Colkirk 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

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 ...

. Colkirk is located south of

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north-west of Norwich. The town is at the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to N ...

and north-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 ...

. Amenities with the village include a Village Hall, a church pond (known as the Church Pit in

Norfolk dialect East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English. However, it has received little attention from t ...

), a Camping Land (land once used for the game

Camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

, "camp" meaning battle in

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 ...

). There is also a thriving village school for students from the age of four to eleven, a lively village

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

called "The Crown" and a playing field for football,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

and school sports days.

History

Colkirk's name is of either

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

origin and derives from either the

for ''Cola's'' church or the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

for ''Koli's'' church. In the

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 ...

, Colkirk is recorded as a settlement of 28 households located in 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 Brothercross. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of

William de Beaufeu William de Beaufeu was a medieval Bishop of Thetford and a major landholder mentioned in the Domesday Book.The Domesday Book, Englands Heritage, Then and Now, Editor: Thomas Hinde, Major Domesday landholders page 338 Life William's land holdings ...

. Details of the original

moated A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water de ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

and buildings, which included a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

and private chapel and was situated near Long's Lane off

Dereham Dereham (), also known historically as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about west of the city of Norwich ...

Road, were described in a document of 1296. Soon after the cathedral was established in

in 1101, the Bishop gave Colkirk to one of the

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of his private army. This

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

named himself after the village "Richard of Colkirk" and he and his successors lived at the manor house until 600 years ago, after which the house within the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

was allowed to fall into decay. Colkirk Map 1617

Britannia Atlas Newmarket to Wells and Bury Edmunds 1675

About 400 years ago in the

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

, the village began to look more like the Colkirk of today. Brick and

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

started to replace timber framed

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australian English **''Acacia'' ***Black wattle, common name for several species of acacia ***Golden wattle, ''A ...

and clay as building materials. Some of the earliest brick and flint houses remain today, "Starre" and "Gable End" being among the oldest houses in the village and Colkirk Hall was built towards the end of the reign of

around 1595. The

Timperley Timperley is a suburban village in the borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, it is approximately six miles southwest of central Manchester. T ...

family were one of the first recorded occupants of the Hall. The

family, after whom the

Estate was named, fell on hard times and lost most of their land as a penalty for helping to defend

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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

against

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's troops in 1643. Colkirk Hall was subsequently bought by

Marquis Townshend Marquess Townshend is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the Townshend family of Raynham Hall in Norfolk. The title was created in 1787 for George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend. Histor ...

, since when it has been occupied as a farm house. Other changes were taking place in Colkirk at this time. One by one the small farmers who comprised the village population were becoming poor and sold their land to richer men. In this way there came to be just a few big farms in the village as there are today. With the formation of the big farms came the division of the old, big village fields into the smaller fields, bounded by hedges, which still exist today. All the land in the Parish was finally brought into use when the commons were enclosed and the big woods cut down about 150 years ago. The period 1820 to 1845 saw a population increase in the village and a number of houses were built or rebuilt about this time. These houses can be recognised as they were generally of red brick, rather than flint. The "Crown" was rebuilt by the Parish in 1827 and Colkirk House was built in 1837. Since then, most of the houses on the right hand side of School Road were built as model cottages, by Canon Hoare, when he was Rector of Colkirk. The School was rebuilt in 1851 and the Infants' Room added in 1894. A Chapel was established in the village in the 1830s; however, the building erected in 1875 has now been demolished. There was a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

in the village founded 120 years ago, having occupied three different sites in its time and finally situated in Dereham Road was closed in the 1960s. Other facilities, which were once part of village life and have passed into history, include a Pork Butcher's Shop, a General Store and a

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

and

Undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks o ...

, all on Hall Lane, together with a

Blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and a Baker's Shop on Dereham Road. The last to be closed being the Village Shop and Post Office which was on the junction of Dereham Road and Crown Road. The Village Hall was built some 140 years ago by one of the Rectors of Colkirk and is now owned by the Parish. Census population figures for the village show little change during the latter part of the 19th century and at around 450 are about 100 fewer than the present day.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Colkirk has a population of 620 people which shows an increase from the 588 people recorded in the 2011 census. The village lies close to the source of the

River Wensum The River Wensum is a chalk river in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England and a tributary of the River Yare, despite being the larger of the two rivers. The river is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservatio ...

which is between Colkirk, Oxwick and Whissonsett. The B1146, between

and

, runs through the parish.

St. Mary's Church

Colkirk's parish church is dedicated to

Saint Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and dates from the Fourteenth Century. St. Mary's is located on Church Road and has been Grade II listed since 1960. St. Mary's was extended in the later Medieval period and was further extended in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. The church boasts a Twelfth Century tub font and numerous examples of stained-glass windows designed by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

and

Ward and Hughes Ward and Hughes (formerly Ward and Nixon) was the name of an English company producing stained-glass windows. History Ward and Hughes was preceded by the company Ward and Nixon, whose studio was at 67 Frith Street, Soho. They created a large w ...

Governance

Colkirk 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 t ...

of Hermitage for local elections and is part of 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 ...

. The village's national constituency is

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 ...

which has been represented by the Conservative's George Freeman MP since 2010.

War Memorial

Colkirk's war memorial was built in 1927, with fundraising efforts being spearheaded by a council of eight people most of whom were related to the fallen during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The war memorial is a stone plinth which has been further embellished with protective railings in the Twenty-first Century. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War: And, W. Hoare.

References

# Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council, 2001.
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
" # Much of this text is from a 1961 presentation to Colkirk

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

by Paul Rutledge.

External links

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