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Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east 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 ...
and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households, which increased to 7,258, in 3,258 households, at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of
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 ...
.


History

The name of the town 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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''Swǣfa hām'' = "the homestead of the
Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
ns"; some of them presumably came with the Angles and Saxons. By the 14th and 15th centuries Swaffham had an emerging sheep and wool industry. As a result of this prosperity, the town has a large market place. The market cross here was built by George Walpole, 3rd
Earl of Orford Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was cr ...
and presented to the town in 1783. On the top is the statue of
Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás st ...
, the Roman goddess of the harvest. About 8 km to the north of Swaffham can be found the ruins of the formerly important
Castle Acre Priory Castle Acre Priory was a Cluniac priory in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk, England, dedicated to St Mary, St Peter, and St Paul. It is thought to have been founded in 1089 by William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey (the son of the 1st ...
and
Castle Acre Castle Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk. The castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, at the intersection of the R ...
. On the west side of Swaffham Market Place are several old buildings which for many years housed the historic Hamond's Grammar School, as a plaque on the wall of the main building explains. The Hamond's Grammar School building latterly came to serve as the sixth form for the Hamond's High School, but that use has since ceased. Harry Carter, the grammar school's art teacher of the 1960s, was responsible for a great number of the carved village signs that are now found in many of Norfolk's towns and villages, including Swaffham's own sign commemorating the legendary
Pedlar of Swaffham The Pedlar of Swaffham is an English folktale from Swaffham, Norfolk. The following text is taken from ''English Fairy and Other Folk Tales'', 1906, which in turn refers to the ''Diary of Abraham dela Pryme'', 1699: Sources The Pedlar of Swaffh ...
, which is in the corner of the market place just opposite the old school's gates. Carter was a distant cousin of the
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and egyptologist
Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
who spent much of his childhood in the town. The Swaffham Museum is a small, independent social history museum for Swaffham and the surrounding villages in Norfolk from the
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
to the modern. It has five galleries exhibiting local history and local geology as well as an Egyptology room about
Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
and the Ancient Egyptians, celebrating the centenary year of Howard Carter discovering the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. Swaffham was struck by a tornado measuring F1 on the Fujita scale and T2 on the TORRO scale on 23 November 1981 during the
1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak The 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak is regarded as the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history. In the span of 5 hours and 26 minutes during the late morning and early afternoon of 23 November 1981, 104 confirmed tornadoes touc ...
.


Folklore

Swaffham is one of the many locations for ''The Man Who Became Rich through a Dream'' folk tale ( Aarne-Thompson type 1645). The tale tells of a pedlar from Swaffham who dreamed for several consecutive nights that if he waited on
London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
he would eventually hear good news. He travelled to London, and waited for several days on the bridge. Eventually a
shopkeeper A shopkeeper is a retail merchant or tradesman; one who owns or operates a small store or shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as such. At larger companies, a shopkeeper is usually referred t ...
asked him why he was waiting, and the man told of his dream. The shopkeeper laughed, and replied that he often dreamed that if he went to a certain orchard in Swaffham and started digging, he would find buried treasure. The pedlar returned to Swaffham, and found the treasure. In medieval folklore, a black, hairy dog called the
Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore across the Bri ...
was rumoured to have wandered the three settlements of Swaffham,
Castle Acre Castle Acre is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated on the River Nar some north of the town of Swaffham. It is east of the town of King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and ...
, and Great Cressingham, ambushing merchants who were on their way to large towns to sell their goods. There are still rumours of a puma-like black cat wandering around Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.


Parish church

The church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is one of only a few churches that have angels carved in wood instead of stone around the top of the walls. The current building, dating from 1454, is built on the foundation of the original church. A wood carving of the “Pedlar of Swaffham” is also in the church.


Transport

Until 1968 the town was served by
Swaffham railway station Swaffham railway station was located in Swaffham, Norfolk. It was the junction for lines to King's Lynn, Dereham, and Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 r ...
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 ...
line from
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 ...
. Just after Swaffham, the line split into two, one branch heading south to Thetford, and the other east towards Dereham. The railways were all closed as part of the
Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
, though the possibility of rebuilding a direct rail link from Norwich to King's Lynn via Swaffham is occasionally raised. The east–west A47 Birmingham to Great Yarmouth road now avoids the town, using a northerly bypass opened in 1981. The A1065 Mildenhall to Fakenham road still passes through the centre of the town on its north–south route, intersecting with the A47 at a grade separated junction north of the town.


