Freethorpe is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
of
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. The village is located south-west of
Great Yarmouth and south-east of
Great Yarmouth, located within the
Norfolk Broads
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...
.
History
The origin of Freethorpe's name is uncertain. It either derives from the
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
for Fraethi's settlement or an amalgamation of the Old Norse and
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
for a settlement offering refuge or safety.
In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
, Freethorpe is listed as a settlement of 20 households in the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
of
Blofield
Blofield is a village and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. The parish includes Blofield and the hamlets of Blofield Heath and Blofield Corner and, according to the 2001 census, had a population of 3,221, increasing to ...
. In 1086, the village was divided between the
East Anglia estates of
King William I,
William de Beaufeu
William de Beaufeu was a medieval Bishop of Thetford and a major landholder mentioned in the Domesday Book.The Domesday Book, Englands Heritage, Then and Now, Editor: Thomas Hinde, Major Domesday landholders page 338
Life
William's land holdings ...
and Rabel the engineer.
Several Nineteenth Century
almshouses are located within the village, which were built in 1871 by Richard Henry and Harriet Vade Walpole to care for local widows.
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the village was home to a
Royal Flying Corps airfield between 1916 and 1918. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the airfield was passed on to the
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...
who operated the site until the mid-Twentieth Century. In addition, an eastern part of the parish was designated as a
Starfish site during the Second World War to draw
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
attention away from Norwich and Great Yarmouth.
Geography
According to the
2011 Census, Freethorpe has a population of 995 residents living in 405 households. Furthermore, the parish has a total area of .
Freethorpe falls within the
constituency of
Broadland
Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew.
In 2013, Broadland w ...
and is represented at
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
by
Jerome Mayhew MP of the
Conservative Party. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of
Broadland
Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew.
In 2013, Broadland w ...
.
All Saints' Church
Freethorpe's parish church is one of Norfolk's remaining 124
round-tower churches, with the tower dating from the Twelfth Century and the remainder of the church dating from the Thirteenth Century. The church was restored in the Nineteenth Century by
Anthony Salvin
Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country h ...
at the behest of Richard Henry Vade Walpole, Lord of the Manor of Freethorpe. The stained-glass inside the church was installed by
Thomas Willement
Thomas Willement (18 July 1786 – 10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865.
Biography
Willement was born at St Marylebone, London. Like many early 19th centu ...
and
Clayton and Bell
Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832 ...
and largely glorify the Walpole family.
Freethorpe also has a Methodist Chapel that holds regular church services and seats up to 150 people.
Amenities
The majority of local children attend Freethorpe Community Primary School, which was rated as 'Good' by
Ofsted in 2016 which was subsequently upheld in 2019.
War Memorial
Freethorpe's war memorial takes the form of a square pillar, made from
Granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, topped with a carved urn, located in the cemetery of Freethorpe's Methodist Church. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
* Cpl. John H. Alexander (1896-1918), 9th Bn.,
Royal Norfolk Regiment
The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...
* Cpl. Frank Lake (1891-1916), 1st Bn.,
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959.
The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Light ...
* L-Cpl. Frederick Carr (1878-1916), 8th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt.
* Pvt. Alfred R. Brock (d.1918), 1st Depot,
Royal Army Service Corps
* Pvt. George Meal (d.1916), 13th Bn.,
Essex Regiment
The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...
* Pvt. Wilfred Cater (1899-1918), 6th Coy.,
Machine Gun Corps
The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...
* Pvt. Mark Shorten (d.1916), 110th Coy., Machine Gun Corps
* Pvt. Robert J. Lake (1893-1916), 1st Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt.
* Pvt. George Ward (d.1914), 1st Bn., Royal Regiment Regt.
* Pvt. Thomas F. Dawson (d.1916), 8th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt.
* Pvt. D. Hugh Burton (1895-1916), 9th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt.
* Pvt. Basil Lake (1899-1918),
Sussex Yeomanry
* Skpr. Samuel C. Falgate (1868-1916), ''
H.M. Drifter Hilary II''
* Walter Lake
And, the following for the Second World War:
* P/O. William R. Turner (1907-1942), ''
H.M. Submarine Upholder''
* Pvt. Alec G. Nicholls (1919-1944), 1st Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt.
[ Imperial War Museum. Retrieved January 07, 2023. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/91816 ]
References
External links
All Saints on the European Round Tower Churches Website
{{authority control
Villages in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Broadland