Haddiscoe 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 authority ...

in the

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 197 ...

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

, England, about southeast of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. The parish is on the county boundary with

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, about west-northwest of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

. The parish includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe, about north of Haddiscoe village. The civil parish has an area of . The 2011 Census recorded its population as 487 people in 210 households.

Toponym

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 manusc ...

of 1086 records the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

as ''Hadescou''. An entry for 1208 in the feet of fines and one for 1236 in the

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs'), being a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, but f ...

each record it as ''Hadesco''. A

Close Roll The Close Rolls () are an administrative record created in medieval England, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands by the royal chancery, in order to preserve a central record of all letters close issued by the chancery in the name of the Crown. ...

dated 1253 records it as ''Haddesco''. The toponym is derived from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

. "Hadd" was someone's name, and the second part of the word is derived from the Norse word ''skōgr'' meaning "wood", so the place was "Hadd's wood".

Churches

The local church in the village is dedicated to

St. Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and was originally constructed in the 15th century. The oldest part of the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of St Mary is the 11th-century west tower. St Mary's is one of 124

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berkshi ...

es in Norfolk. Inside the church are 14th-century murals including one of St Christopher carrying Jesus Christ. Jan Pier Pier, a 16th-century Dutch immigrant and creator of some of the dykes surrounding the village, is buried in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. St Mary's is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

St Matthias church Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe Norfolk (4233047909)

In Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe is the Church of England parish church of St Matthias. It too has an 11th-century round tower. Its

has a thatched roof, and its

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was rebuilt in brick in 1838. St Matthias' is a Grade I listed building.

Economic and social history

Haddiscoe was in

Clavering hundred Clavering hundred was a hundred – or geographical subdivision – comprising parishes and settlements in Essex and Norfolk. Hundreds were divisions of areas of land within shires or counties for administrative and judicial purposes – and for t ...

. Haddiscoe was the site of Norfolk's only

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

preceptory. It was dissolved in the 14th Century. The Haddiscoe Hoard, the largest hoard of

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

coins found in Norfolk to date, was found on 17 July 2003 by a workman on a flood defence scheme. Toft Monks Mill, Haddiscoe

Toft Monks mill is a disused windpump that used to drain the marshes into the River Waveney. The

Haddiscoe Cut The Haddiscoe Cut or New Cut is a canal in the English county of Norfolk and in The Broads National Park.). The cut was conceived as a way to provide a more direct route from Lowestoft to Norwich, and was built as part of a larger scheme which i ...

(New Cut), a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

linking the

River Waveney The River Waveney is a river which forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads. The "ey" part of the name means "river" thus the name is tautological. Course The source of the River Wavene ...

and

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the villag ...

, was opened in 1833. It joins the River Waveney in the parish near

Haddiscoe railway station Haddiscoe railway station (formerly Haddiscoe Low Level) is on the Wherry Lines in Norfolk, England, named after the village of Haddiscoe, some distant, although the village of St Olaves on the other side of the River Waveney is closer. It ...

. The cut now forms part of the parish boundary. Under the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relief ...

Haddiscoe was in the

Loddon Loddon may refer to: *Loddon, Norfolk in England, UK *Shire of Loddon in Victoria, Australia (since 1995) **Bridgewater On Loddon, Victoria in Australia *River Loddon, flows into the River Thames near Reading *Loddon River, flows north from south of ...

and Clavering Union. A railway linking and was authorised in 1845 and opened by the

Norfolk Railway The Norfolk Railway was an early railway company that controlled a network of 94 miles around Norwich, England. It was formed in 1845 by the amalgamation of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway opened in 1844, and the Norwich and Brandon Railway, n ...

in 1847. It passes through Haddiscoe parish, partly alongside the Haddiscoe Cut. The original

was opened to serve it. In 1862 the Norfolk Railway became part of the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

, which in 1904 replaced the original Haddiscoe railway station with the present one. It is about from the centre of the village and is served by

Wherry Lines The Wherry Lines are railway branch lines in the East of England, linking to and . There are 14 stations including the three termini. They form part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.11 and are classified as a rural line. The line ...

trains linking and Lowestoft. The landscape painter Sir

John Arnesby Brown Sir John Alfred Arnesby Brown (29 March 1866 in Nottingham – 16 November 1955 in Haddiscoe, Norfolk) was an English landscape artist, "one of the leading British landscape artists of the 20th century"A listing for Brown's grave
/ref> A stray

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

fell in Haddiscoe in the Second World War.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Haddiscoe
– community website
St Mary's on the European Round Tower Churches WebsiteSt Matthias on the European Round Tower Churches Website
* . *
Coin Hoard Article
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk