Ditchingham

Ditchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located across the River Waveney from Bungay, Suffolk.[1]

Ditchingham
St. Mary's Church, Ditchingham
Ditchingham is located in Norfolk
Ditchingham
Ditchingham
Location within Norfolk
Area8.56 km2 (3.31 sq mi)
Population1,635 2011 Census
• Density191/km2 (490/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTM 340 910
• London93 miles
Civil parish
  • Ditchingham
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBUNGAY
Postcode districtNR35
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

History

Ditchingham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the homestead or settlement of 'Dicca's' people.[2]

In the Domesday Book, Ditchingham is listed as a settlement of 36 households in the hundred of Lodding. In 1086, the village formed part of the East Anglian estates of King William I.[3]

In 1855, an Anglican convent known as the Community of All Hallows was founded in Ditchingham by Lavinia Crosse and Reverend William E. Scudamore. The convent acted as a refuge for women in 'moral danger' and other destitute individuals. The community closed in 2018.

Lilias Rider Haggard's novel, The Rabbit Skin Cap (1939) tells the life story of George Baldry, a local inventor and poacher. The picture on the front cover of the book is a painting by Edward Seago of local schoolboy, Douglas Walter Gower. In later life, Gower discovered the tusk of a woolly mammoth near the long barrow on Broome Heath which is now displayed in Norwich Castle Museum.

Much of the surrounding countryside is part of the estate centred on Ditchingham Hall which was built in the Eighteenth Century and features gardens designed by Capability Brown. The Hall is the ancestral seat of the Earl Ferrers and is currently in the possession of Robert Shirley, 14th Earl Ferrers.

Geography

The civil parish has an area of 8.56 km2 (3.31 sq mi) and in the 2011 Census had a population of 1,635 residents living in 739 households.[4]

Ditchingham falls within the constituency of South Norfolk and is represented at Parliament by Richard Bacon MP of the Conservative Party. A new two-member electoral ward called Ditchingham and Earsham was created for the 2019 district council elections, consisting of 5,132 people of voting age. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of South Norfolk.

St. Mary's Church

Ditchingham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and boasts one of the tallest Fifteenth Century towers in South Norfolk. During the Nineteenth Century, the chancel was remodelled by Anthony Salvin followed by a restoration of the chancel arch and nave roof by Frederick Preedy. St. Mary's has an interesting set of stained glass windows depicting Edmund Tudor with Lady Margaret Beaufort, a series of knights and a timeline of rectors of the church, the manufacturer of the windows are unknown.[5] The church is a Grade I listed building.

Chicken Roundabout

Ditchingham's Chicken roundabout had been home to a group of feral chickens as early as the mid-1990s, cared for by a local man called Gordon Knowles. The number of birds living at the roundabout increased and declined over the years due to a range of factors including Avian influenza and theft. In 2010, the remaining chickens were given to a local animal charity with a plaque to Knowles' role in the local community being erected in 2012.

Amenities

Parravani's ice creams were established in the village in the early C20 and Lamberts Coaches are another long established local company.

Notable Residents

War Memorial

Ditchingham's war memorial is an almost unique memorial featuring the names of the fallen above a life-sized figure of a soldier lying in state cast in bronze, designed by Francis Derwent Wood. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:

And, the following for the Second World War:

Also featured on the war memorial is Nurse Mary Rodwell of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps who was killed when HMHS Anglia hit a sea mine close to Folkestone.[6]

References
  1. Ordnance Survey (2005). OS Explorer Map OL40 - The Broads. ISBN 0-319-23769-9.
  2. University of Nottingham. (2022). Retrieved December 24, 2022. http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Ditchingham
  3. Domesday Book. (1086). Retrieved December 24, 2022. https://opendomesday.org/place/TM3292/ditchingham/
  4. Office for National Statistics. (2011). Retrieved December 24, 2022. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E04006539
  5. Knott, S. (2021). Retrieved December 24, 2022. http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/ditchingham/ditchingham.htm
  6. Smith, L. (2005). Retrieved December 24, 2022. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Ditchingham.html
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