymondham had 376 households, which put it among the top 20 per cent of settlements recorded in Domesday. The land was held by two feudal Lords: William the Conqueror and William de Warenne.The Saxon church made way for a new Norman priory in 1107, its church shared between the monks and the townspeople. This evolved over the centuries into the Wymondham Abbey seen today.
Earthworks at Moot Hill are probably a medieval ring-work dating between 1088 and 1139. It is on the Historic England's Heritage at Risk register.
The first market charter came from King John in 1204, although an earlier market was probably held. The charter was renewed by Henry VI in 1440 and a weekly market is still held on Fridays.
Early modern period
Wymondham Abbey was dissolved in 1538 and the domestic buildings and monastic half of the church were gradually demolished. Loye Ferrers, the last Abbot, became Vicar when the post fell vacant, and the remaining church buildings continued in use as the parish church.Robert Kett led a rebellion in 1549 of peasants and small farmers against enclosure of common land. His force of scarcely armed men held the city of Norwich for six weeks until defeated by the King's forces. He was hanged at Norwich Castle and his brother William was hanged from the church west tower. Kett's Oak, ostensibly the rallying point of the rebellion, can be seen on the B1172 road between Wymondham and Hethersett, part of an earlier main road to London.
The town suffered a major fire beginning on Sunday, 11 June 1615. Losses included the Market Cross, the vicarage, the old town hall and the schoolhouse. Buildings that survived include the Green Dragon inn. Thereafter, 327 inhabitants – some 55 per cent of residents at the time – made claims for lost goods and houses. The register of St Andrew's Church in Norwich records that John Flodder and others were executed for arson on 2 December 1615. Rebuilding varied in pace. A new Market Cross was completed in 1617, but in 1621 there were still some 15 properties to be rebuilt.
In 1695, the Attleborough road was the second British turnpike built, pre-dated only by the Great North Road.
Later Wymondham
In 1785, a prison was built in line with the ideas of the prison reformer John Howard. The first in England to have separate cells for prisoners, it was widely copied there and in the United States. It now serves as Wymondham Heritage Museum.The collapse of the woollen industry in the mid-19th century led to poverty. In 1836 there were still 600 hand looms, but by 1845 only 60. The town became a backwater in Victorian times, untouched by development elsewhere.
The Norwich & Brandon Railway opened in 1845 and a branch north to Dereham and Wells-next-the-Sea in 1847. Another branch opened in 1881 ran south to the Great Eastern Main Line at Forncett.
The Murders at Stanfield Hall occurred on 28 November 1848.
In 1943, a military hospital at Morley was handed to the United States Army Air Forces. Over 3,000 patients were treated there after D-Day. It was later converted for use by Wymondham College.
For much of the 20th century, there were two brush factories together employing up to 1,000 people. They both closed in the 1980s and the land was turned over to housing.
Governance
Wymondham has a town council responsible for local matters laid down by law, including a role in urban planning. It has 14 members elected every four years. Wymondham divides into four wards: North, East, Central and South. Spooner Row, though within the parish of Wymondham, elects its own community council.Wymondham civil parish falls in the district of South Norfolk, returning six district councillors. In elections in May 2023, Wymondham elected three Liberal Democrat District councillors, two Conservatives and one Labour. In Town Council elections fourteen councillors are returned. After May 2023 local elections, the Town Council consisted of seven Liberal Democrats, four Labour, two Green and a solitary Conservative councillor. In 2023 the Town Council elected two women for the roles of mayor and deputy mayor, the first time this had occurred in Wymondham's history.
After a by-election for Central Wymondham held the same day as the General Election on 4 July 2024, another Liberal Democrat was elected bringing the total to eight on the Council.
In County Council elections, the north part, with the Town Centre, returns one councillor to Norfolk County Council as Wymondham electoral division. The southern part elects a county councillor as part of Forehoe electoral division.
For much of the 20th century, Wymondham belonged to the South Norfolk parliamentary constituency. After a boundary review, Wymondham was moved to the Mid Norfolk constituency. However, Wymondham will revert to South Norfolk again after another boundary review, a long drawn out process which was only formalised in late 2023.
Geography
At , and north-north-west of London, Wymondham stands above sea level, south-west of Norwich, at the confluence of two small rivers. The largely rural parishes around it include Hethersett, Hethel, Ashwellthorpe, Bunwell, Wicklewood, Crownthorpe and Wramplingham. The market town of Attleborough lies to the south-west. Wymondham has a temperate maritime climate, like much of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Wymondham was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.Wymondham's topography is marked by its river meadow and flat, low-lying agricultural landscape, much like the rest of East Anglia. The parish has an area of. The geology is based on chalk, with a layer of boulder clay laid down in the last ice age. The River Tiffey, flowing north, forms a boundary between the built-up town centre and the rural southern part of the parish.
The built environment of Wymondham's town centre is marked by early-modern town houses and a number of buildings that survived the 1615 fire, including Wymondham Abbey. Much of the centre forms a conservation area with numerous listed buildings. Beyond the centre lie 20th and 21st-century housing estates of mainly detached and semi-detached properties. There are trading and industrial estates along the route of the A11, which passes north-east through the south of the parish. The heavy rail Breckland line crosses the parish in the same direction. The rest of the parish is largely arable farmland.
The parish has one of the largest areas in Norfolk. It includes swaths to the north and south of the town, including the hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield.
Climate
Demography
The United Kingdom Census 2001 gave Wymondham a total resident population of 12,539 and a population density of. By 2011, the population had risen to 14,405, with a density of. Wymondham has an average age of 41.8.In 2011, 94.5 per cent of the population were White British, 1.1 per cent Asian, 0.5 per cent White Irish and 0.3 per cent Black.
Christianity accounts for 60.3 per cent of the population, while 29.9 declare no religious affiliation. There are small populations of Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.
The 2011 census showed 72.6 per cent of the adult population economically active, 2.9 per cent unemployed and 16.8 per cent retired. The population is well-educated: 27 per cent have post-18 qualifications.
The following table outlines the population change in the town since 1801, with slow growth, then decline in the 19th century, followed by recovery and rapid growth by the end of the 20th century.