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

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

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 ...

. Cockley Cley is located south-west of

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District and England, 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 U ...

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

The village'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 "clay hill shrouded in trees". 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, Cockley Cley is recorded as a settlement of 32 households located 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 South Greenhoe. In 1086, the village was divided between the estates of

King William I William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

and William de Warenne. Cockley Cley is the site of significant defensive infrastructure built 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 ...

, including a rare example of an "Allan Williams Turret" designed to mount a Lewis gun in an anti-aircraft role. In August 1974, a decapitated corpse of a woman was discovered near the village. As of 2023, the woman has not been identified. Between 1975 and 2004, Cockley Cley was home to a mock

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the ar ...

village visitor attraction. The site reopened briefly in 2014 as the Iceni Centre but was subsequently forced to close due to dwindling customer numbers.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Cockley Cley has a population of 239 people which shows a slight increase from the 232 people recorded in the 2011 census. The

River Gadder The River Gadder is long tributary of the River Wissey. It rises from a tiny headwater in the north-east of the parish of Cockley Cley in the English county of Norfolk. The river rises in a watermeadow north east of Home Farm. The course ...

rises close to Cockley Cley.

All Saints' Church

Cockley Cley's parish church is one of Norfolk's 124 existing Anglo-Saxon

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berks ...

es, and thus dates from the Thirteen Century. All Saints' is located on Swaffham Road and has been Grade II listed since 1960. The churchtower collapsed on 29 August 1991 and has not been re-built with much of the remaining building dating from a restoration and rebuilding in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

under the architect,

Richard Phipson Richard Makilwaine Phipson (1827–1884)Wilson p. 158. was an English architect. As diocesan architect for the Anglican Diocese of Norwich, he was responsible for renovating almost 100 churches in East Anglia. Biography Phipson was born in Ipswi ...

Governance

Cockley Cley is part of the

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 ...

of Bedingfield 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 ...

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 ...

. The village's national constituency is

South West Norfolk South West Norfolk is a Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 by Terr ...

which has been represented by Labour's

Terry Jermy Terry James Jermy is a British politician and journalist who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the South West Norfolk constituency since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he defeated former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who had represe ...

since 2024.

War Memorial

Cockley Cley's war memorial is a marble plaque located inside All Saints' Church which 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, Frederick Diaper and Henry W. T. Norman as well as the following for the

Gallery

File:Cockley Cley village sign - geograph.org.uk - 1217871.jpg, Cockley Cley

village sign In many parts of England, an ornamental village sign is erected to announce the village name to those entering the village. They are typically placed on the principal road entrance or in a prominent location such as a village green. The desig ...

, showing the church still with its tower File:Two Alan Williams Turret's, Cockley Clay Hall, 30th March 2009.JPG, Rare Allan Williams Turret fortifications of

World War II 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 ...

in Cockley Cley File:Entrance to the reconstruction of an Iceni village - geograph.org.uk - 46588.jpg, Entrance to the reconstruction of an Iceni village, now closed

References

External links

All Saints of the European Round Tower Churches Website
{{authority control Breckland District Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk