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Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road to London. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to the north and south, with hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield. It had a population of 14,405 in 2011, of whom 13,587 lived in the town itself.
The ancient centre, much damaged in a fire of 1615, contains landmarks and listed buildings that include the twin-towered Wymondham Abbey. Modern Wymondham continues to grow. The current local-authority action plan envisages building 2,200 new homes by 2026, while promoting it as "a forward-looking market town which embraces sustainable growth to enhance its unique identity and sense of community."
Iron Age artefacts were investigated systematically while the A11 bypass was being built in the early 1990s. There are , quarries and evidence of iron smelting and bone working. Objects from the period include coins, jewellery and pottery.
Roman remains include an aisled structure and a copper-alloy metal-working site. A Roman road from Venta Icenorum to Watton and beyond is visible as cropmarks. Large numbers of Roman currency and pottery sherds have been found, as have personal items such as brooches, cosmetic tools and a duck figurine.
Few Saxon buildings survive, although excavations showed a sunken-featured building with Early and Middle Saxon pottery. Remains of a possible Late Saxon church were discovered during excavations at Wymondham Abbey in 2002.
Earthworks at Moot Hill are probably a medieval ring-work dating between 1088 and 1139. It is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk register.
The first market charter came from King John in 1204, although an earlier market was probably held. The charter was renewed by Henry VI in 1440 and a weekly market is still held on Fridays.
Robert Kett led a rebellion in 1549 of peasants and small farmers against enclosure of common land. His force of scarcely armed men held the city of Norwich for six weeks until defeated by the King's forces. He was hanged at Norwich Castle and his brother William was hanged from the church west tower. Kett's Oak, ostensibly the rallying point of the rebellion, can be seen on the B1172 road between Wymondham and Hethersett, part of an earlier main road to London.
The town suffered a major fire beginning on Sunday, 11 June 1615. Losses included the Market Cross, the vicarage, the old town hall and the schoolhouse. Buildings that survived include the Green Dragon inn. Thereafter, 327 inhabitants – some 55 per cent of residents at the time – made claims for lost goods and houses. The register of St Andrew's Church in Norwich records that John Flodder and others were executed for arson on 2 December 1615. Rebuilding varied in pace. A new Market Cross was completed in 1617, but in 1621 there were still some 15 properties to be rebuilt.
In 1695, the Attleborough road was the second British Turnpike trusts built, pre-dated only by the Great North Road.
The collapse of the woollen industry in the mid-19th century led to poverty. In 1836 there were still 600 hand looms, but by 1845 only 60. The town became a backwater in Victorian era, untouched by development elsewhere.
The Norwich & Brandon Railway opened in 1845 and a branch north to Dereham and Wells-next-the-Sea in 1847. Another branch opened in 1881 ran south to the Great Eastern Main Line at Forncett.
The Murders at Stanfield Hall occurred on 28 November 1848.
In 1943, a military hospital at Morley was handed to the United States Army Air Forces. Over 3,000 patients were treated there after D-Day. It was later converted for use by Wymondham College.
For much of the 20th century, there were two brush factories together employing up to 1,000 people. They both closed in the 1980s and the land was turned over to housing.
Wymondham civil parish falls in the district of South Norfolk, returning six district councillors. In elections in May 2023, Wymondham elected three Liberal Democrat District councillors, two Conservatives and one Labour. In Town Council elections fourteen councillors are returned. After May 2023 local elections, the Town Council consisted of seven Liberal Democrats, four Labour, two Green and a solitary Conservative councillor. In 2023 the Town Council elected two women for the roles of mayor and deputy mayor, the first time this had occurred in Wymondham's history.
After a by-election for Central Wymondham held the same day as the General Election on 4 July 2024, another Liberal Democrat was elected bringing the total to eight on the Council.
In County Council elections, the north part, with the Town Centre, returns one councillor to Norfolk County Council as Wymondham electoral division. The southern part elects a county councillor as part of Forehoe electoral division.
For much of the 20th century, Wymondham belonged to the South Norfolk parliamentary constituency. After a boundary review, Wymondham was moved to the Mid Norfolk constituency. However, Wymondham will revert to South Norfolk again after another boundary review, a long drawn out process which was only formalised in late 2023.
Wymondham's topography is marked by its river meadow and flat, low-lying agricultural landscape, much like the rest of East Anglia. The parish has an area of . The geology is based on chalk, with a layer of boulder clay laid down in the last ice age. The River Tiffey, flowing north, forms a boundary between the built-up town centre and the rural southern part of the parish.
The built environment of Wymondham's town centre is marked by early-modern town houses and a number of buildings that survived the 1615 fire, including Wymondham Abbey. Much of the centre forms a conservation area with numerous listed buildings. Beyond the centre lie 20th and 21st-century housing estates of mainly detached and semi-detached properties. There are trading and industrial estates along the route of the A11, which passes north-east through the south of the parish. The heavy rail Breckland line crosses the parish in the same direction. The rest of the parish is largely Arable land.
The parish has one of the largest areas in Norfolk. It includes swaths to the north and south of the town, including the hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield.
| + Wymondham compared |
| England |
| 53,012,456 |
| 17.57% |
| 85.4% |
| 7.8% |
| 1% |
| 3.5% |
| 59.4% |
| 24.7% |
| 5% |
| 0.5% |
| 1.5% |
| 16.33% |
| 4.4% |
In 2011, 94.5 per cent of the population were White British, 1.1 per cent Asian, 0.5 per cent White Irish and 0.3 per cent Black.
Christianity accounts for 60.3 per cent of the population, while 29.9 declare no religious affiliation. There are small populations of Muslims (0.5%), Buddhists (0.3%) and Hindus (0.2%).
The 2011 census showed 72.6 per cent of the adult population economically active, 2.9 per cent unemployed and 16.8 per cent retired. The population is well-educated: 27 per cent have post-18 qualifications.
The following table outlines the population change in the town since 1801, with slow growth, then decline in the 19th century, followed by recovery and rapid growth by the end of the 20th century.
| Sources: A Vision of Britain through Time: Civil Parish A Vision of Britain through Time: Urban District Wymondham - A Century Remembered |
A major employer is Norfolk Constabulary. There is a retail area centred on the market square, with national-chain branches and independent shops and businesses. Traditionally, Wymondham was a centre of woodturning and brush-making; a spigot and spoon feature on the town sign to mark this. Major brush factories appeared, with railway sidings, saw mills and engineering workshops. These closed in late 20th century and were developed as housing.
The abbey was dissolved in 1538, after which many of its buildings were demolished. Their remains, including the surviving arch of the chapter house, are scattered around the church. The open land to the south of the church, above further remains of the medieval abbey, is a scheduled monument. The east end of the church was demolished at the dissolution. The surviving -long building is about half the original length.
The remainder survived the dissolution and continued in use as the local Church of England parish church. Some elements of the original Norman architecture are visible externally, while internally a 15th-century hammerbeam roof and a reredos by Ninian Comper can be seen.
Wymondham railway station, built in 1844, retains much of its atmosphere, including a timber signal box for semaphore signalling from 1877, in use until 2012. Almost derelict by 1988, the site was transformed by the local businessman and railway enthusiast David Turner, who restored the buildings and ran a Brief Encounter-themed restaurant on Platform 1 before retiring in 2011. The station was voted Best Small Station in the 2006 National Rail Awards. Both station and signal box are Grade II listed buildings.
Toll's Meadow is a nature reserve and wildlife site with footpaths along the River Tiffey. Wildlife there includes kingfishers, herons, roe deer and water voles. The Lizard is a conservation area and wildlife site managed locally as a "piece of informal, natural countryside for the general benefit and enjoyment of the people of Wymondham". The Tiffey Trails offer accessible walks, interpretation boards, wood-carvings, benches and waymarkers. In Spring 2022, a new Ketts County trail was added, forming a 16-mile walk starting at Becketswell near the Abbey. This is part of the wider 500 mile plus Norfolk Trails network.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway operates a station at Wymondham Abbey for heritage services to Dereham, along a section of the branch to Wells. The town once had a third station, Spinks Lane, which closed shortly after opening in the 19th century.
Buses by First Norfolk & Suffolk offer at least a 30-minute service to Hethersett, Norwich and Attleborough. Konectbus serves the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich and Watton. National Express coach services are available to London.
The A11 trunk road from Norwich to London once ran through the town centre. The B1135 passes the northern edge of the town on its way to Dereham.
Wymondham Town United Football Club, based at Kett's Park, is one Norfolk's largest youth teams, with over 600 players across 22 teams.
Wymondham Rugby Club was founded in 1972 at the Foster Harrison Memorial Ground on Tuttles Lane. A new ground, Barnard Fields, opened in 2018. The senior men's team plays in the London 2 North East league, winning the Norfolk Plate in 2015–16. The senior women's team, Wymondham Wasps, plays in the Championship 2 Midlands League.
Wymondham Dell Bowls Club was a founder member of Norfolk Bowls Association in 1936. It has won the Bales Cup and the County League more often than any other club in Norfolk: twelve and fifteen times respectively. The members include the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, John Ottaway.
Wymondham High Academy is located near the town centre. Wymondham College, one of 36 state in England and the largest of its type, stands just outside the parish in Morley.
The four state primary schools are Ashleigh Primary School and Nursery, Browick Road Primary and Nursery School, Robert Kett Primary School and Spooner Row Primary School.
The nearest NHS hospital is Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in Norwich, administered by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In the town itself are Wymondham Health Centre and Wymondham Medical Centre offering general-practice care. Ambulance services are provided by East of England Ambulance Service.
Waste management is co-ordinated by South Norfolk. Locally produced inert waste for disposal is processed into fuel for use in Cogeneration facilities in Europe. Wymondham's distribution network operator for electricity is UK Power Networks; there are no in the town. Drinking water and waste water are managed by Anglian Water. There is a water treatment plant to the north-west of the town.
The Town's historic pubs include The Green Dragon, one of England's oldest, open since about 1371. The Cross Keys Inn in the Market Place occupies an early 17th-century Grade II listed building.
There are many community groups and charities offering a wide range of activities and volunteering opportunities for locals.
Wymondham Music Festival, begun in 1996, ran mostly free summer events at several venues with a Midsummer Jazz Picnic at Becketswell every June. Occasional events in the past included a carnival and a winter Dickensian Evening.
Wymondham currently has no twin town. Links were developed in the 1990s with Votice and local dignitaries from the Czech Republic visited Wymondham. A plaque on the former Wymondham Town Hall in Middleton Street commemorates the links between the two. (The new Town Hall building is located at nearby Ketts Park).
The building of a 17th-century Quakers meeting house Chapel Lane survives as a private residence. Fairland United Reformed Church was founded in 1652. The current façade dates from 1877. It has regular Sunday services.
A Primitive Methodist chapel built in Silfield Street in 1867 is now a private residence. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel built in Damgate Street in 1879 is now used by Freemasonry. Wymondham Methodist Church was built in 1870. Wymondham Baptist Church has been at its current Queen Street site since 1910. It holds regular Sunday services and a successful twice weekly community café called Roots.
The Catholic Church Church of Our Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury, built in 1952, contains a memorial to World War II prisoners and internees of the Japanese who did not survive their imprisonment. An annual memorial service is held every May. A digital and print archive of 61,000 names of those who died is maintained by the church.
The two churches of the Evangelical Alliance are Hope Community Church in Ayton Road and Alive Church which meets at Central Hall. There is a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Harts Farm Road.
The now-closed Brief Encounter-themed restaurant at Wymondham railway station featured in Mark Greenstreet's 1996 comedy film Caught in the Act, starring Sara Crowe, Annette Badland and Nadia Sawalha.
The eighth in C. J. Sansom's Shardlake series of novels, Tombland (2018), has the protagonist embroiled in Kett's Rebellion.
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