Ludham 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 county 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 ...

, in 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 ...

, at the end of a dyke leading to Womack Water and flowing into the

River Thurne The River Thurne is a river in Norfolk, England in The Broads. Just long, it rises from the coast near Martham Broad and is navigable from West Somerton. It flows southwest and is linked by Candle Dyke and Heigham Sound to both Horsey Mere ...

. It lies to the East of

Ludham Bridge Ludham Bridge is a hamlet on the River Ant on the Norfolk Broads in Norfolk, England. It carries road traffic from Wroxham to Potter Heigham Potter Heigham is a village and civil parish on the River Thurne in the English county of Norfolk. It ...

, which is on the

River Ant The River Ant is a tributary river of the River Bure in the county of Norfolk, England. It is long (of which 8.75 miles are now navigable), and has an overall drop of 27 metres from source to mouth. It is said that the Ant was formerly known as ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,301 in 582 households at the 2001 census, the population reducing to 1,278 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it 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 North Norfolk. The villages name origin is unsure possibly, 'Luda's homestead/village' but perhaps, 'homestead/village on the Hlude (= noisy one)', an old name for Womack Water. It is part of the

Ludham - Potter Heigham NNR Ludham - Potter Heigham Marshes is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. Part of the site is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and a National Nature Reserve. It is part of the Broadland Ram ...

, a national nature reserve. The village gave its name to a , and also, in geology, to an age/stage (the Ludhamian) in the British regional subdivision of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

Series/Epoch. It also effectively gives its name to the preceding age/underlying stage known as the Pre-Ludhamian.

RAF Ludham

The airfield at Ludham was built by Richard Costain Ltd and became operational in November 1941 as a second satellite for the main fighter station at

RAF Coltishall Royal Air Force Coltishall, more commonly known as RAF Coltishall , is a former Royal Air Force station located North-North-East of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, which operated from 1938 to 2006. It was a fighter airf ...

sited north of Norwich, three tarmac-covered concrete runways and ancillary buildings being built on the land which had belonged to Fritton Farm. A total of ten RAF fighter squadrons (eight flying various marks of Supermarine Spitfire and two flying the Hawker Typhoon 1b) were based here between December 1941 and July 1945.

Film location

Ludham was one of the film locations for the 1954 movie ''

Conflict of Wings ''Conflict of Wings'' is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Eldridge and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Kieron Moore. The film is based on a novel of the same title by Don Sharp who later became a noted director. It w ...

'' starring

John Gregson Harold Thomas Gregson (15 March 1919 – 8 January 1975), known professionally as John Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles. He was cr ...

and

Muriel Pavlow Muriel Lilian Pavlow (27 June 1921 – 19 January 2019) was an English actress. Her mother was French and her father Russian. Film and television career Muriel was born in Lewisham, south-east London, to Boris Pavlov, a Russian émigré and ...

. Adapted from the novel by

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ''Rasputin, the Mad Monk'' (1966). In 1965 he dire ...

, the story takes place in a Norfolk country village where the locals decide to fight against a proposal to build an air-firing range on an island used as a bird sanctuary. Filming took place in the village centre, and shows many buildings and features (including the Bakers Arms pub and the very narrow main road through the village) which no longer exist. A photograph showing filming and more information about Ludham can be accessed at the Ludham Community Archive website.

Notable residents

* John Johnson, clergyman and author, was born at Ludham. *

Edward Seago Edward Brian Seago, RBA, ARWS, RWS (31 March 1910 – 19 January 1974) was an English artist who painted in both oils and watercolours. Early life The son of a coal merchant, Seago was born in Norwich and attended Norwich School. He was a se ...

, the

landscape art Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

ist, lived in the village at the Grade II listed Dutch House.The Dutch House
Retrieved 18 June 2011
- * Kieron Williamson, the boy artist known as "mini

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

", lives locally with his family.

Notes

* http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Ludham

External links

The Ludham Archive
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk