East Barsham is a 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Barsham, in the

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer, and the largest town is North Walsham. The district also includes the towns of Fakenham, Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Shering ...

district, in the English county of

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 ...

. East Barsham is located north of

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north-west of Norwich. The town is at the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to N ...

and west of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. It is north of Norwich, northwest of North Walsham and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local ...

. The village is one of the four villages that make up the parish of Barsham, the other villages being North Barsham, West Barsham and Houghton St Giles.

History

East Barsham'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 the eastern part of ''Bar's'' village. 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 ...

, East and West Barsham are listed together as a settlement of 104 households 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 Gallow. In 1086, the village was divided between the

East Anglian 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, ...

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. East Barsham Manor is a manor house built between 1520 and 1530 by Sir Henry Fermor. The house was an important stopping point for wealthy pilgrims travelling to the Shrine at

Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Expl ...

and was used for this purpose by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...

and

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

. The house was refurbished between 1920 and 1938 and is still in private ownership. The White Horse Inn dates from the Eighteenth Century and is Grade II listed.

Geography

In 1931 the parish had a population of 144. This was the last time separate population statistics were collected for East Barsham as on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished to form Barsham. The

River Stiffkey The River Stiffkey is a chalk stream running through an area of north Norfolk, England from its source near Swanton Novers to flow out into the North Sea on the north Norfolk coast near the village of Stiffkey. The river has been dredged histori ...

runs through the village. .The nearest railway station is at

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is a seaside town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District ...

for the

Bittern Line The Bittern Line is a railway branch line in Norfolk, England, that links to . It passes through the Broads on its route to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the north Norfolk coast. It is named after the Eurasian bittern, bittern, a r ...

which runs between

, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is

Norwich International Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Norfolk, England, north of the city of Norwich. In 2023, Norwich Airport was the 25th Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic, busiest airport in the UK and busiest in ...

All Saints' Church

East Barsham's former parish church is located on Fakenham Road, dates from the Seventeenth Century with some Twelfth Century features and has been Grade II listed since 1959. All Saints' was re-furnished 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 ...

but still boasts stained-glass from the Fifteenth Century.

Governance

Dunton 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 Walsingham 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 ...

. The village's national constituency is

Broadland and Fakenham Broadland and Fakenham is a Norfolk constituency, which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2019 general election by Jerome Mayhew, a Conservative. Prior to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, ...

which has been represented by the Conservative Party's Jerome Mayhew MP since 2019.

War Memorial

East Barsham's war memorials are a series of plaques inside All Saints' Church which list 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

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 ...

: Captain Renton P. Walker of the

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 ...

, killed 24 April 1943 and buried in the

Delhi War Cemetery The Delhi War Cemetery, in the Delhi Cantonment, Delhi, Delhi, India, is the site of the graves of 1,154 service personnel who served the British Empire during the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. The cemetery was establi ...

Footnotes

References

Notes

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk