Newton Flotman, meaning ''new farm or settlement'', 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

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

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 ...

, lies about 7 miles (11 km) south 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 ...

on the A140 road between

Tasburgh Tasburgh ( ) is a civil parish and a village in the south of Norfolk, England, located approximately 8 miles south of Norwich. It lies on the A140 road, north of Long Stratton and south of Newton Flotman. The River Tas flows nearby and Tasb ...

and Swainsthorpe. The

River Tas The River Tas is a river which flows northwards through South Norfolk in England - towards Norwich. The area is named the Tas Valley after the river. The name of the river is back-formed from the name of village of Tasburgh.E. Ekwall, 1928, ''E ...

flows through the village. The area of had 1,197 inhabitants in 497 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,489 at the 2011 census. For local government it lies in 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 ...

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. The largest town is Wymondham, and the district also includes the towns of Costessey, Diss, Harleston, Hingham, Loddon and Long Stratton. The council was based in Long S ...

History

The de Ferers family held land there in the 13th century, and the village was the home of the Blonumvyll or Blundeville family in the 15th century: Richard & William.

Thomas Blundeville Thomas Blundeville (c. 1522 – c. 1606) was an English humanist writer and mathematician. He is known for work on logic, astronomy, education and horsemanship, as well as for translations from the Italian. His interests were both wide-ranging a ...

(c. 1522–1606), humanist writer, mathematician and inventor of the protractor lived as a country gentleman in the village. Blundeville Manor is the name of a

cul de sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

in the village although this is not the site of the original home of the Blundevilles. On the north wall of the chancel in Newton Flotman Church is a monument to Sir Thomas Blundeville which shows Sir Thomas and his two daughters and Rose Puttenham and Margaret Johnson his first and second wives.

Governance

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 the same name exists. This stretches west to

Wreningham Wreningham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated some south east of Wymondham and south west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of 6.24 square kilometres and in 2001 had a population of 493 in ...

, with a total population taken at the 2011 census of 2,658.

Facilities and amenities

Newton Flotman Church, St Mary's, is served by the Tas Valley team ministry along with those of Swainsthorpe,

, Tharston, Saxlingham and

Shotesham Shotesham () is a village in South Norfolk which lies approximately 5 miles south of Norwich. It sits next to Stoke Holy Cross and Saxlingham Nethergate in the valley of the River Tas. It covers an area of and had a population of 539 in 210 ...

. In 2006, an extension with a

kitchen A kitchen is a room (architecture), room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a Kitchen stove, stove, a sink ...

and

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...

facilities opened to provide a larger meeting space. In 2018, the church received £87,600 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

to repair the church roof, tower and drainage system, install

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

and train local volunteers to produce films on the church's heritage. Newton Flotman Primary School caters for children in Newton Flotman, Swainsthorpe and Saxlingham Thorpe. The nearest secondary school is Long Stratton High School. The village has a village hall, a shop, a motorcycle garage and a theatre school known as ARTS, There is an area known as Smockmill Common, managed by

South Norfolk District Council South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, in Saxlingham Thorpe near Newton Flotman, which is used for recreational purposes. Newton Flotman Football Club is based in the village. An Elizabethan Country mansion,

Rainthorpe Hall Rainthorpe Hall is a Grade I listed Elizabethan country mansion and estate near Tasburgh in Norfolk, England, about south of Norwich. The property is notable for its medieval stonework, wood carvings, rare 17th-century leather wall-covering ...

, stands by the road between Newton Flotman and Flordon.

Transport

The village stands by the

A140 road The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entirety of ...

between

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 ...

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 ...

and

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

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 ...

. Newton Flotman has regular bus services to

and

Long Stratton Long Stratton is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It historically consisted of two villages; the larger, Stratton St. Mary, is to the south, and the other, Stratton St. Michael, is to the north. It had a population of 4,424 in the ...

, operated by

First Norfolk & Suffolk First Bus East of England is a bus operator that provides services in Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England; it is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. It has five depots in operating areas spread out across East Anglia: Norwich, Ipswich, Great Yarmou ...

, Konectbus and Simonds of Botesdale. The Great Eastern railway line, which links

and London's

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It i ...

, passes to the west side of the village at a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

, but there is no station; the nearest is at Norwich.

Notable residents

The partronage of Newton Flotman Church was held by the Blunderville family from 1294 for about 400 years. In 1721 it passed to Matthew Long of Dunston Hall and the clergy of the parish had the surname Long until 1948. In 1790, Sarah Long, was patroness and appointed as Rector the Rev. Robert Churchman Kellett on condition that he change his surname to Long, which he did after seven years' consideration. The Longs were also lords of the manor from 1721 to at least 1937. The Revd Henry Churchman Long is cited in Hansard in matters relating to the Non-Conformist Burial Act which was passed in 1861. Sir Samuel Morton Peto raised the issue of Revd Long’s habit of carting soil from the north side of the churchyard to manure the grounds of his glebe, in the Houses of Parliament in 1861. The soil had been removed from the area of the churchyard which had been used for the burial of Methodists, Nonconformists and the unbaptised. Brighton's Road, one of the main streets that run through the village, is named after J. L. Brighton, who was chairman of the parish council for 41 years. Brighton was succeeded as chairman by Alan King, who held the post for 14 years. Alan King Playing Field, King's Green, Kingsway and Alan Avenue are all places in the village named after him. David Gibbs followed Alan King as chairman holding the post for 33 years to 2022.

References

External links

Newton Flotman Football Club
{{authority control South Norfolk Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk