Riddlesworth is a

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

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 147 in 48 households at the 2001 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Breckland Breckland in Norfolk and Suffolk is a 39,433 hectare Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The SPA partly overlaps the 7,544 hectare Breckland Special Area of Conservation. As a la ...

St Peter's Church

Situated just beyond Riddlesworth Hall and school, St Peter's has an early 14th-century west tower and the plain octagonal font is 15th century.There is a fine monument to Sir Drue Drury (died 1617) of a kneeling knight with angels holding back curtains. The floor slabs at the end of the east end of the nave tell the sad tale of two ladies who were killed in their beds at the hall when a chimney stack fell on them in the 'furious hurricane' of 1703.

Riddlesworth Hall

It is home to the Riddlesworth Hall, a listed Grade II former country house, built in 1792 and subsequently reconverted into a private preparatory school, where

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

was a pupil. Set in large grounds, the school was acquired by the Confucius International Education Group in 2015 and catered for children from the age of 7. The school closed in April 2023.

Riddlesworth Polish camp and memorial

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 opposin ...

, part of Riddlesworth Park was given over to a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

camp for British troops. In 1946 this camp was redesignated as one of the nearly 150 Polish resettlement camps. These camps were set up under the

Polish Resettlement Act 1947 The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 was the first ever mass immigration legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It offered British citizenship to over 250,000 displaced Polish troops on British soil who had fought against Nazi Germany an ...

to receive the nearly 250,000 Polish troops and displaced Poles stationed all over Europe at the end of the war.Polish Resettlement Camps in the UK
/ref> Riddlesworth Camp was one of five set up in Norfolk to receive 4,500 troops and housed the 3rd Heavy Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division. This unit had fought through Italy at all the major battles against German forces and had distinguished itself at the

Battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome and the Battle for Cassino, was a series of four assaults made by the Allies against German forces in Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The ultimate objective was ...

in May 1944. The majority of the Polish troops from this camp decided to stay in England after 1948 and were gradually found jobs in the locality and made new lives for themselves. In 2016, a permanent memorial to the Division was unveiled by the Polish Ambassador to the United Kingdom,

Witold Sobków Witold Sobków (born 17 February 1961 in Warsaw) is a Polish scholar, public servant, diplomat, and former deputy foreign minister. Early life and education From 1979 he studied at the University of Warsaw, obtaining an MA in English Philology ...

. The memorial was designed and built by local people with the support of the Parish Council. The project was led by Philip Bujak whose father, having served with the Division in Italy, came to Riddlesworth in 1946. Remains of the camp buildings can still be seen amongst the trees.

Gallery

File:The Polish memorial at Riddlesworth camp, Norfolk.jpg, A visitor to the memorial File:Riddlesworth memorial unveiling ceremony.jpg, The Ambassador for The Republic of Poland Witold Sobkow at the unveiling in April 2016 File:Remains of one of the huts at Riddlesworth Polish Camp.jpg, Remains of one of the many

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British engineer and inventor Majo ...

s at Riddlesworth Camp File:Mr Philip Bujak, who led the memorial project, pictured with Mr Robert Clegg, Chairman of Riddlesworth Parish Council and who greatly supported this project.jpg, Robert Clegg, Chairman of Riddlesworth Parish Council. and Philip Bujak who led the Memorial project File:The Polish Camp memorial at Riddlesworth unveiled in April 2016.jpg, The memorial unveiled April 2016 File:Mr Alfred Zelke and his daughter Anna.jpg, Alfred Zelke the last surviving Polish soldier from Riddlesworth camp File:2nd Corps arrives at Brandon 1947.jpg, Polish troops from 3rd Carpathian Division arrive from Italy at Brandon station in 1947

References

External links

* {{authority control Breckland District Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk