Fornham St Martin is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

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 authorit ...

in the

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the northern outskirts of Bury St Edmunds off east and west from the A134, in 2005 its population was 1300. Its parish council is shared with neighbouring Fornham St Genevieve, and is known as Fornham St Martin cum St Genevieve Parish Council. Near the current Lark Valley Drive, a

smock windmill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This ty ...

used to stand. It collapsed in 1927. The village has one

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, the Woolpack, but no shops. Its school closed in the early 1950s.

History

The word Fornham means '

Trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

village' derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

words ''forne'' meaning trout and ''hām'' meaning village with the addition of the dedication to Martin of Tours. The village is recorded 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

with 27 households in 1086 made up of 3 villagers, 11 freemen, 10 smallholders, 3 slaves along with 2 cobs, 4 cattle, 12 pigs, and 80 sheep. The

Battle of Fornham The Battle of Fornham was a battle fought during the Revolt of 1173–74. Background The Revolt began in April 1173 and resulted from the efforts of King Henry II of England to find lands for his youngest son, Prince John. John's other three l ...

, a significant battle in

English history England became inhabited more than 800,000 years ago, as the discovery of stone tools and footprints at Happisburgh in Norfolk have indicated.; "Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk" (2014). BBC News. Retrieved 7 February ...

, took place in Fornham Park and the surrounding area in 1173. This was part of the

Revolt of 1173–74 Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

where King Henry II, led by Robert de Lucy fought the Flemish rebels for his son,

Henry the Young King Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Mai ...

, led by

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester Born in 1121 (died 1190) was an English nobleman, one of the principal followers of Henry the Young King in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against his father King Henry II. He is also called Robert Blanchemai ...

. Scribes of the time variously estimated that between 3000 and 10,000

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

mercenaries were slaughtered and lie beneath the fields, woodland and ditches. The village appears on John Speed's 1610 map as "Fernham mertin" and in 1870–72,

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical index or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains informati ...

's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the town as ''a parish in Thingoe district, Suffolk in the Diocese of Ely; on the

river Lark The River Lark is a river in England that crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have ...

, 1¾ mile

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

of Bury St Edmunds'' and related that it had 74 houses, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

and a free school.Fornham St Martin Suffolk
Britain through time Website

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Robert Abraham was involved with the expansion of Fornham Hall in the 19th century.

Church

Fornham St Martin Church ( OS grid TL8566) with King George's playing field across the way at the south end of B1106 to the village. The churchyard contains a number of notable burials: *Vice-Admiral

James Rivett-Carnac Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet (11 November 1784 – 28 January 1846) was an Indian-born British statesman and politician who served as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in British India from 1838 to 1841. Career Born in Bombay in 1784, ...

CB CBE DSC DL (1891–1970) - Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief of the New Zealand Division. *Major General Sir

Harry Ord Sir Harry St. George Ord (17 June 1819 – 20 August 1885) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Bermuda between 1861 and 1864, Governor of the Straits Settlements between 1867 and 1873, and Governor of Western Australi ...

GCMG CB (1819–1885) - Colonial Governor of several posts including Bermuda, Straits Settlements and Western Australia. *Sir William Gilstrap, Bt. (1816–1896) - Prominent maltster and philanthropist who endowed the Gilstrap library in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

References

Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury Thedwastre Hundred {{Suffolk-geo-stub

History

Church

See also

References