Spixworth 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 ...
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 ...
. The village lies close to the
B1150 road and is north 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 ...
and some south of
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. The town is located south of Cromer and Norwich is south.
Demography
The civil parish has an area of ...
.
It covers an area of and had a population of 3,769 in 1,508 households at the
2001 census. including Beeston St. Andrew but decreasing to a population of 3,718 in 1,579 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it 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, municip ...
of
Broadland
Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. Its council is based at the Broadland Business Park on the outskirts of Norwich. The district includes the towns of Acle, Aylsham, Reepham, Spro ...
.
Etymology
The village was known as ''Spikeswurda'' in
Norman times and the name is believed to be derived from either the River Spikes (now Spixworth Beck) or ''Spic'' meaning
swine
Suina (also known as Suiformes) is a suborder of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the domestic pig and peccaries. A member of this clade is known as a suine. Suina includes the family Suidae, termed suids, known in ...
pasture. The suffix ''worth'' is from the
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 ...
''yrth'' meaning land sloping from water or marsh. Alternatively the name is possibly derived from the
OE ''spics'' (bacon farm) and ''worth'' (enclosure).
History
From
Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
times the village has been part of the Taverham Hundred. Prior to the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
of 1066 much of the land was held by a Saxon
freeman
Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to:
Places United States
* Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Freeman, South Dako ...
known as Suart. After the conquest, Spixworth and other surrounding villages were given to
Roger of Poictiers.
[History of the village]
Retrieved 7 April 2010 In 1199, Peter Bardoph became
Lord of the Manor
Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...
, a position the family held to 1485. The estate was eventually sold to William Peck in 1602. Peck, Sheriff of Norwich in 1561 and Mayor of the city in 1573 and 1586, built
Spixworth Hall in 1607. The house and estate was subsequently purchased by the Longe family in 1693 and remained in the family until 1950 when the hall was sold. The hall subsequently fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1952.
[ The title, Lord of the Manor is still owned by Longe family as well as the surrounding lands.
]
The village today
Due to its proximity to Norwich the village is a popular residential area. Amenities include an infant school, a junior school, a dental practice, a doctor's surgery, a village hall, a motel
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...
, the ''Longe Arms'' public house
A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
and a wide selection of retail outlets and services.
The Church of St Peter
A church has stood on the same site for 900 years. The present day church dates from 1160 and is built in the Early English style. The narrow pencil shaped tower is the oldest part of the church. Inside the building is a Norman font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
. Also, of note is the 17th century memorial depicting two life–sized corpse
A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a li ...
s and the church bells some of which date from 1350.
Public transport
Bus
Scheduled services link the village to Norwich and further afield.Bus services
Retrieved 1 June 2010
Sport and leisure
The football club
Norwich CBS played in the village between 2009 and 2017 under the name Spixworth Football Club.
Gallery
File:The Longe Arms.JPG, The ''Longe Arms''
File:Spixworth.JPG, Road sign
References
External links
Geograph images
{{authority control
Villages in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Broadland