East Winch Explained

Country:England
Coordinates:52.7179°N 0.5074°W
Os Grid Reference:TF694163
Official Name:East Winch
Population:779
Area Total Km2:19.95
Region:East of England
Civil Parish:East Winch
Postcode District:PE32
Postcode Area:PE
Post Town:KING'S LYNN
Dial Code:01553
Static Image Name:All Saints' Church, East Winch - geograph.org.uk - 261348.jpg
Static Image Caption:All Saints' Church, East Winch

East Winch is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located south-east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.

History

In the Domesday Book, East Winch is listed as a settlement of 51 households in the hundred of Freebridge.[1] In 1086, the village formed part of the East Anglian estates of King William I, Roger Bigod, Ralph de Tosny, Hermer de Ferrers and a freeman by the name of Rainer.[2]

Crancourt Manor was a medieval residence of the Howard family, built as a fortified manor house. By the mid-nineteenth century, the manor was ruined apart from a single chimney stack, which remains the case today.[3]

In May 1944, a de Havilland Mosquito of No. 23 Squadron RAF crashed within the parish after technical difficulties on a test flight from RAF Little Snoring. Both crew members were killed.[4]

Geography

According to the 2011 Census, East Winch has a population of 779 residents living in 350 households. The parish covers a total area of .[5]

East Winch falls within the constituency of North West Norfolk and is represented at Parliament by James Wild of the Conservative Party. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

All Saints' Church

East Winch's parish church was built in the Perpendicular style in the late-Fourteenth Century under the leadership of the Howard family, by the Eighteenth Century the church had largely fallen into disrepair until it was repaired under the oversight of George Gilbert Scott. All Saints' features good examples of Nineteenth Century stained glass installed by Clayton and Bell depicting Christ as a shepherd and the Parable of the Good Samaritan, with a further depiction of the Resurrection by Ward and Hughes.

Amenities

East Winch airfield was founded in 1986 by Colin and Peter Burman, initially for crop dusting. After this was banned in 2009 the airfield was repurposed for leisure use.

Transport

East Winch railway station opened in 1846 as a stop on the Lynn and Dereham Railway between King's Lynn and Dereham. The station closed in 1968.

Notable residents

The village war memorial takes the form of an inscribed marble Roll of Honour and is located inside the church. The memorial lists six names as fallen during the First World War.[6]

Notes and References

  1. https://opendomesday.org/place/TF6916/east-winch/ Open Domesday: East Winch
  2. https://opendomesday.org/place/TF6916/east-winch/ East Winch
  3. Rogerson, A. (1974). Norfolk Heritage Explorer. Retrieved 27 December 2022
  4. Davis, R. (2022) Crash details. Retrieved 27 December 2022
  5. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E04006308 East Winch
  6. Edwards, M. (2017) East Winch. Retrieved 27 December 2022.