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Clenchwarton
Clenchwarton is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. Clenchwarton is located 2.7 miles (4.3 km) west of King's Lynn, separated by the River Great Ouse, and 41 miles (66 km) west of Norwich. HistoryClenchwarton's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for a hill dweller's farmstead or settlement.[1] In the Domesday Book, Clenchwarton is recorded as an abandoned village with no recorded population in the hundred of Freebridge. The village was part of the estates of William d'Ecouis.[2] The abandonment of the village was likely the result of the Norman reprisals in retaliation for the Ely Rebellion of 1070, led by Hereward the Wake. The village was also surveyed by the Victorian traveller, John Marius, in the 1870s. He wrote the following about the village in the Imperial Gazetteer: "church is old but good. There are a N.Methodist chapel, and a national school." During the Second World War, anti-tank defences were built in Clenchwarton to defend against a possible German invasion of East Anglia.[3] GeographyAccording to the 2021 census, the population of Clenchwarton is 2,223 people which shows an increase from the 2,171 people listed in the 2011 census.[4] The parish is bordered to the east by the River Great Ouse and to the south by the A17, between Newark-on-Trent and King's Lynn. St. Margaret's ChurchClenchwarton's parish church is dedicated to Saint Margaret of Scotland and is located on Church Road. The church dates back to the Fourteenth Century and has been Grade II listed since 1951.[5] The church boasts stained-glass windows installed by Hardman & Co. with one from the 1920s depicting Mary Elizabeth Townsend as well as other windows designed by Charles Gibbs.[6] There is also a memorial to Pte. Clifford J. Gosling of the 1st Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment who was killed in a forest fire during Operation Lucky Alphonse during the Cyprus Emergency. Gosling is buried in Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery, Nicosia.[7] St. Margaret's Churchyard holds a listed headstone dedicated to Christopher Hudson which dates to 1709[8] and the remains of a Medieval cross.[9] Clenchwarton is also home to a Methodist Church which still hosts regular services.[10] AmenitiesMost local children attend the local Clenchwarton Community Primary School[11] which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust. The school was rated 'Good' by Ofsted in 2017.[12] The local convenience store can be located on Main Road, just opposite the Primary School. The shop also has a Post Office[13] inside. The village is home to Clenchwarton Football Club which hosts several youth and adult teams. The first XI compete in the North-West Norfolk Saturday League.[14] The village is also home to a lawn bowls team. TransportClenchwarton Railway Station opened in 1866 as part of the Lynn and Sutton Bridge Railway and was eventually closed in 1959. Public transport through the village is now provided by bus route 505 between King's Lynn and Spalding. It is part of the Lincolnshire Interconnect network and currently operated by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire. GovernanceClenchwarton is an electoral ward for local elections and is part of the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild MP since 2010. War MemorialClenchwarton's main war memorial is a marble plaque located inside St. Margaret's Church with a further memorial to the fallen on the Peace Cottages on Church Road. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:[15][16]
And, the following for the Second World War:
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clenchwarton. |
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