METHWOLD PAST - PRESENT I FUTURE METHWOLD PARISH APPRAISAL L994 CONIEI.ITS PageNo Preface 1 ,) Acknowledgements Introduction 3 A PottedEarly History 4 Land 13 Population T4 Housing 1.6 Employment 20 Retail 23 Transport 25 Services 29 Health 29 SocialServices 30 VoluntaryServices 31 Telephone 31 Electricity 32 Water 32 Sewerage 33 Refuse 33 Postal 34 Police 34 Fire 35 Education 37 SocialActivites N Environment 46 Religion 47 Information 50 I-ocd Govemment 51 Youth 54 AmericanResidents 55 Future 56 C-onclusionsand Recommendations 58 PRENACB Towardsthe end of.1993,after consultationwith the Norfolk Rural CommunityCouncil, ParishCouncil held an openmeeting to discussthe feasibility of a ParishAppraisal. Althougbthcc wereno major or divisive issuesconfronting the Parish,it was thoughtthat the Parishwould bencfr from anAppraisal. In January1994 a SteeringGroup, completely independent of the ParishCouncil, was setup with tb taskto conducttheAppraisal and write a Report.This SteeringGroup comprised 5 born - and- brod Methwoldiansand 4 newcomers,bringing together traditional and outside backgrounds and establisb- ing an early confidencein theAppraisal within thelocal community. At its secondmeeting the SteeringGroup proposed its timetable:a Questionnaireto be finalisedbt earlyMay, distribution of QuestionnaireinJune, collection of Questionnaireby theend of June,analysb of returns by the end of August and then two to three months to draft, publish, and circulatethc Report. It is a credit to everyoneconcerned that this tight timetableslipped only slightly. For anAppraisalto be representativeof theviews of the Parishit is essentialthat answeredQuestion- nairesbe returnedby the majority of Households.Our Questionnairewas framedto be completely confidentialand free from embarrassments,but inviting commentson all issues. Questionswhich might possiblyidentify the family who hadfilled in a returnand questionswhich relatedto money, eitherproperty values or personalfinances, were rejected. Furthermore it wasdecided that each indi- vidual distributorof the Questionnaireshould deal with no morethan L0 houses,which wasachieved with 50 volunteers.A subsequentreturn of just below 907ojustified thesemeasures. The smoothrunning of thisAppraisalhas been due to the goodhumour, dedication and persistence of the distributors,the enthusiasmof manylocal peopleto sharetheir knowledgeof the Parishpast and present,the willing cooperationof all organisationsand firms, andthe supportfrom thosestaff con- tactedat King's Lynn andWest Norfolk BoroughCouncil. Only time will tell whetheror not the hardwork put into this Appraisalhas been worthwhile. The mereexercise of carryingit out hasbeen highly rewarding,llinging togethermany people in a com- moncause and offering a rareopportunity to all to let off steam.Hopefully this Appraisal Report will increaseawareness of this particularrural community,stimulate debate and discussion,and lead to sometangible actions. To everyone who hasparticipated in thisAppraisal,especially the peopleof theParish for answering the Questionnaire,sincere and grateful thanks. GeoffHancock Chairmanof the SteeringGroup January1995 ACITNOWLEDGEMENTS SteeringGroup: I-esleyBrown (Secretary) Judith Griffin David Hunt Brian Fulcher Irs Fuller RosLakey Brian Merrick David Thomas QuestionnaireD istributors : Judith Bennett SusieBick DerekBloomfield David Brown ElaineBunnett Nicola Carter DeniseCharlesworth-Smith JudithClements PeterClements ElizabethDarby FrancisDarby CeliaDarby JamesDouglas Anthony Edwards LiesbethFulcher PaulineGooch BetsyGould Hazel Gray Dawn Guyer Nick Guyer Ellen Hancock Mo Hobbs PatHodgson Ethel Hanison JeanLansdown Ken I-ansdown Carol Hunt Linda Malster Nigel Malster Les Lawrence Thora Mclachlan Abe Merrick John Manning Beryl Neville Edith Newton JuneMerrick ClaudineRiches MargaretSayer Vi Palmer TeresaThomas WalterVincent Bob Spinks Madge Watts Jo Wilkinson PamWatts DoreenWortley VeraWortley PeterWilkinson Ken Young JohnYounge Rita