Great Whelnetham (sometimes Great Welnetham) 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
West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England:
* West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974
* West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019
* West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral di ...
district of
Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
in eastern England. Located around two miles south of
Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
, in 2005 its population was 820.
[
The parish also contains the hamlet of Cocks Green, and the village of Sicklesmere, with which Great Whelnetham is contiguous. Until the ]Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...
, the area was served by Welnetham railway station on the Long Melford-Bury St Edmunds branch line.
In 2019, an excavation of a 4th-century Roman cemetery in Great Whelnetham uncovered unusual burial practices. Of 52 skeletons found, up to 40% had been decapitated
Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common ...
, which archaeologists claimed gave new insight into Roman traditions. The burial ground includes the remains of men, women and children who likely lived in a nearby settlement. The decapitated skeletons represent "quite a rare find".
History
Demography
According to the Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible fo ...
, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organise ...
, Great Whelnetham had a population of 830 with 349 households,
Population change
Location grid
References
External links
Villages in Suffolk
Civil parishes in Suffolk
Borough of St Edmundsbury
Thedwastre Hundred
{{Suffolk-geo-stub