Old Buckenham 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, approximately south-west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,294 in 658 households at the 2001 census falling to a population of 1,270 living in 529 households at the census 2011. 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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 ...

History

Toponymy

Old Buckenham was listed as ''Bucham'', ''Buccham'' or ''Bucheham'' in the 1068

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. The name comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for "homestead of a man called Bucca".

Nineteenth century

During the nineteenth century there was a small Sandemanian community in the village which the natural philosopher

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

visited many times in the 1850s and 1860s.

Governance

Since 2015, Old Buckenham is in The Buckenhams & Banham

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

district, which returns one councillor to the district council. Since 2010, the parish is part of the Parliamentary

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Mid Norfolk Mid Norfolk is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2010 by George Freeman (po ...

. Historically the parish was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Shropham.

Geography

Old Buckenham is in the southern part of the county of Norfolk, approximately south-west of

and about south of its

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

Attleborough Attleborough is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish located on the A11 road (England), A11 between Norwich and Thetford in Norfolk, England. The parish is in the district of Breckland (district), Breckland and has an area ...

. Nearby villages include New Buckenham, Wilby and Banham. There is a large

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

at the heart of the village, called Church Green. The two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s — the ''Gamekeeper'' and the ''Ox and Plough'' — are located by this green. The village as of 2018 has a Londis shop which is also the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. Old Buckenham Airfield lies to the north-east of the village. It was the home of the 453rd Bomb Group in the 2nd World war which flew the B24 liberator bombers. For a short time the actors James Stewart and Walter Matthau were based there. James Stewart attended the opening of the memorial room at the village all on 10 May 1983. The remains of Old Buckenham Castle and Old Buckenham Priory are nearby. Old Buckenham Windmill is a preserved towermill built in 1818, originally having 8 common sails but now having four patent sails. It is well known in the mill world for having the largest windmill circumference in Britain and housed five pairs of stones. The granary next door had four pairs driven by a steam (later oil) engine. The mill is open several times a year. Old Buckenham Cricket Club has one of the best grounds in Norfolk situated in what were the grounds of the old hall. The ground is famous for hosting a cricket match between L. G. Robinson's England XI (which included Jack Hobbs) and the touring Australians in 1921.

Education

Old Buckenham has a high school ( Old Buckenham High School), and a primary school. Old Buckenham Hall School was located in the village between 1937 and 1952. It is now located in Brettenham, Suffolk under the same name.

References

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District