Sport and leisure

Swaffham has a
Non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
club
Swaffham Town F.C. Swaffham Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Swaffham, Norfolk, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Shoemakers Lane. They are affiliated to the Norfolk County FA. History The club was est ...
which plays at Shoemakers Lane. Swaffham Raceway, a former greyhound track, hosts
stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...
.


Wind turbines and Green Britain Centre

Today the town is known for the presence of two large Enercon E-66 wind turbines. The first of these began operation in 1999 and the second in 2003. Together they generate more than three megawatts. The first of the wind turbines to be constructed was an Enercon E66/1500 with 1.5 MW generation capacity, 67 metres nacelle height and 66 metres rotor diameter. It was also built with an observation deck just below the nacelle which was open for the public to climb during the 2000s and 2010s, the only wind turbine in the world to have such a facility. These two turbines have since been joined by an independent development of a further eight turbines at the village of
North Pickenham North Pickenham is a village in the Breckland district of mid-Norfolk, East Anglia, England. It lies three miles from the Georgian market town of Swaffham. At the 2001 census it had a population of 500 and an area of 1,015 hectares (3.92 squa ...
, three miles from Swaffham. The turbines were originally associated with the EcoTech Centre, a visitor centre which was opened in 1999. The centre hosted the 2008 British BASE jumping championships; contestants jumped from the roof of the observation deck. In 2008 the energy company Ecotricity took over the management of the site and in 2012 the visitor centre was renamed the Green Britain Centre. The centre provided a venue for school trips and event hire, and had educational displays focussing on sustainability in food, energy and transport. The height of the attraction's popularity was in 2016, when 22,000 people visited the centre and 8,000 climbed the turbine. In June 2018 it was announced that the centre had closed for financial reasons and that Ecotricity intended to hand the building back to Breckland District Council (BDC). The council subsequently put it up for rent or sale and discussed exchanging it with Swaffham Town Council in return for of building land. A proposal to convert the building into a leisure centre was considered by BDC but ultimately abandoned. In 2021 the building was sold to manufacturer Flexion Global for use as their headquarters. Shortly after the sale, Swaffham Town Council gave BCD a parcel of land next to the centre on which BDC intends to build a leisure centre.


Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles and East Anglia, Swaffham experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest
Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...
weather station to provide local climate data is
RAF Marham RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...
, about west of the town centre. Temperature extremes in the Swaffham-Marham area range from in August 1990, down to during February 1956. The highest and lowest temperatures reported in the past decade are during August 2003, and during January 2010.


''Kingdom'' (TV series)

In the summer of 2006, location filming was done in the town for the ITV1 series '' Kingdom'', starring Stephen Fry. In ''Kingdom'' the town is called Market Shipborough. The pub the ''Startled Duck'' in the TV series is better known as the ''Greyhound Inn'', in which the
Earl of Orford Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was cr ...
created the first coursing club open to the public, in 1776. Peter Kingdom's office is Oakleigh House, near the town square (formerly the house of the Head Master of Hamond's Grammar School), with the coastal scenes filmed at Wells-next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast.


Notable people

* Dominic Byrne, newsreader on '' The Chris Moyles Show'' * Michael Carroll, lottery winner *
Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
, archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun * Christopher Dawes, author of ''
Rat Scabies and The Holy Grail ''Rat Scabies And The Holy Grail'' is a 2005 book written by Christopher Dawes, published by Sceptre Books in the UK and Thunder's Mouth Press in the US. It is a gonzo-esque quest to find the Holy Grail by punk rock legend Rat Scabies, the one-ti ...
'' * Stephen Fry, actor and writer * W. E. Johns, author of the ''" Biggles"'' books *
William Methwold William Methwold (sometimes spelled Methold), (baptised 1590 in South Pickenham, near Swaffham, Norfolk; died 5 March 1653, Kensington), was an English merchant and colonial administrator in India. He is credited with identifying the site of Bomba ...
(1590–1653), born
South Pickenham South Pickenham is a small village and civil parish in the Breckland district of mid Norfolk, East Anglia, England. It has an area of 758 hectares (2.93 square miles) and it had a population of 101 in 40 households at the 2001 census. This had d ...
, East India Company merchant * Hilda Plowright (1890-1973), actress *Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson, (1842–1921), First Sea Lord


References


External links

*
Swaffham Town CouncilInformation from Genuki Norfolk on Swaffham
{{authority control Breckland District Market towns in Norfolk Wind farms in England Towns in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk