South Pickenham is a small 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

Breckland district Breckland is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Dereham. The district had a population of 130,491 at the 2011 Census. The district derives its name from the Breckland landscape region, a gorse-covered sandy ...

of mid

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 ...

, East Anglia,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has an area of 758 hectares (2.93 square miles) and it had a population of 101 in 40 households at the 2001 census. This had dropped to an estimated 85 as at the 2007/2008 Breckland yearbook. The

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Council Tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge, which in turn re ...

(Band D) 1 April 2007 was £28.75. It was once in 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 South Greenhoe. At the 2011 Census the village population had again fallen to less than 100 and was included in the civil parish of Cockley Cley. The village is about 4 miles south east of

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

and 2 miles from its sister village North Pickenham. The village is centered on the Grade-II listed Pickenham Hall, still the landlord for much of the village, which is owned by the Arumugam Packiri family. The original hall was designed by

William Donthorne William John Donthorn (1799 – 18 May 1859) was a notable early 19th-century English architect, and one of the founders of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was born in Swaffham, Norfolk and a pupil of Sir Jeffry ...

but between 1902 and 1905 architect

Robert Weir Schultz Robert Weir Schultz (26 July 1860 – 29 April 1951), later Robert Weir Schultz Weir and known as R. W. S. Weir, was a Scottish Arts and Crafts architect, artist, landscape designer and furniture designer. He did much work on the Isle of Bute ...

extensively rebuilt and enlarged the hall, incorporating the previous house, in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. The military training area Stanta lies to the south of the parish. The historic church, All Saints, is one of only 124 existing round-tower churches in

, 185 nationwide and 5 within a 9-mile radius. The restored church of Saint Mary's at

Houghton on the Hill Houghton on the Hill is a village and civil parish lying to the east of Leicester in the Harborough district, in Leicestershire, East Midlands in England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,524. An entry for Hought ...

is nearby. Historically part of North Pickenham since 1725,Necton All Saints church website
a Pastoral Order was raised transferring it to South Pickenham as a Chapel of Ease in 1992. The 46 mile

Peddars Way The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath that passes through Suffolk and Norfolk, England. Route The Peddars Way is 46 miles (74 km) long and follows the route of a Roman road. It has been suggested by more than one writer that it was n ...

runs to the east, within the parish boundaries, aside the course of the

River Wissey The River Wissey is a river in Norfolk, eastern England. It rises near Bradenham, and flows for nearly to join the River Great Ouse at Fordham. The lower are navigable. The upper reaches are notable for a number of buildings of historic int ...

. South Pickenham Estate Co. Ltd., a large arable and livestock farming company, is based in the village.

References

External links

All Saints on the European Round Tower Churches website

Old postcards
Old postcards of both South and North Pickenham.

Some historical data from 1854 {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District