SHIPDHAM VILLAGE NORFOLK – BRECKLAND

Shipdham Village a village in Breckland Norfolk.

 

 

 

Shipdham Village is one of the larger villages in The Brecks, with just over 2,000 inhabitants. Straddling the A1075 between Watton and Dereham, it is spread out for almost two miles along the road and has shops, Post Office, Doctors’ Surgery and many other businesses. There are several groups in the village, including a Twinning Association, which has maintained a close relationship with the village of Noyant la Gravoyère, in France, since 1985.

Shipdham has a long and fascinating history and it appears as a named settlement in the 11^th Century soon after William the Conqueror’s invasion of Britain. It is entered in the Domesday Book with Cranworth, Flockthorpe and Manson.

The parish was certainly well established by the time of the Norman Conquest, its population, land ownership and productive resources being extensively detailed in the Domesday Book of 1086. There were 70 households, making it one of the largest 20% of settlements at the time.  There was a Church and woodland, along with sheep, pigs, goats and several ploughs.

There were people living in Shipdham Village and the area for thousands of years before that though, as several prehistoric items have been found in Shipdham. Some of these date to the Neolithic period. Only a few Bronze Age finds have been discovered and some Iron Age artefacts. A possible Roman road passes through Shipdham and Roman artefacts, including coins and items for personal use have been found here, including a nail cleaner, part of a copper neck ring and brooches. Without further investigation, it is hard to determine whether these items mean that people were living here or are simply things dropped or lost during journeys through the area.

Shipdham Village.  In Saxon times the number of finds makes it appear that the village was beginning to grow and the Domesday Book upholds that theory as we see that, by the time the Normans arrived, Shipdham was a thriving, well established settlement.  

The main road through the village, goes around the Church and graveyard and opposite, there are a couple of picturesque thatched cottages. 

All Saints Church dates from the C13th and inside there is a superb C16th wooden lectern, a tympanum with the royal arms of Charles II and a huge Medieval chest. The C15th tower is surmounted by a great wooden and lead fleche and it adds even more height to what is already an elevated building

The population of Shipdham expanded during World War Two, when it bacame home to the USAAF 44th bomber group which was based at the airfield from 1942 to 1945. The group flew 344 missions in B-24 Liberators and they lost 192 aircraft during their time here. It was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission to Kiel and another for the mission to Ploesti, during which Col. Leon W Johnson won the Medal of Honor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, Shipdham has a thriving community, with a Doctor’s Surgery, Post-Office, Shops, Pubs, Cafes, Garages and many other businesses. The school is well attended and there are several village clubs and groups.

If you are a business in Shipdham, please do contact us or complete your own entry on the website. 

 

Shipdham in 1883.

Shipdham is a large and well-built village and parish four miles South-West from Yaxham station and five miles South-West from East Dereham, in the Southern division of the county, Mitford hundred, Mitford & Launditch union, East Dereham county court district, rural deanery of Hingham, archdeaconry of Norwich and diocese of Norwich. All Saints Church is a spacious edifice of flint with stone facings in the Early English style: in 1845 extensive alterations were made; it consists of chancel, nave, aisles, South porch, embattled tower surmounted by a wooden cupola and spire and containing six bells and a clock. In a parvise over the porch is a collection of rare books, chiefly on theology, bequeathed by a former rector. This church contains one of the finest original lecterns in the country, of unusual design and great beauty, its shaft triangular, composed of three buttresses, the angles between which are ornamented with a row of quatrefoils, from the top to the bottom. The shaft rests on a base on three members terminated by a lion sejant. The desk is of a double form, very richly carved. A copy of this lectern is to be seen in Mattishall church and another in St Mark’s New Lakenham. The church is now (1883) being restored. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, yearly value £1,240, with residence of 49 acres of glebe, in the gift of the trustees of the late Rev George Curling Bailey and held since 1883 by the Rev George Deans Dundas Watt M.A. of Queen’s College Oxford. A Burial Board consisting of nine members was formed in 1877. There is a public cemetery of two acres, with a chapel, which was opened in 1879.

There is a Congregational church and Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. The Town Estate produces about £130 yearly, which is carried to the churchwardens, account, except a small sum, which is distributed among the poor. The fuel allotments, awarded in 1809, comprise about 120 acres, producing £140 a year, which is distributed among the poor in coals. There is aso £4 5s for the poor from other charities. Anciently here was a market, established by the Bishop of Ely, who built a hall here in the reign of Henry III, but the market has long been obsolete. There is a stock fair held on the last Monday in June. A Temperance Hall was built in 1875. The chief landowners are Eton College, King’s College, Cambridge, W G Barker Esq. and R T Guron Esq. M. P.  The soil is loam and clay, subsoil, gravel and clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and turnips. This parish is of considerable extent, covering the space of five miles from North-East to South-West. The area is 4,560 acres, rateable value £9,245. The population in 1881 was 1,526.

Parish Clerk, William Henry Tench.

Post money orders and Telegraph Office & Savings Bank – Mrs Eliza Guyton, postmistress. Letters arrive by mail cart from Thetford at 5.15 am, delivered at 7 am. Letters are dispatched at 7.15 pm.

Insurance Agents – County Fire – James William Douse. Norwich Union Fire – C & H Grimmer. Royal Farmers’ & General – W H Fulcher, East Bradenham Hall.

