Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen 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 ...

and village 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 is south of the town of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

on the west bank of the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 729 in 304 households in 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a local government district with borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 147,451. History The district was ...

. The villages name means 'Wicga's nook of land'. 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 manusc ...

of 1085, it appears that all two of the Wiggenhall parishes were at that time a single parish named Wiggenhall, of modest size and sharing half a water mill on the old Wiggenhall Eau (the watercourse which ran through the parish before the

Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

arrived in the 13th Century) with Runcton Holme. The earliest evidence of settlement is therefore the parish church of St Mary Magdalen, which is situated in the very northeastern corner of the parish. Most of the early settlement appears to have occurred here, probably due to the presence of a

levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...

along the western side of the River Great Ouse, made of silts deposited by a former watercourse, the Wiggenhall Eau. The church itself is largely Perpendicular in style, but the tower may date from as early as the 13th century, which is corroborated by the entry in the Register of Crabhouse Priory which tells of the Nuns taking refuge at the Church from a flood in the early 13thC. Today the church is almost entirely red brick, with a façade that is the result of a thoroughly 15th century rebuilding. The Parish contains two centres of population: around the Parish Church in the North, and to the South of Crabhouse Priory in the far South, now known as

Stowbridge Stowbridge or Stow Bridge is a village in the parish of Stow Bardolph, extending into Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen, in the English county of Norfolk. The parish of Stow Bardolph also includes Barroway Drove. Stowbridge is between Downham Market an ...

, which also extends into neighbouring parishes.

John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk (c. 142522 August 1485), was an English nobleman, soldier, politician, and the first Howard Duke of Norfolk. He was a close friend and loyal supporter of King Richard III, with whom he was slain at the Battle ...

, KG, Earl Marshal (c.1425 – 22 August 1485) was the grandson of Sir John Howard of Wiggenhall. A

tidal bore Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

travels up the Great Ouse which is the area's most significant topographical feature. Magdalen Gate railway station was the name of the station on 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 ...

. File:UK WiggenhallStMaryMagdalen.jpg, Signpost in Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen File:Exterior of St Mary Magdalene church.JPG, Exterior of St Mary Magdalene church File:Inside of St Mary Magdalene church.JPG, Inside of St Mary Magdalene church File:Magdalen Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 1244754.jpg, Magdalen Methodist Church

Notable residents

* Arthur Randell (1901-?), railwayman, molecatcher and author.

Notes

External links

King's Lynn and West Norfolk Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk {{Norfolk-geo-stub

Notable residents

See also

Notes

External links