Cranwich 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 ...

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 ...

, about north west of Mundford. 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 Breckland.

History

Cranwich's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the

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 marsh with cranes or

herons The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

. 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 ...

, Cranwich is listed as a settlement of 36 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 Grimshoe. The village formed part of the estates of William de Warenne.

Geography

In the 2011 Census, Cranwich's population is measured as a civil parish and therefore in the same survey as Ickburgh. The combined population of Ickburgh and Cranwich in 2011 was recorded as 309 residents living in 161 households. Cranwich falls within the constituency of South West Norfolk 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 Liz Truss MP of the Conservative Party.

St. Mary's Church

Cranwich's parish church is one of Norfolk's 124 remaining Anglo-Saxon round-tower churches and is dedicated to

Mary, mother of Jesus 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 ...

. St. Mary's was in danger of falling into disrepair in the early 2000s until a grant from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

allowed parishioners to carry out repairs to the building and churchyard. Knott, S. (2004/2009). Retrieved December 20, 2022. http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/cranwich/cranwich.htm

In Popular Culture

The 2009 horror-comedy film,

Lesbian Vampire Killers ''Lesbian Vampire Killers'' is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Phil Claydon and written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield. The film stars James Corden and Mathew Horne, with MyAnna Buring, Vera Filatova, Silvia Colloca and ...

, is set in Cranwich with the village renamed ''Cragwich'' in the film.

War Memorial

The war memorial for Mundford, Lynford, West Tofts and Cranwich is located in Mundford close to the junction between the A134 and the A1065. The memorial takes the form of a stone column topped with a metal crucifix and lists the following names for Cranwich's war dead during the First World War: * Private Herbert Nickolls (1893-1917), 1st Battalion,

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 ...

* Private Reginald T. Boldry (1891-1916), 1/4th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private John V. Crook (1888-1916), 9th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Henry Long

Notes

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