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 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 ...

, approximately south-west 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 ...

. 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, municipa ...

of Breckland.

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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. The name comes 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 "homestead of a man called Bucca".

Nineteenth century

During the nineteenth century there was a small

Sandemanian The Glasites or Glassites were a small Christian church founded in about 1730 in Scotland by John Glas.John Glas preached supremacy of God's word (Bible) over allegiance to Church and state to his congregation in Tealing near Dundee in July 172 ...

community in the village which the natural philosopher

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. 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 ...

of Breckland district, which returns one councillor to the district council. Since 2010, the parish is part of the Parliamentary constituency of Mid Norfolk. Historically the parish was part of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

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 Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

, Attleborough. Nearby villages include

New Buckenham New Buckenham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The parish covers an area of and had a population of 468 in 197 households at the 2001 census, falling marginally to a population of 460 in 209 households at the 201 ...

, Wilby and Banham. There is a large

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

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

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 ...

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 letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

. 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 Old Buckenham Hall School (commonly known as OBH) is a day and boarding school, boarding preparatory school (UK), preparatory school with pre-prep for boys and girls in the village of Brettenham, Suffolk, England. Founded in 1862, the school ha ...

was located in the village between 1937 and 1952. It is now located in

Brettenham, Suffolk Brettenham is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. In 2005 it had a population of 270,Old Buckenham Hall Cricket Ground * Old Buckenham Fen

References

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