Quidenham is a small rural 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 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 576 in 183 households at the 2001 census,Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Retrieved 20 June 2009. falling to a population of 560 living in 189 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

of Breckland. It is situated north-east of the town of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...

and south-west of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 230 - Diss & Harleston''. . The place-name 'Quidenham' is first attested 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 1086, where it appears as 'Cuidenham', and means 'Cwida's ham or village'. The name 'Cwida' corresponds to the Old High German name 'Quito'. There is a local tradition that Queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

or Boadicea is buried in Quidenham.

Quidenham Hall Quidenham Hall is a country house at Quidenham in Norfolk, England. History A dwelling is known to have existed on the site as far back as the year 1000, which passed to the Bedingfeld family around 1400. In 1572 the manor was bought by John Hol ...

is now a monastery of

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

nuns. A

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

for sick children occupies the site of some former staff cottages on the property. It is run independently of the monastery under the management of East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), a registered charity under the patronage of the

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

. The church of Quidenham St Andrew is one of 124 existing

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berkshi ...

es in

. Quidenham was the location of the music festival Play Fest, which ran for two years from 2011 until 2013. The civil parish includes the historic parish and still separate settlement of Wilby, which has its own historic church. Further, the old parishes of Eccles and Hargham now form part of Quidenham civil parish, each with their own historic church still in existence.

Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit Snetterton Circuit is a motor racing course in Norfolk, England, originally opened in 1953. Owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, it is situated on the A11 road north-east of the town of Thetford and south-west of the cit ...

is partially located in Quidenham parish, albeit to the north-west of the village.

Eccles Road railway station Eccles Road railway station is on the Breckland line in the east of England, serving the villages of Eccles, Quidenham and Wilby in Norfolk. The line runs between in the west and in the east. Eccles Road is situated between and , from Lo ...

, on the

Breckland Line The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links in the west to in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk, a ...

between

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and Norwich, is a similar distance to the north of the village.

References

External links

*
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Quidenham.

of Quidenham.

of Quidenham.

a

Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub