Place:Quidenham, Norfolk, England

Watchers
NameQuidenham
Alt namesQuiddenhamsource: Family History Library Catalog
Cuidsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 193
Guidenhamsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 193
Ecclessource: adjacent parish merged at unknown date
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates52.435°N 0.968°E
Located inNorfolk, England
See alsoGuiltcross Hundred, Norfolk, Englandhundred in which it was part located (Quidenham)
Shropham Hundred, Norfolk, Englandhundred in which it was part located (Eccles)
Guiltcross Rural, Norfolk, Englandrural district 1894-1902
Wayland Rural, Norfolk, Englandrural district 1902-1974
Breckland District, Norfolk, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Quidenham is a small rural village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 22.51 km2 (8.69 sq mi) and had a population of 576 in 183 households at the 2001 census. It is situated northeast of the town of Thetford and southwest of the city of Norwich. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland.

The place-name 'Quidenham' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Cuidenham, and means "Cwida's ham or village". The name Cwida corresponds to the Old High German name "Quito".

There is a local tradition that Queen Boudica or Boadicea is buried in Quidenham. Quidenham Hall is now a Carmelite nunnery and hospice for sick children.

The church of Quidenham St Andrew is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.

The civil parish includes the historic parish and still separate settlement of Wilby, which has its own historic church. Further, the old parishes of Eccles (see below) and Hargham now form part of Quidenham civil parish, each with their own historic church still in existence.

Eccles

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Eccles from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1871-72:

"ECCLES, a parish in Guiltcross [registration] district, Norfolk; adjacent to the Norfolk railway, at Eccles-Road station 2½ miles NE of Harling. It has a post office under Attleborough. Acres: 1,685. Real property: £1,746. Population: 194. Houses: 38. The property is divided among three. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £290. Patron: Sir T. Beevor, Bart. The church is ancient."

Eccles is marked on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1900 as a separate parish north of Quidenham, but A Vision of Britain through Time infers that it is one and the same place. As a result it is discussed here rather than as a separate reference page. The GENUKI map of parishes within hundreds indicates that the two parishes were in separate hundreds.

Eccles may have been absorbed into Quidenham because of the existence of the parish of Eccles on Sea on the North Sea coast. Eccles on Sea has now all but disappeared because of erosion of the cliffs on which it was built.

Research Tips

  • GENUKI provides a list of references for Quidenham. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
  • GENUKI also provides a list of references for Eccles. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
  • GENUKI also supplies a map illustrating the individual parishes of Guiltcross Hundred. Parishes labelled with letters should be identifiable from the Ordnance Survey Map of 1900. Shropham Hundred is adjacent to the north and visible on the same map.
  • GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:
  • 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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Quidenham. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.