Wreningham 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 authority ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 is situated some south east of Wymondham and south west 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 ...

. The civil parish has an area of 6.24 square kilometres and in 2001 had a population of 493 in 199 households, the population increasing to 528 at the 2011 Census For the purposes of local government, the parish 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 ...

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 197 ...

. From 1808 to 1814 Wreningham hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to its naval ships in the port of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

. Superstitions Wreningham, allegedly, got its name from the Witch and the Wren myth. The myth tells the story of a witch living in Wreningham who was discovered by the villagers. A knight then came to kill her and upon being attacked she transformed herself into a wren to escape safely; in response the villagers beat the bushes with sticks and caught and burnt any wrens that flew out in an attempt to kill her. She supposedly returns to the village every St Stephen's Day, and traditionally the villagers would beat the hedges and burn any wrens they caught on this day.

References

* Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 237 - Norwich''. . * Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
'. Retrieved 2 December 2005.

External links

.
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Wreningham.
Wreningham village website
Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk {{Norfolk-geo-stub