Wiggenhall St Germans is a village and civil parish 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 ...

of Norfolk in the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

. It is north of London and south-west 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 ...

. The parish covers an area of and had a population of 1,373 in 554 households in the 2011 census. St Mary, Wiggenhall St Mary, Norfolk - geograph

Ruined church of Wiggenhall St Peter - geograph

The parish is situated on the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

which divides the village into two parts. Most of the parish lies below the

high-water mark A high water mark is a point that represents the maximum rise of a body of water over land. Such a mark is often the result of a flood, but high water marks may reflect an all-time high, an annual high (highest level to which water rose that ...

and some areas are level with the bed of the river, which is confined by high banks. The parish includes the hamlets of Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin and Wiggenhall St Peter and the settlements of Eau Brink and Saddlebow. It was the site of Fitton, the ancient seat of the Howard family, later the dukes of Norfolk; their former hall of 1570-77 is now the Grade II* listed building Fitton Oake. The parish has a Good Ofsted-rated Primary School, (March 2016). The villages name means 'Wicga's nook of land'. St German's Church is a Grade I listed building. St Mary the Virgin's Church, also Grade I, is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The ruined St Peter's Church is a Grade II* listed building.

History

During WWII two

Hawker Hurricanes The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

collided over the parish. The crash site was investigated by a local local aviation society and a book published.

Governance

Wiggenhall St Germans is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

called Wiggenhall. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 2,102.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk

History

Governance

See also

References

External links