Gateley 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

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 ...

district of 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 ...

. Gateley is located north of the town of

Dereham Dereham (), also known historically as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about west of the city of Norwich ...

and north-west of the city 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 ...

, along the course of the

River Wensum The River Wensum is a chalk river in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England and a tributary of the River Yare, despite being the larger of the two rivers. The river is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservatio ...

History

Gateley'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 'goat wood or clearing.' 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 ...

of 1086, Gateley is listed as a settlement of 31 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 Launditch. In 1086, the village was part of 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 Alan Rufus, Bishop of Thetford, Hugh de Montfort and

Peter de Valognes Peter de Valognes (1045–1110) was a Norman noble who became a great landowner in England following his part as a commander in the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Land holdings Between 1070 and 1076, Peter de Valognes was granted lands in th ...

. 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 ...

, a 'starfish' decoy site was built in Gateley to direct

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 ...

bombers away from nearby

RAF West Raynham Royal Air Force West Raynham, or more simply RAF West Raynham, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located west of West Raynham, Norfolk and southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened ...

Geography

Due to its small size, Gateley's population has been combined with nearby

North Elmham North Elmham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and is located about north of East Dereham, on the west bank of the River Wensum. Including Gateley, the civil parish had a population of 1,4 ...

for the last three censuses. Gateley is located along the course of the

St. Helen's Church

The parish church of Gateley is called St Helen's. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

dates from the 15th century. The chancel is a Victorian rebuilding. The church tower is of the Perpendicular style. There are two shields on south-west buttress. Tower has rectangular vice, the belfry windows have been partly blocked. On south side of the nave is a round headed arch made up of late medieval tiles although the doorway is of late Saxon origins. The south porch has three niches. The church floor has been renewed but is of brick. The primitive font has a marble plinth . There is a rood screen with fine paintings thought to be East Anglia, which are of a local flavour. The Saints chosen for the screen are for local devotions. From left to right they are Saint Etheldreda, foundress of the Diocese of Ely shown as a nun with a Latin inscription, Scta Adria, or Saint Audrey. Next is Saint Elizabeth, also shown dressed in a nun's habit and her arms crossed as if in an echo of the Visitation, The Blessed Virgin, turned to face her cousin. A third image is of the Mistress of Ridibowne, a local devotion. Virtually nothing is known about her. Ridibowne was probably either Redbowne in Lincolnshire or Redbowne in Hertfordshire. On the other side of the screen are paintings of Saint Louis of France, Henry VI labelled in Latin as 'the Blessed Martyr Henry VI', St Augustine and Sir John Schorne, conjuring the devil into a boot. Sir John Schorne was a clergyman, he is said to be best known for his ability to cure the gout.

Gateley Hall

Gateley Hall is an

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Grade I listed building which was built in 1726, on the site of an older manor house. The early Georgian house has double shaped gables at each end. On the south gable is an illegible date plaque thought to be 1726, the plaque is paired by a sundial. The front elevation stands over five bays topped with

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

s and is of two storeys. Another architectural feature of the house is the Roman Doric doorcase which has the same slightly chequered brickwork as the gables, but has been cemented over. On the rear elevation there is a round brick projecting bay and a flint bay with small blocked windows. Inside the house the half-turn staircase with landings dates from 1726. The stair has Turned attenuated vase at the balusters and shaped tread-ends and a wide swept handrail. There are examples of

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

plaster and wood decoration. The grade I listing was put on the building in 1954 partly due to the exceptional quality and rarity of Rococo plasterwork to the interior of the house. There is also a fine barn dating from the 16th Century. The house is the current seat of the 7th Earl Cathcart, Charles Alan Andrew Cathcart.

Governance

Gateley 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 Upper Wensum 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

Mid Norfolk Mid Norfolk is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2010 by George Freeman (po ...

which has been represented by the Conservative's George Freeman MP since 2010.

References

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Breckland District Civil parishes in Norfolk