Terrington St Clement 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 King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough and district in

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 ...

, England. It is in the drained marshlands to the south of

the Wash The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it is fed by the riv ...

, west of King's Lynn, Norfolk, and east of

Sutton Bridge Sutton Bridge is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A17 road, north from Wisbech and west from King's Lynn. The village includes a commercial dock on the west bank of th ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, on the old route of the A17 trunk road. The parish covers an area of . Much of the farmland is of alluvial silt and clay which has been reclaimed from the sea amounting to approximately half of the total parish area. Terrington St Clement in area is the largest village in Norfolk, and the second largest in the country.

History

The name Terrington 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 'Farm/settlement of Tir(a)'s people' as ''-ingtūn'' means a settlement called after, or connected with... . In AD 1013 Godric, son of Æthelstan Mannessune gifted part of the lands of ''Turrintonea'' to the monks of Ramsey Abbey in his will where his brother,

Eadnoth the Younger Eadnoth the Younger or Eadnoth I was a medieval monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Ramsey and Bishop of Dorchester. From a prominent family of priests in the Fens, he was related to Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of York and found ...

had been abbott. This is recorded in th
S1518 Charter
The settlement, along with Terrington St John, is referred to 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 ...

'' as ''Tilinghetuna'' where the population is recorded as 25 households made up of 12 villagers, 11 smallholders, 1 freeman, and 1 slave in 1086. Other resources recorded in 1086 included 515 sheep, 14 pigs, 11 cattle, and 1 cob with 48 acres of meadow and 12.5 salthouses. Before the Norman conquest of England the lands were held by Thorth, son of Ulfkil and Thorkil with them being transferred to

Henry de Ferrers Henry de Ferrers (died by 1100), magnate and administrator, was a Norman who after the 1066 Norman conquest was awarded extensive lands in England. Origins He was the eldest son of Vauquelin de Ferrers and in about 1040 inherited his father's ...

and Ralph Barnard by 1086. By the medieval period the small settlement which began on raised ground on the edge of the marsh had grown substantially. A parish church, dedicated to St Clement ( Pope Clement I), known as the "Cathedral of the Marshland", was built in the 14th century by

Edmund Gonville Edmund Gonville (died 1351) founded Gonville Hall in 1348, which later was re-founded by John Caius to become Gonville and Caius College. Gonville Hall was his third foundation. Before this he had founded two religious houses, a College at Rushford, ...

, Rector of Terrington, who founded Gonville Hall (now

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

) at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. John Colton (died 1404), Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, was born in the village. Methodists were established in the village in 1813. During the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, a Primitive Methodist chapel, a Salvation Army headquarters and three other mission chapels were established. The area has been the subject of some historical research by local residents, while archaeological investigation has included field walking during the Fenland Survey, although this largely excluded the area around the present settlement. Archaeological test pits were dug between 2005 and 2009; the report was published online. Terrington railway station once served the settlement.

Community facilities

Terrington St Clement facilities include two doctor's surgeries, a post office, a village hall and a scout hut. Commercial amenities include a supermarket, a farm shop, a newsagent's, a baker's, a fish & chip shop, a Chinese takeaway, a hairdresser's, an estate agent, and a hardware store; there are two

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s, the King William and the Wildfowler. The village is linked to King's Lynn, Spalding, and

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

by bus services.

Education

Terrington St Clement has state run primary and secondary schools. St Clement's High School was the centre of some press attention, firstly when its previous head, Richard Wealthall, was singled out for praise and a visit from

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, and again subsequently when he was found to have been guilty of bullying and nepotism. The school was placed into special measures in 2007 by Ofsted. A following 2011 Ofsted report gave the school an overall Grade 2 'Good' rating. The school obtained another 'Good' rating from Ofsted in 2017.

Notable people

* Keith Rudd (born 1946), former cricketer

References

External links

Terrington St Clement Community Website

Terrington St Clement Parish Church Website
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk