Emneth is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located 2.9 miles (4.7 km) south-east of Wisbech, 12 miles (19 km) south-west of King's Lynn and 46 miles (74 km) west of Norwich, close to the course of the River Nene.

Emneth Primary
St. Edmund's Church, Emneth
Emneth Primary is located in Norfolk
Emneth Primary
Emneth Primary
Location within Norfolk
Population2,617 2011 Census
OS grid referenceTF5103
• London99.6 miles (160.3 km)
Civil parish
  • Emneth
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWISBECH
Postcode districtPE14
Dialling code01945
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Norfolk
52°38′33″N 0°12′33″E / 52.64257°N 0.20913°E / 52.64257; 0.20913

History

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Emneth's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for Eana's meeting place or meadow.[1]

Emneth is not featured in the Domesday Book of 1086,[2] probably because in the late-Eleventh Century this area of Norfolk was still flooded.

Emneth was the site of Hagbeach Hall, a medieval manor house demolished in 1887.[3]

Geography

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According to the 2011 Census, Emneth has a population of 2,617 residents living in 1,150 households. Furthermore, the total area of the parish is 11.77 square kilometres (4.54 sq mi).[4]

Emneth falls within the constituency of South West Norfolk in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

The boundaries of the parish also includes the hamlets of Emneth Hungate and Holly End.

St Edmund's Church

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Emneth's parish church is dedicated to Saint Edmund and dates from the Fifteenth Century. Built on the site of earlier Christian worship, the church is a good example of the architecture of the Perpendicular style. St Edmund's has good examples of Eighteenth-Century stained glass installed by Clayton and Bell and William Wailes. One of the stained-glass roundels in the church depicts Thomas the Tank Engine, in commemoration of its creator, Rev. W. V. Awdry, who served as Vicar of Emneth from 1953 to 1965.[5] St Edmund's also has a good example of a bell-cote with six bells, and Angels and the Apostles carved into the tie-beams and hammerbeams.

Transport

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Emneth railway station opened in 1848 as a stop on the Bramley Line between Watlington and Peterborough railway station. The station closed in 1968 as a result of the Beeching cuts, however, the railway infrastructure still remains as a private residence. Today, the nearest railway station is at Downham Market for the Fen Line between King's Lynn and Peterborough.

Emneth is bisected by the A47 between Birmingham and Lowestoft and the nearest airport is Cambridge International Airport.

Notable residents

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War memorial

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Emneth's war memorial takes the form of a stone column topped with a small Celtic cross located inside St. Edmund's Churchyard. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:

  • Capt. John A. Markham (1887–1915), 1st Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
  • 2nd-Lt. Leonard W. Brooks (1885–1917), No. 2 Squadron RFC
  • Sgt. John H. Claxton (d.1915), 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
  • Sgt. Frederick Neal (1883–1915), 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
  • Sgt. Frederick Day (d.1916), 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
  • Cpl. Robert Lines (d.1916), Royal Field Artillery att. 11th (Northern) Division
  • L-Cpl. Archibald B. Crofts (1890–1916), 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
  • L-Cpl. Ernest A. Edwards (1891–1917), 2/4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
  • L-Cpl. Reginald V. Green (1897–1918), 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
  • Dvr. John Chase (d.1918), 72nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
  • Pte. George Laws (1892–1918), 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
  • Pte. Len Brown (d.1917), 1/1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
  • Pte. Oliver Hunter (1898–1918), 1/1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
  • Pte. Arthur Roper (1895–1915), 1/1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
  • Pte. George W. Hurst (1900–1919), 8th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
  • Pte. Harry Glover (d.1916), 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards
  • Pte. Stanley H. C. Long (1895–1917), 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment
  • Pte. Thomas Sharp (1888–1918), Agricultural Company, Labour Corps
  • Pte. Samuel F. Balderson (1895–1916), 7th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
  • Pte. Frank Moyses (d.1918), 3rd Company, Machine Gun Corps
  • Pte. Samuel Stokes (1895–1917), 25th Company, Machine Gun Corps
  • Pte. Charles W. Brewington (1896–1917), 16th (Public Schools) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
  • Pte. William Hanslip (1881–1916), 9th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
  • Pte. Sydney E. Killingsworth (d.1918), 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment
  • Pte. Arthur Hurst (1893–1918), 5th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment
  • Pte. William B. Smith MM (1899–1916), 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
  • Pte. William Jackson (d.1917), 5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment

And, the following for the Second World War:

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References

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  1. ^ University of Nottingham. (2022). Retrieved December 28, 2022. http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Emneth
  2. ^ Domesday Book. (1086). Retrieved December 28, 2022. https://opendomesday.org/map/
  3. ^ Dennis, M. (2005). Retrieved December 28, 2022. https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?TNF254-Emneth-(Parish-Summary)
  4. ^ Office for National Statistics. (2011). Retrieved December 28, 2022. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E04006309
  5. ^ Knott, S. (2022). Retrieved December 28, 2022. http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/emneth/emneth.htm
  6. ^ Brown, C. (2022). Retrieved December 28, 2022. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/EmnethMemorial.html

Further reading

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Mee, A. (1972). The King's England: Norfolk. London: Hodder and Stoughton, p.87. ISBN 0-340-15061-0

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  Media related to Emneth at Wikimedia Commons