Fordham, Norfolk
{{Short description|Village in Norfolk, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| coordinates = {{coord|52.571238|0.383148|display=inline,title}}
| os_grid_reference = TL616997
| official_name = Fordham
| population =
| shire_district = King's Lynn and West Norfolk
| shire_county = Norfolk
| region = East of England
| civil_parish = Fordham
| constituency_westminster = South West Norfolk
| postcode_district = PE38
| postcode_area = PE
| post_town = DOWNHAM MARKET
| dial_code = 01366
| london_distance = {{convert|76|mi}}
| static_image = St Mary, Fordham, Norfolk - geograph.org.uk - 1449351.jpg
| static_image_width = 240px
| static_image_caption = St Mary's Church, Fordham
| area_total_sq_mi = 3.45
}}
Fordham is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
Fordham is located {{convert|2.2|mi}} north of Downham Market and {{convert|39|mi}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Key to English Place-names |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Fordham |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk}}
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.{{Cite web |title=mnf24114 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer |url=https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf24114 |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk}}
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.{{Cite web |title=Fordham {{!}} Domesday Book |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TL6199/fordham/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=opendomesday.org}}
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.{{Cite web |title=mnf4463 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer |url=https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf4463 |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk}}
There were once three pubs in Fordham including the Green Dragon which suffered from a severe fire in 1803 which consumed a nearby granary as well.{{Cite web |title=GREEN DRAGON - FORDHAM |url=https://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/norfolkf/fordham/fordhgdrg.htm |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.norfolkpubs.co.uk}}
During the Second World War, several defences were built in Fordham to protect the railway line against a possible German invasion.{{Cite web |title=mnf16125 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer |url=https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf16125 |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk}}{{Cite web |title=mnf2506 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer |url=https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?mnf2506 |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk}}
Geography
Due to the small size of Fordham's population, it is not listed separately in the census.{{Cite web |title=Fordham (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastofengland/admin/kings_lynn_and_west_norf/E04006313__fordham/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.citypopulation.de}}
Fordham is located along the A10, between London and King's Lynn, and close to the confluence of the River Wissey and River Great Ouse.
St Mary's Church
{{main|St Mary's Church, Fordham}}
Fordham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and dates from the late-Thirteenth Century. St. Mary's is located on a small track off the A10 and has been Grade II listed since 1951.{{NHLE |desc=CHURCH OF ST MARY, Fordham |num=1205531 |access-date=2025-03-09 }}
St. Mary's suffered from a major collapse in the Eighteenth Century which caused significant damage to the nave and tower.{{Cite web |title=Norfolk Churches |url=http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/fordham/fordham.htm |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.norfolkchurches.co.uk}} Today, the church is in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churchless but is closed for repairs.{{Cite news |title=St Mary's, Fordham, Norfolk - Friends of Friendless Churches |url=https://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/church/st-mary-fordham-norfolk/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241003135517/http://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/church/st-mary-fordham-norfolk/ |archive-date=2024-10-03 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Friends of Friendless Churches |language=en-GB}}
Governance
Fordham is part of the electoral ward of Denver for local elections and is part of the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk
The village's national constituency is South West Norfolk which has been represented by Labour's Terry Jermy MP since 2024.
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 men who died during the First World War:{{Cite web |title=Roll of Honour - Norfolk - Denver incorporating Fordham, Ryston, Roxham and Bexwell |url=https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Denver.html |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.roll-of-honour.com}}{{Cite web |title=Geograph:: Fakenham to Fundenhall :: War Memorials in Norfolk |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/War-Memorials-in-Norfolk/8#fakenham-to-fundenhall |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.geograph.org.uk}}
class="wikitable"
|+ !Rank !Name !Unit !Date of Death !Burial/Commemoration |
Sgt.
|Harry Dungay |1st Bn., Lincolnshire Regiment |1 Nov. 1914 |
LCpl.
|Robert Dungay |7th Bn., Bedfordshire Regiment |16 Nov. 1916 |
Pte.
|Herbert Fuller |1st Bn., Cambridgeshire Regiment |22 Mar. 1918 |
Pte.
|Alfred Symonds |1st Bn., Cambridgeshire Regt. |17 Feb. 1917 |
Pte.
|Frank Plaice |17th Bn., Liverpool Regiment |12 Oct. 1916 |
Pte.
|Harold S. Tingay |1/8th Bn., West Yorkshire Regiment |20 Oct. 1917 |
Pte.
|James Pope |1/5th Bn., York and Lancaster Regiment |12 Apr. 1918 |
The following names were added following the Second World War:
class="wikitable"
|+ !Rank !Name !Unit !Date of Death !Burial/Commemoration |
Spr.
|Leslie Holman |251 Coy., Royal Engineers |9 Nov. 1943 |
Further reading
- {{cite book |authorlink=Francis Blomefield|last=Blomefield|first= F. |year=1807 |title=Volume VII: An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GgYVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA366 |pages=366–368}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Fordham, Norfolk}}
{{Civil Parishes of King's Lynn and West Norfolk}}
Category:King's Lynn and West Norfolk
Category:Civil parishes in Norfolk
{{authority control}}