Longham
Village in Norfolk, England
Longham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
The village lies 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Dereham and 19 miles (31 km) north-west of Norwich.
01History
Longham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the homestead of Lawa's people.
In the Domesday Book, Longham is listed as a settlement of 3 households in the hundred of Launditch. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of Hermer de Ferrers.
Robert Howlett (1831-1858), a pioneering photographer, grew-up in the parsonage at Longham. He was famed for photographing Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1857 as well as certain episodes of the Crimean War.
During the Second World War, part of the parish became RAF Wendling which opened in 1943 for the use of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces who kept some forces at the site until 1961.
02Geography
According to the 2021 census, Longham has a population of 236 people which shows an increase from the 224 people recorded in the 2011 census.
03Church of St. Andrew and St. Peter
Longham's parish church is jointly dedicated to Saint Andrew and Saint Peter and dates from the Fifteenth Century. St. Andrew & St. Peter's is located just off Reed Lane and has been Grade II listed since 1960. The church is open for monthly Sunday service and is part of the Launditch Benefice.
St. Andrew and St. Peter's Churchtower was largely rebuilt in the mid-Eighteenth Century.
04Governance
Longham is part of the electoral ward of Lincoln for local elections and is part of the district of Breckland.
The village's national constituency is South West Norfolk which has been represented by Labour's Terry Jermy MP since 2024.
05War Memorial
Longham War Memorial is a small stone memorial located in St. Peter and St. Andrew's Churchyard. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of death | Burial/Commemoration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pte. | Stephen M. Watts | 1st Bn., The Buffs | 3 Jan. 1919 | Südfriedhof |
| Pte. | John F. Rudd | 1st Bn., East Surrey Regiment | 13 Mar. 1917 | Gorre British & Indian Cemetery |
| Pte. | Thomas C. Fiddy | 1st Bn., Essex Regiment | 6 Aug. 1915 | Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery |
| Pte. | Leslie Thompson | 30th Coy., Machine Gun Corps | 19 Oct. 1918 | Terlincthun British Cemetery |
| Pte. | Ernest R. Purple | 142nd Coy., M.G.C. | 5 May 1916 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | Richard Thompson | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 14 Oct. 1916 | Heilly Station Cemetery |
| Pte. | Frederick Webster | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 6 Nov. 1915 | Bethune Town Cemetery |
| Rfn. | George Kirk | King's Royal Rifle Corps | 29 Sep. 1918 | Ss. Peter & Andrew's Churchyard |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Longham”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Longham village sign - geograph.org.uk - 6796592.jpg by Adrian S Pye, CC BY-SA 2.0
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