Wymondham

From Freepedia

There is also a Wymondham, Leicestershire

Wymondham (pronounced [ˈwɪndəm]) is a historic market town (population 12539^[1]) in Norfolk to the south west of the county town of Norwich, and on the main road to Thetford and Cambridge. In the town centre it has a unique market cross, an octagonal building raised about 10ft off the ground that used to have traders in the building. It is now a Public Information Centre.

Wymondham Abbey is the parish church.

Wymondham's most famous inhabitant was Robert Ket or Kett, who in 1549 led a rebellion of peasants and small farmers who were protesting about the enclosure of common land. He took a force of almost unarmed men, and fought for and held the City of Norwich for six weeks until defeated by the King's forces. He was hanged from Norwich Castle. Kett's Oak, said to be the rallying point for the rebellion, may still be seen today on the road between Wymondham and Hethersett.

In 1785 a prison was built incorporating the ideas of John Howard, the prison reformer. It was the first prison to be built in this country with separate cells for the prisoners, and was widely copied both in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and forms the basis of modern prisions.

The award-winning railway station, which is often, though wrongly, believed to have been used in the classic film Brief Encounter, has been lovingly restored by David Turner, and now houses a museum and themed restaurant. The station was however featured, along with Weybourne station on the North Norfolk railway, as the "Warmington-on-Sea" station in the popular BBC comedy series "Dad's Army". Wymondham station is the junction for the Mid-Norfolk Railway, although their trains, running 11.5 miles north to Dereham operate from a small station closer to the town centre and the Abbey.

The collapse of the wollen industry in the mid-nineteenth century led to great poverty in Wymondham. In 1836 there were 600 hand looms, but by 1845 only 60. During Victorian times the town was a backwater, escaping large-scale development, and the town centre remains very much as it must have been in the mid-seventeenth century, when the houses were rebuilt after a great fire. These newer houses, and those which survived the Great Fire in 1615, still surround shoppers and visitors as they pass through Wymondham's narrow Mediaeval streets.

1 The Great Fire of Wymondham 1615
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

The Great Fire of Wymondham 1615

The Great Fire of Wymondham broke out on Sunday 11th June 1615. Two areas of the town were affected implying there were two separate fires. One area was in Vicar Street and Middleton Street and the other in the Market Place, including Bridewell Street and Fairland Street. About 300 properties were destroyed in the fire.

Important buildings destroyed included the Market Cross, dating from 1286; the vicarage in Vicar Street; the 'Town Hall' on the corner of Middleton Street and Vicar Street; and the schoolhouse. However many buildings such as the Green Dragon pub did survive and many of the houses in Damgate Street date back to 1400, although this is now masked by later brickwork

The fire was started by three gypsies, William Flodder, John Flodder and Ellen Pendleton (Flodder) and a local person, Margaret Bix (Elvyn). The register of St Andrew's Church in Norwich records that John Flodder and others were executed on 2nd December 1615 for the burning of Wymondham.

Rebuilding of the destroyed buildings was quick in some cases and slower in others. A new Market Cross, the one we see today, was started and completed by 1617. However by 1621 there were still about 15 properties not yet rebuilt. Economic conditions in the 1620s could have been a contributory factor to the delay in rebuilding.