Frettenham

Frettenham
Frettenham village sign, incorporating a millstone from Frettenham Mill
Frettenham
Location within Norfolk
Area2.44 sq mi (6.3 km2)
Population844 (2021 census)
• Density346/sq mi (134/km2)
OS grid referenceTG246174
• London103 miles (166 km)
Civil parish
  • Frettenham
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNorwich
Postcode districtNR12
Dialling code01603
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

Frettenham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.

Frettenham is located 3.2 miles (5.1 km) west of Wroxham, and 5.7 miles (9.2 km) north of Norwich.

History

Frettenham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for Fraeta's homestead or village.[1]

In the Domesday Book, Frettenham is listed as a settlement of 34 households hundred of Taverham. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of Roger the Poitevin.[2]

Frettenham Windmill dates from the late-Nineteenth Century and is currently a private residence with its sails and fantail removed. The windmill is a Grade II listed building.[3]

During the First World War, a Royal Flying Corps airfield was built in the parish though it soon returned to agricultural use.[4]

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Frettenham has a population of 844 people which shows an increase from the 740 people recorded in the 2011 census.[5]

Hillside Animal Sanctuary is located within the parish.

St. Swithin's Church

Frettenham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Swithin and dates from the Fourteenth Century. St. Swithin's is located outside of the village on Church Lane and has been Grade II listed since 1961.[6] Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the church has not been open for Sunday worship.[7]

St. Swithin's was restored in the Victorian era by Richard Phipson and holds a monumental brass memorial to Alice Thorndon (d.1420) with further stone memorials to Rev. Richard Woodes (d.1620) and Thomas Drake (d.1810) who was a treasurer aboard HMS Centaur and later a prisoner of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.[8]

Governance

Frettenham is part of the electoral ward of Buxton for local elections and is part of the district of Broadland.

The village's national constituency is Broadland and Fakenham which has been represented by the Conservative Party's Jerome Mayhew MP since 2019.

War memorial

Frettenham's war memorial takes the form of a stone obelisk above a trapezoid plinth and is located in St. Swithun's Cemetery. The memorial was unveiled in January 1921 by John Cator, High Sheriff of Norfolk and John Willink, Dean of Norwich[9] and lists the following names for the First World War:[10]

Rank Name Unit Date of Death Burial/Commemoration
Sgt. Thomas C. Buck DCM 2nd Bn., Coldstream Guards 9 May 1915 Rue-des-Berceaux Cem.
LCpl. Louis P. Money 1/7th Bn., Lancashire Fusiliers 25 Mar. 1918 Arras Memorial
LCpl. Albert Rivett MM 9th Bn., Norfolk Regiment 15 Apr. 1918 Tyne Cot
Dvr. Walter J. Forster 27th Bde., Royal Field Artillery 29 Sep. 1918 Lebucquière Cemetery
Gnr. Frederick J. Stoladay 46th Bde., R.F.A. 11 Dec. 1918 Niederzwehren Cemetery
Pte. Charles A. Buck 1st Bn., Essex Regiment 17 Apr. 1917 Duisans Cemetery
Pte. Cecil F. Muskett 1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment 9 Oct. 1917 Hooge Crater Cemetery
Pte. Frederick H. Bloom 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. 17 Jul. 1915 Pont-de-Nieppe Cemetery
Pte. William F. Norgate 1/5th Bn., Northumberland Fusiliers 26 Oct. 1917 Tyne Cot
Rfn. Robert C. Garrett 9th (Victoria's Rf) Bn., London Regt. 22 Nov. 1917 Cambrai Memorial

The following names were added after the Second World War:

Rank Name Unit Date of Death Burial/Commemoration
Pte. Sydney G. Wymer 1/4th Bn., Essex Regiment 5 Oct. 1944 Coriano Ridge Cemetery
Pte. Cecil G. Cannell 6th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment 29 Nov. 1943 Chungkai War Cemetery

References

  1. ^ "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Frettenham | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  3. ^ "Norfolk Mills - Frettenham tower windmill". www.norfolkmills.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  4. ^ "MNF13617 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer". www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Frettenham (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  6. ^ "CHURCH OF ST SWITHIN, Frettenham - 1372955 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  7. ^ "Frettenham: St Swithin". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  8. ^ "Norfolk Churches". www.norfolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Frettenham War Memorial, Frettenham - 1443388 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  10. ^ "Geograph:: Fakenham to Fundenhall :: War Memorials in Norfolk". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2025.

Media related to Frettenham at Wikimedia Commons