Freethorpe 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

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 ...

. The village is located south-west of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of ...

and south-east of

, located within the

Norfolk Broads 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 North ...

History

The origin of Freethorpe's name is uncertain. It either derives from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

for Fraethi's settlement or an amalgamation of the Old Norse and Old English for a settlement offering refuge or safety. 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 ...

, Freethorpe is listed as a settlement of 20 households 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 ...

Blofield Blofield is a village and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. The parish includes Blofield and the hamlets of Blofield Heath and Blofield Corner and, according to the 2001 census, had a population of 3,221, increasing t ...

. In 1086, the village was divided between the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

estates of King William I,

William de Beaufeu William de Beaufeu was a medieval Bishop of Thetford and a major landholder mentioned in the Domesday Book.The Domesday Book, Englands Heritage, Then and Now, Editor: Thomas Hinde, Major Domesday landholders page 338 Life William's land holdin ...

and Rabel the engineer. Several Nineteenth Century

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

are located within the village, which were built in 1871 by Richard Henry and Harriet Vade Walpole to care for local widows. During 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 ...

, the village was home to a

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

airfield between 1916 and 1918. During 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 ...

, the airfield was passed on to the

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...

who operated the site until the mid-Twentieth Century. In addition, an eastern part of the parish was designated as a

Starfish site Starfish sites were large-scale night-time decoys created during the Blitz to simulate burning British cities. The aim was to divert German night bombers from their intended targets so they would drop their ordnance over the countryside. The site ...

during the Second World War to draw

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

attention away from Norwich and Great Yarmouth.

Geography

According to the 2011 Census, Freethorpe has a population of 995 residents living in 405 households. Furthermore, the parish has a total area of . Freethorpe falls within the constituency of

Broadland Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew. In 2013, Broadland ...

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 Jerome Mayhew MP of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within 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, municipa ...

All Saints' Church

Freethorpe's parish church is one of Norfolk's remaining 124

round-tower churches 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 Berksh ...

, with the tower dating from the Twelfth Century and the remainder of the church dating from the Thirteenth Century. The church was restored in the Nineteenth Century by

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country ho ...

at the behest of Richard Henry Vade Walpole, Lord of the Manor of Freethorpe. The stained-glass inside the church was installed by

Thomas Willement Thomas Willement (18 July 1786 – 10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist, called "the father of Victorian stained glass", active from 1811 to 1865. Biography Willement was born at St Marylebone, London. Like many early 19th cent ...

and

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

and largely glorify the Walpole family. Freethorpe also has a Methodist Chapel that holds regular church services and seats up to 150 people.

Amenities

The majority of local children attend Freethorpe Community Primary School, which was rated as 'Good' by Ofsted in 2016 which was subsequently upheld in 2019.

War Memorial

Freethorpe's war memorial takes the form of a square pillar, made from

Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

, topped with a carved urn, located in the cemetery of Freethorpe's Methodist Church. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War: * Cpl. John H. Alexander (1896-1918), 9th 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 ...

* Cpl. Frank Lake (1891-1916), 1st Bn.,

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd ( ...

* L-Cpl. Frederick Carr (1878-1916), 8th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. * Pvt. Alfred R. Brock (d.1918), 1st Depot,

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 ...

* Pvt. George Meal (d.1916), 13th Bn.,

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

* Pvt. Wilfred Cater (1899-1918), 6th Coy.,

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 ...

* Pvt. Mark Shorten (d.1916), 110th Coy., Machine Gun Corps * Pvt. Robert J. Lake (1893-1916), 1st Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. * Pvt. George Ward (d.1914), 1st Bn., Royal Regiment Regt. * Pvt. Thomas F. Dawson (d.1916), 8th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. * Pvt. D. Hugh Burton (1895-1916), 9th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. * Pvt. Basil Lake (1899-1918),

Sussex Yeomanry The Sussex Yeomanry is a yeomanry regiment of the British Army dating from 1794. It was initially formed when there was a threat of French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. After being reformed in the Second Boer War, it served in the First Wo ...

* Skpr. Samuel C. Falgate (1868-1916), '' H.M. Drifter Hilary II'' * Walter Lake And, the following for the Second World War: * P/O. William R. Turner (1907-1942), '' H.M. Submarine Upholder'' * Pvt. Alec G. Nicholls (1919-1944), 1st Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved January 07, 2023. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/91816

References

External links

All Saints on the European Round Tower Churches Website
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Broadland