Great Bircham is a village, part of the

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 ...

Bircham Bircham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It includes the three villages of Great Bircham, Bircham Newton and Bircham Tofts. The parish is located about 12 miles (20 km) north-east of the town of King's Lynn and 37 mi ...

, 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 ...

. Great Bircham is located 12 miles north-east of the town of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, and 38 miles 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 ...

History

Bircham'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 large settlement near to the newly broken land. Bircham is listed 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 ...

as a settlement of 21 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 Docking. In 1086, Bircham Newton was part of the estates of Ralph de Beaufour and

William d'Ecouis William d'Ecouis (sometimes referred to as William de Schoies) was an early Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman baron, who is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a substantial holder of land and manors. William d'Ecouis founded Middleton, Norfolk# ...

. Great Bircham Windmill was built in 1846 by George Humphrey and was restored in 1977. The mill remains open to visitors today. During 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 ...

, a Great Bircham resident, Sergeant Robert J. England, was awarded the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military ...

for gallantry in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. On 24 October 1918, Sgt. England led his men in flanking a group of

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 ...

machine-gun nests and succeeded in capturing them. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished to form Bircham.

Geography

In 1931 the parish had a population of 327. This was the last time separate population statistics were collected for Great Bircham as in 1935 the parish was merged to form Bircham. Great Bircham sits along the B1153, between Narborough and

Brancaster Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or le ...

St. Mary's Church

Great Bircham's church is dedicated to

Saint Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and dates from the Fourteenth Century with earlier features. St. Mary's is located within the village on Stanhoe Road and has been Grade I listed since 1953. The church holds Sunday services three times a month.

Governance

Great Bircham 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 Bircham with Ruddhams 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 ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The district also includes the t ...

. The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild since 2010.

War Memorial

Great Bircham War Memorial is shared with

Bircham Newton Bircham Newton is a village in the civil parish of Bircham, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. Bircham Newton is located north of Great Bircham, north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of No ...

and is a stone cross atop a marble plaque. The memorial lists the following names for the

: The following names were added after 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 ...

References

External links

Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk {{authority control