Stow Bedon is village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Stow Bedon and Breckles, in the Breckland district of 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 ...

. Stow Bedon adjoins the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Lower Stow Bedon, although the two are often considered to be one village. In the south of the parish is the village of Breckles. In 2011 the merged parish had a population of 290. The villages name means 'Place'. The village was held by John di Bidun in the 13th century. 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 ...

mentions both Stow Bedon (together with Caston) and Breckles. The

Inclosure Act The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...

mentions Stow Bedon as a 'Free Village' and mentions how the village "maintained an independent spirit". Further records show that during

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

's Jubilee, instead of the traditional roasting of an ox, Stow Bedon only roasted a pig.

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...

for 1883 records that Stow Bedon had a population of 324 with a total of 35 dwellings. It has been assumed in recent times, however, that the true number of houses during this period would have been greater. The village church dates from the 14th century and is dedicated to St Botolph; it is a Grade II* listed building. The south and west of the area is a separate ecclesiastical parish, and its church, St Margaret's at Breckles, is Grade I listed. A station at Stow Bedon, on the Thetford & Watton Railway, opened in October 1869 and closed with the line in June 1964. The Great Eastern Pingo Trail, a 13-kilometre circular walk, starts and finishes in the village. Parking is on the A1075, in the former railway station yard. The village fete is held annually in June, and St Botolph's church holds a flower festival. Stow Bedon is closely connected to the towns of Watton, Attleborough and

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

Governance

On 1 April 1935 the parish of Breckles was merged with Stow Bedon. The merged parish is now called "Stow Bedon and Breckles". In 1931 the parish (prior to the merge) had a population of 245.

References

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Stow%20Bedon Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub