Geldeston 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the English county 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 No ...

. The village is located north-west of

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow fl ...

and south-east 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 See of Norwich, with ...

, on the north bank of the

River Waveney The River Waveney is a river which forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads. The "ey" part of the name means "river" thus the name is tautological. Course The source of the River Wavene ...

History

Geldeston's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives 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 ...

for Gyldi's farmstead or settlement. Geldeston is not listed 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 ...

. Geldeston is home to a

crinkle crankle wall A crinkle crankle wall, also known as a crinkum crankum, sinusoidal, serpentine, ribbon or wavy wall, is an unusual type of structural or garden wall built in a serpentine shape with alternating curves, originally used in Ancient Egypt, but ...

(located close to the village green), which are found most commonly in Suffolk.

Geography

According to the 2011 Census, Geldeston has a population of 397 residents living in 179 households. Furthermore, the parish covers a total area of . Geldeston falls within the constituency of

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 19 ...

and is represented at

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

by Richard Bacon MP of the Conservative Party. For the purposes of local government, the parish 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, municipa ...

St. Michael's Church

Geldeston's parish church is dedicated to

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

and is one of Norfolk's 124 remaining round-tower churches. The church was significantly remodelled in the mid-Nineteenth Century based on the designs of Thomas Penrice and J. L. Clemence, with stained-glass depicting the Risen Christ installed by Leonard Walker in the mid-Twentieth Century. St Michael is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

church, falling under the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the Eas ...

. The current incumbent of the parish is the Reverend David Smith, who was licensed as priest-in-charge of the Waveney Benefice and the Raveningham Group on 4 March 2020. He moved from the Harling United Benefice in southwest Norfolk. The previous rector, until June 2018, was Julie Oddy-Bates.

Amenities

The village hall was originally opened in 1924. It underwent significant renovation from 2016 onwards and is now a registered charity.

Notable people

* Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994) –

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

winner

References

External links

Geldeston Village Hall websiteGeldeston Village, Norfolk
village website
St Michael's on the European Round Tower Churches Website''Tidings: Parish News for Ellingham, Gillingham, Geldeston, Kirby Cane and Stockton''
print and online editions. {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk