Swaffham
Swaffham is a
market town and
civil parish in the
English county of
Norfolk. The town was originally situated on the
A47, some
20 km east of the town of
King's Lynn and
50 km west of the city of
Norwich. The A47 now avoids the town, using a bypass opened in
1981.
[Ordnance Survey (1999). OS Explorer Map 236 - King's Lynn, Downham Market & Swaffham. ISBN 0319218678.]The civil parish has an area of
29.57 km² and in the
2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the
district of
Breckland.
[Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes. Retrieved December 2, 2005.]The town was named after an
Anglo-Saxon tribe named the
Swaefas.
About
8 km to the north of Swaffham can be found the ruins of the formerly important
Castle Acre Priory and
Castle Acre Castle. By the
14th and
15th centuries Swaffham had a flourishing
sheep and
wool industry. As a result of this properity, the town has a large market place. The Market Cross here was built by the writer
Horace Walpole and presented to the town in 1783. On the top is the statue of
Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest.
On the west side of Swaffham Market Place are several old buildings which for many years housed the historic Hamond's Grammar School, as a plaque on the wall of the main building explains. Harry Carter, the school's art teacher in the 1960s, was responsible for a great number of the carved signs that are now found in many of Norfolk's towns and villages, most notably perhaps Swaffham's own sign commemorating the legendary Peddlar of Swaffham, which is in the corner of the market place just opposite the old school's gates.
Today the town is perhaps best known for the presence of two large
wind turbines, and the associated
Ecotech Centre. The turbines are owned and operated by
Ecotricity, and together generate more than 3
Megawatts.
[Ecotricity. Swaffham-I and Swaffham-II. Retrieved February 10 2006.]The infamous 'lotto lout'
Michael Carroll has a home in the town. He is currently subject to an
ASBO in the Swaffham area.
.
*
Information from Genuki Norfolk on Swaffham.
*
Swaffham Town Council website
