Cranworth is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
in the
Breckland district
Breckland is a local government district in 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 s ...
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 Nort ...
.
History
Cranworth's name is of
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
origin and derives from the
Old English for an enclosed part of land with
cranes
Crane or cranes may refer to:
Common meanings
* Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird
* Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting
** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads
People and fictional characters
* Crane (surname), ...
and
heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...
s.
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 ...
, Cranworth is recorded as a settlement of 42 households located 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 Mitford. In 1086, the village formed part of the estates of
King William.
Geography
According to the
2011 Census, Cranworth has a population of 419 residents living in 175 households.
Cranworth falls within the
constituency of
South West Norfolk and is represented at
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
by
Liz Truss MP of the
Conservative Party.
St. Mary's Church
Cranworth's parish church is of
Norman origin and is dedicated to
Saint Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
. The interior of the church is almost exclusively
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
and the
font
In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "Sort (typesetting), sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of ...
dates from the Fourteenth Century.
Notable residents
*
Robert Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth
Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.
Background and education
Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he w ...
- British lawyer and politician
War memorial
Cranworth's war memorial takes the form of a cuboid stone column topped with a stone carving of an angel of victory. The memorial is located in St. Mary's Churchyard and lists the following names for the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
:
* Lance-Corporal Robert R. Tuttle (1892-1916), 1st Battalion,
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 ...
* Driver William F. Lyon (1894-1919),
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and d ...
att.
4th Cavalry Division
* Private Victor T. Edwards (d.1916), 8th Battalion,
Border Regiment
* Private Ernest W. Graves (1880-1918), 6th Battalion,
Royal East Kent Regiment
* Private Frederick J. Green (1899-1918), 61st Battalion,
Machine Gun Corps
The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use ...
* Private John Hagan (d.1916), 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Private Lionel W. Green (1897-1917), 1/5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Private Sidney Hipkin (d.1918), 9th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Private Bartlett J. Hart (1894-1917), 1st Battalion,
Queen's Royal Regiment
The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...
* Private Frederick C. Ward (d.1918), 1st Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment
* Johnathan Berry
* Frederic S. Sidell
And, the following for the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
:
* Able-Seaman Geoffrey G. Ebbage (1923-1941), ''
HMS Calcutta
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Calcutta'', after the Indian city of Calcutta (now Kolkata).
* The first was a 54-gun fourth rate, originally the East Indiaman ''Warley'' and purchased in 1795, captured by the French in 1805 an ...
''
* Private George Graves (1920-1940), 2nd Battalion,
Durham Light Infantry
The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and ...
* Albert Clarke
* Robert Harris
[War Memorials Online. (2015). Retrieved December 20, 2022. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/215880/]
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Breckland District