Quidenham is a small rural 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 Nor ...

. It covers an area of and had a population of 576 in 183 households at the 2001 census,Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Retrieved 20 June 2009. falling to a population of 560 living in 189 households at the 2011 Census. 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

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 ...

. It is situated north-east of the town of Thetford and south-west of the city 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 Episcopal see, See of ...

.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 230 - Diss & Harleston''. . The place-name 'Quidenham' is first attested 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 manusc ...

of 1086, where it appears as 'Cuidenham', and means 'Cwida's ham or village'. The name 'Cwida' corresponds to the Old High German name 'Quito'. There is a local tradition that Queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

or Boadicea is buried in Quidenham.

Quidenham Hall Quidenham Hall is a country house at Quidenham in Norfolk, England. History A dwelling is known to have existed on the site as far back as the year 1000, which passed to the Bedingfeld family around 1400. In 1572 the manor was bought by John Holl ...

is now a monastery of Carmelite nuns. A hospice for sick children occupies the site of some former staff cottages on the property. It is run independently of the monastery under the management of East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), a registered charity under the patronage of the Princess of Wales. The church of Quidenham St Andrew is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in

. Quidenham was the location of the music festival

Play Fest Play Fest is an annual independent music festival that takes place at New Eccles Hall, Quidenham, Norfolk, England. It was first held in May 2011. Play Fest consists of a comprehensive bill of musicians, bands and artists across various stages. T ...

, which ran for two years from 2011 until 2013. The civil parish includes the historic parish and still separate settlement of Wilby, which has its own historic church. Further, the old parishes of Eccles and Hargham now form part of Quidenham civil parish, each with their own historic church still in existence. Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit is partially located in Quidenham parish, albeit to the north-west of the village.

Eccles Road railway station Eccles Road railway station is on the Breckland line in the east of England, serving the villages of Eccles, Quidenham and Wilby in Norfolk. The line runs between in the west and in the east. Eccles Road is situated between and , from Lon ...

, on the

Breckland Line The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links in the west to in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk, ...

between

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and Norwich, is a similar distance to the north of the village.

References

External links

*
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Quidenham.

of Quidenham.

of Quidenham.

a round-tower church Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub