Horsham St Faith and Newton St Faith 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 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 ...

, consisting of the former parishes of Horsham St Faith and Newton St Faith. Collectively they are known as St Faiths. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,624 in 770 households at the 2001 census, increasing to a population of 1,724 in 797 households 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 ...

Broadland Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew. In 2013, Broadland w ...

Horsham St Faith

The village takes its name from the

River Hor The River Hor is a short river in the county of Norfolk, England. It runs east from its source near Felthorpe to its confluence with the River Bure near Wroxham.Ordnance Survey of Great Britain History The name of the river is probably a ba ...

, which flows through the parish on its course from Horsford to Horstead; and a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

priory, founded in honour of St. Faith that, until the dissolution of the monasteries, stood there. Norwich International Airport, which was first developed in 1939 as RAF Horsham St. Faith is close by. The village is home to the City of Norwich Aviation Museum. The remains of a motte and bailey castle, on the Horsford side of the

A140 The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entirety of ...

, can reached by following a track to the north of Church Street, which joins Horsford and Horsham St Faith. On 17 October in the early 12th century until 1872 it played host to one of the country's largest cattle fairs. This fair was held to the south of Spixworth Road around Bullock Hill and Calf Lane. In 1894 John Thomas Spurrell, the younger son of Richard James Spurrell of Thurgarton House, inherited several thousand acres in the parish from Barbara, Countess von Rechberg (daughter of

Thomas Jones, 6th Viscount Ranelagh Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, and the estranged wife of the Austrian statesman

Count Johann Bernhard von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen Count Johann Bernhard von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen (german: link=no, Johann Bernhard Graf von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen) (17 July 1806 – 26 February 1899) was an Austrian statesman and a member of an old Swabian House of Rechberg. Early ...

). He built the manor house in the 1920s. In the 1930s part of the estate was requisitioned for the construction of the RAF airbase.

The Church of St Mary and St Andrew

The present day church dates back to the 13th century and has undergone many changes. Much of the building was restored in 1873 with a £1400 donation from the Twinings tea family. Of interest inside the church is the rood screen, dated 1528 and adorned with 12 panels depicting saints, and the elaborate Jacobean font cover. The reredos was erected in 1929 by John and Violet Spurrell in memory of their only son, John Francis Brabazon Spurrell, who was killed by buffalo at Kibaya, Tanganyika, in 1927.

Amenities

Amenities in the locality include a community centre, primary school,

doctor's surgery A doctor's office in American English, a doctor's surgery in British English, or a doctor's practice, is a medical facility in which one or more medical doctors, usually general practitioners (GP), receive and treat patients. Description Doc ...

, two post offices– one serving each village, restaurant, and a small industrial estate. The village had two public houses; the Kings Head and the Black Swan. The former ceased trading in 2009. Located in Manor Road, the St Faith, or Norwich and Norfolk

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also b ...

, was established in 1937. Prior to this, the site was occupied by a Poor Law Union

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

which was destroyed by fire in 1923. The large chapel by J P Chaplin was completed in 1936 and finished in red and mauve brick. The

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

placed a memorial plaque in the chapel listing 30 British service personnel who were cremated here in

World War II 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 opposing ...

.
CWGC Cemetery Report. Notable people cremated here include two

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

recipients: *Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Buller Turner (1900–1972), whose ashes were later buried at Ditchingham.
Burial Locations Victoria Cross recipients - Norfolk county. *Sergeant William Burman (1897–1974), whose ashes were later taken to

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

Notable residents

* St. Robert Southwell - Jesuit priest, poet and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Newton St Faith

The village of Newton St Faith lies approximately north of Horsham St Faith. Much of the parish is given over to agriculture. Residential development is concentrated along Newton Street.

Public transport

Bus Services through and close to the villages are provided by

First Norfolk & Suffolk First Eastern Counties is a bus operator providing services in Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. It has seven depots which are part of five operating areas spread out across East Anglia. The five operat ...

, Stagecoach in Norfolk and SandersSanders coaches
Retrieved 27 March 2010 connecting the parish to surrounding towns, villages and further afield.

Gallery

File:Kings Head.JPG, The Kings Head public house (Closed 2009) File:Black Swan Public House.JPG, The Black Swan public house File:St Faith Crematorium.JPG, The chapel at St Faith crematorium File:Horsham St Faith Bus Stop.JPG, The

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

bus shelter

Notes

External links

St Faith Village WebsiteInformation on the Parish Church of St Mary and St Andrew Horsham St FaithGeograph images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsham St Faith And Newton St Faith Civil parishes in Norfolk Broadland