The Endowed school, built in 1749, is endowed with a farm of 46A. 3R. 18P. let for £100 a year, devised by T Bullock Esq. in 1834, for the support of a master to teach reading, writing and arithmatic gratis to all the poor of the parish. A large and spacious school house with residence, was erected in 1864 by one of Mr T Bullock’s grandneices, Mary Bullock, at a cost of upwards of £1,000 and enlarged in 1875 for 240 children. Average attendance 150. It is now conducted as a Public Elementary school. William Henry Tench, master, Mrs Tench, mistress.

Carriers to Norwich – Daniel Skipper, of Yaxham and William Pease, Wed. & Sat. returning same days.

 

Private Residents.

Barnes, Barnabas

Batterham, Mrs

Coker Miss

Goddard Miss

Godwin Miss. Shrub House

Goring Charles Henry

Grigson Mrs

Grigson Robert John Hales

Milne Irvine Kempt M. D. 

Rivett Mrs

Runble Thomas

Savage Rev. Alfred Albert (Congregational)

Stacey Miss

Watt Rev. George Deans Dundas M. A. (Rector) Rectory

Wilson Mrs

Commercial.

Alpe Edmund, farmer

Austin Hannah (Mrs), dress maker

Baldwin Thomas, farmer & machine owner

Bales James, wheelwright

Barker James, farmer

Barnham George & Son, farmers

Bassum William, farmer

Blyth Thomas, farmer

Brunning John, beer retailer

Buscall Goddard, grocer & china dealer

Butler William, saddler

Carr Alfred, farmer

Carr Frederick, Chequers & brewer

Catton John & Co, bakers

Cemetery (William Henry Tench, Clerk to the burial board)

Clark David, wheelwright

Clarke Francis, farmer & butcher

Clarke John, farmer

Cock John, pharmaceutical chemist

Cordy George, farmer

Cordy John, cattle dealer

Cox Joseph, wheelwright

Cross Henry, beer retailer

Cushing George, carpenter

Cushing Mary Elizabeth (Mrs), dress maker

Deeker James, farmer

Douse James William, grocer, tailor, draper & assistant overseer

Edgley James, carpenter & farmer

Farrin Arthur Thomas, farmer

Gayton Benjamin, vermin destroyer

Goldsmith John, registered veterinary surgeon

Goring Charles Harvey, farmer & landowner

Goss John, builder & farmer

Grimmer Charles & Henry, grocers & drapers

Groom James, grocer & draper

Groom Lewis William, travelling draper

Guyton (Miss), ladies’ day boarding school

Hearn Robert James, shoe maker 

Holman Charles, shoe maker

Hunter Henry, pork butcher

Hutson Thomas, Waggon & Horses

Jolly Robert, shoe maker & leather seller

Keeler George, farmer

Kemp William, farmer, valuer, estate & insurance agent, High House farm

Large John, Royal Standard

Lee Absolom George, baker

Lee Francis, surveyor, architect, insurance agent & registrar of births & deaths for Shipdham sub-district

Lincoln Thomas, farmer

Lingwood John, farmer & cattle dealer

Lingwood Thomas, farmer

Littleproud Robert, miller (wind) & coal merchant

Lock Alfred, shopkeeper

Martin William, White Horse & plumber & painter

Massey Samuel Timothy, baker

Mendham John Haddock, ironmonger & general smith Horse Shoes

Middleton Elijah, farmer

Middleton William, farmer

Middleton William, thatcher

Milk Alfred, farmer

Milne Irvine Kempt M. D. surgeon, medical officer & public vaccinator Shipdham district Mitford & Launditch union & Bradenham district of Swaffham union and acting surgeon for the N. R. V.

Minns William, farmer

Morris Eliza (Miss), young ladies’ boarding and day school

Newton John, farmer

Osbourne Charles, farmer & landowner

Pease Robert, beer retailer & farmer

Pease William, Ringer’s Inn & carrier

Pestell William, blacksmith

Phillips Thomas, farmer

Pooley Phillip, farmer

Pretheroe Thomas, seedsman & florist

Riches John (Mrs), farmer

Rivett Henry, farmer & castrator

Rix John (Mrs), farmer

Rix Isaac, herbalist

Rose Edmund, Crown & farmer

Rowing Daniel, Dog

Russell Henry, tailor

Saunders Silvester, butcher & farmer

Scales William, farmer Herne Hill farm

Seaman William, farmer

Skipper Charles, blacksmith

Skipper Frederick, harness maker

Skipper Mary Ann (Mrs), King’s Head

Smith John, farmer

Spooner Robert, Cricket Players

Tann Herbert, horse dealer

Tash James, farmer

Tash Robert, farmer

Tench William Henry, schoolmaster & parish clerk

Tennant Matthew, bricklayer

Thomas William Stephen Morcom, watch & clock maker & importer, jeweller, photographer, toy & fancy repository

Vince William, Plough & tailor

Watling Charles, butcher

Watling Frederick, boot maker

Watling George, boot & shoe maker

Watson Isaac, tailor & tobacconist

Watson James, basket maker

Watson Wesley, tailor

Whitred Robert, hurdle maker

Wyatt John, farmer

Wyett Elijah, baker

Youngs Robert, Swan & machine owner

Visit Breckland