Wretham is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
in the
Breckland
Breckland in Norfolk and Suffolk is a 39,433 hectare Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The SPA partly overlaps the 7,544 hectare Breckland Special Area of Conservation. As a la ...
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 ...
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 Nort ...
, England. The parish includes the village of East Wretham, which is about northeast 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, ...
and southwest 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 Episcopal see, See of ...
. It also includes the villages of
Illington and
Stonebridge. The parish has an area of . The
2011 Census recorded a parish population of 374 people in 141 households.
History
The
place-name "Wretham" is derived from
Old English. It means "the hām (place) where
crosswort Crosswort is a common name for several species of plants and may refer to:
* ''Crucianella stylosa'' (Rubiaceae)
* ''Cruciata laevipes'' (Rubiaceae)
* ''Lysimachia quadrifolia
''Lysimachia quadrifolia'', the whorled loosestrife, whorled yellow ...
grew".
The