Place:Downham West, Norfolk, England

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Downham West is a civil parish in the west of the English county of Norfolk. The parish is 47.6 miles (76.6 km) west of Norwich, 16.3 miles (26.2 km) south-southwest of King's Lynn and 96.2 miles (154.8 km) north of London. The nearest town is Downham Market which is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north east of the parish. The parish of Downham West had a population of 285 in the 2001 UK census, rising marginally to 286 at the 2011 UK census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

West Downham is a small fenland parish created in 1894. There is no village called West Downham within the parish, only a small hamlet which is called Salter's Lode. The hamlet is strung out along the A1122 road that hugs the drains and the course of the River Great Ouse, and consists of a few isolated farms standing out in the fen. The name of Downham comes from the Old English meaning "homestead on a hill", with "West" pointing the direction from nearby Downham Market.

Salter's Lode derives its name the Old English meaning "place where salt is kept", and "watercourse" or "drainage channel". The hamlet is scattered around a lock at the end of the Well Creek navigation. Well Creek is a part of the Middle Level System and is on the route that forms a navigation link between the River Nene and River Great Ouse.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Downham West. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• Ordnance Survey Map of Norfolk revised 1944 and, for comparison, another map of Norfolk dated 1917.
• GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:

• England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997
• England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941
• England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901

• Ancestry.co.uk has the following lists as of 2018 (UK or worldwide Ancestry membership or library access required). With the exception of the index to wills these files are browsible images of the original documents. The files are separated by type and broken down into time periods (i.e., "Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812" is more than one file). The general explanatory notes are worth reading for those unfamiliar with English parish records.

• Index to wills proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich : and now preserved in the District Probate Registry at Norwich
• Norfolk, England, Bishop's Transcripts, 1579-1935
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1990
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940

• FindMyPast is another pay site with large collection of parish records. As of October 2018 they had 20 types of Norfolk records available to browse including Land Tax Records and Electoral Registers.