Ditchingham is a village and civil parish in the English countyofNorfolk. It is located across the River Waveney from Bungay, Suffolk.[1]
| Ditchingham | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church, Ditchingham | |
  Ditchingham Location within Norfolk | |
| Area | 8.56 km2 (3.31 sq mi) |
| Population | 1,635 2011 Census |
| • Density | 191/km2 (490/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TM 340 910 |
| • London | 93 miles |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BUNGAY |
| Postcode district | NR35 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Ditchingham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the homestead or settlement of 'Dicca's' people.[2]
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Ditchingham is listed as a settlement of 36 households in the hundred of Lodding. In 1086, the village formed part of the East Anglian estates of King William I.[3]
In 1855, an Anglican convent known as the Community of All Hallows was founded in Ditchingham by Lavinia Crosse and Reverend William E. Scudamore. The convent acted as a refuge for women in 'moral danger' and other destitute individuals. The community closed in 2018.
Lilias Rider Haggard's novel, The Rabbit Skin Cap (1939) tells the life story of George Baldry, a local inventor and poacher. The picture on the front cover of the book is a painting by Edward Seago of local schoolboy, Douglas Walter Gower. In later life, Gower discovered the tusk of a woolly mammoth near the long barrowonBroome Heath which is now displayed in Norwich Castle Museum.
Much of the surrounding countryside is part of the estate centred on Ditchingham Hall which was built in the 18th century and features gardens designed by Capability Brown. The Hall is the ancestral seat of the Earl Ferrers and is currently in the possession of Robert Shirley, 14th Earl Ferrers.
The civil parish has an area of 8.56 km2 (3.31 sq mi) and in the 2011 Census had a population of 1,635 residents living in 739 households.[4]
Ditchingham falls within the constituencyofSouth Norfolk and is represented at ParliamentbyRichard Bacon MP of the Conservative Party. A new two-member electoral ward called Ditchingham and Earsham was created for the 2019 district council elections, consisting of 5,132 people of voting age. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the districtofSouth Norfolk.
Ditchingham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and boasts one of the tallest fifteenth-century towers in South Norfolk. During the 19th century, the chancel was remodelled by Anthony Salvin, followed by a restoration of the chancel arch and nave roofbyFrederick Preedy. St Mary's has an interesting set of stained-glass windows depicting Edmund Tudor with Lady Margaret Beaufort, a series of knights and a timeline of rectors of the church; the manufacturer of the windows is unknown.[5] The church is a Grade I listed building.
Ditchingham's Chicken roundabout had been home to a group of feral chickens as early as the mid-1990s, cared for by a local man called Gordon Knowles. The number of birds living at the roundabout increased and declined over the years due to a range of factors including Avian influenza and theft. In 2010, the remaining chickens were given to an animal charity with a plaque to Knowles' role in the community being erected in 2012.
Parravani's ice creams were established in the village in the early C20, and Lamberts Coaches are another long-established local company.
