Clenchwarton is a village,

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the English

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. Clenchwarton is located west of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, separated by the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

, and west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

History

Clenchwarton's name is of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

origin and derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for a hill dweller's farmstead or settlement. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Clenchwarton is recorded as an abandoned village with no recorded population in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Freebridge. The village was part of the estates of

William d'Ecouis William d'Ecouis (sometimes referred to as William de Schoies) was an early Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman baron, who is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a substantial holder of land and manors. William d'Ecouis founded Middleton, Norfolk# ...

. The abandonment of the village was likely the result of the Norman reprisals in retaliation for the Ely Rebellion of 1070, led by

Hereward the Wake Hereward the Wake (Old English pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/ , modern English pronunciation / ) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resistance to the Norman Conquest of E ...

. The village was also surveyed by the Victorian traveller, John Marius, in the 1870s. He wrote the following about the village in the '' Imperial Gazetteer'': "church is old but good. There are a N.Methodist chapel, and a national school." During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, anti-tank defences were built in Clenchwarton to defend against a possible

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

invasion of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

Geography

According to the 2021 census, the population of Clenchwarton is 2,223 people which shows an increase from the 2,171 people listed in the 2011 census. The parish is bordered to the east by the

and to the south by the A17, between

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

and

St. Margaret's Church

Clenchwarton's parish church is dedicated to

Saint Margaret of Scotland Saint Margaret of Scotland (; , ), also known as Margaret of Wessex, was Queen of Alba from 1070 to 1093 as the wife of King Malcolm III. Margaret was sometimes called "The Pearl of Scotland". She was a member of the House of Wessex and was b ...

and is located on Church Road. The church dates back to the Fourteenth Century and has been Grade II listed since 1951. The church boasts stained-glass windows installed by Hardman & Co. with one from the 1920s depicting Mary Elizabeth Townsend as well as other windows designed by Charles Gibbs. There is also a memorial to Pte. Clifford J. Gosling of the 1st Bn.,

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

who was killed in a forest fire during Operation Lucky Alphonse during the

Cyprus Emergency The Cyprus Emergency was a conflict fought in British Cyprus between April 1955 and March 1959. The National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA), a Greek Cypriot right-wing nationalist guerrilla organisation, began an armed campaign in s ...

in the late 1950s. Gosling is buried in Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery,

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

. St Margaret's Churchyard holds a listed headstone dedicated to Christopher Hudson which dates to 1709, and the remains of a medieval cross. Clenchwarton is also home to a Methodist Church which still hosts regular services.

Amenities

Most local children attend the local Clenchwarton Community Primary School which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust. The school was rated 'Good' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

in 2017. The local convenience store can be located on Main Road, just opposite the Primary School. The shop also has a Post Office inside. The village is home to Clenchwarton Football Club which hosts several youth and adult teams. The first XI compete in the North-West Norfolk Saturday League. The village is also home to a lawn bowls team.

Transport

Clenchwarton Railway Station opened in 1866 as part of the Lynn and Sutton Bridge Railway and was eventually closed in 1959. Public transport through the village is now provided by bus route 505 between King's Lynn and Spalding. It is part of the

Lincolnshire Interconnect Lincolnshire InterConnect is a rural bus network in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. A number of ''InterConnect''-branded interurban bus routes with fixed timetables are complemented by demand-responsive, flexible ''CallCo ...

network and currently operated by

Stagecoach in Lincolnshire Stagecoach in Lincolnshire is a bus company, formerly known as Lincolnshire RoadCar, operating services throughout Lincolnshire. The company is a division of Stagecoach East Midlands, which is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group. History Linco ...

Governance

Clenchwarton is an

for local elections and is part of 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, municip ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The district also includes the t ...

. The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild MP since 2010.

War Memorial

Clenchwarton's main war memorial is a marble plaque located inside St. Margaret's Church with a further memorial to the fallen on the Peace Cottages on Church Road. The memorial lists the following names for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

: And, the following for the

References

External links

Villages in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk {{authority control