Wilson Borough Council: Philip Cousins PeterJermany ChrisNelson Ray Sheam Carl Suckling DaveThomason Norfolk Rural Community C ouncil : Geoffrey I-eigh Sourceof Information: PatsieAllen VemonBarrett Anne Brown SueBunten AmandaCox MonicaDance Anthony Darby FrancisDarby RichardEhlers Ken Earle GordonFuller FredaLakey Ian Nisbet Ruth Masters Brian Rayner Malcolm Rayner Adrian Russell Vi Samwell Tony Stone To JanetMcClean for all sketches. To Andrew Lane for permissionto reproduceextracts from his C-ourseNotes on local History. To krks PressDereham for permissionto publish the ParishMap from 'FadensMap of Norfon< (L997),ed. J C Barringer'. To The Norfolk RuralCommunity Council, the King's Lynnand West Norfolk BoroughCouncil and the Methwold ParishCouncil for fundingthisAppraisal. INTRODUCTION This Reportis written for, and on behalf of, the The aim has been to presentan peopleof MethwoldParish. It servesthree aims: documentwhichis readableand informativg to inform the peopleof the Parishabout the whichwill alsoserve as a usefulreference. historyof the Parishand aboutthe factors a brief historyof Methwold, eachaspect of lil which determineand governthe life of the in theParish is thendealt wittr in turn wherelocJ Parishat the presenttime. opinionis interwovenwith relevantbackgrod information,and commented on by the Stecri43 to provide platform a for theopinions of the Group. Becauseof the needto publish rtri peopleof the Parishon the currentstate of Appraisal Report as quickly as possible tb the Parishand their suggestionsfor future backgroundinformation may be incomplete,d developments. somedetails may be incorrect. to stimulatefurther debatenot only within theParish, but alsowithin the Boroughand All interpretationsexpressed in this Rrpotg County,on wherewe go from here. including the Conclusions and Recommendations,have arisen solely from thc The opinionsof thepeople of theParish presented deliberationsof the Steering Group. This in this Reportare based the on returnsto the SteeringGroup, with its lack of experiencein Methwold Parish Questionnaire.The complete local governmentor in top management.may detaileddata, including every individualcomment, be naiveand ill-informed in someareas, if so, from all returnsare listed in anAppendix.Acopy perhapsallowances can be madeand excusedas of thisAppendixis availableto anyonewho wants over-enthusiasm. one(see back page). _/\ ?, g,w ff-Vt Catuvellauni;the Iceni retainedtheir customsand were exemptfrom Roman taxes. But when the Iceni king, Prasutagas,died in 60 AD the local RomanProcurator broke the agreementwith the Iceni and ruthlesslyimposed Romanisation, allegedlyflogging the King's wife, Boadica and raping the King's daughters.The incident riggered off the revolt headedby Boadica, supportedby other tribeswho had experiencedRoman suppression; the Roman garrisonsof Colchester, London and St Albans were destroyed and all inhabitants massacred.The rebellionwas brutally suppressedby the Romans in 61.AD, rebelswere slaughtered andthe remainingIceni ribes people wereherded into forcedlabour to drainthe Fens. causeda massmigration of Celtic Britons westwardtowards Wales and lreland; local Celtic The next 250 years were peaceful and art, customsand place names were completely prosperous.EastAnglia, aided by Fendrainage wiped out. and inland waterways,running as far as york, supplied corn to the RomanLegions. The The Angle-Saxons,or Anglians,differed from Romansbuilt a floating causewayof logs over the earlier Britons, preferring uplandsto the the Fen marshesfrom Denverto peterborough. Brecklandsand settledin the rolling wooded This areaproducedwool, pottery, pewter, woven areas,or wolds. Methwoldwas possibly settled cloth andsalt (from Denver).The remains of a by a group known as the Buntings,initially in Romanvilla andoutbuildings ftilns, sheds)have theThornham Road area, movingto the Buntings beenfound between Methwold and Brookville, Lane area,finally settlingin the centreof the indicatinga villa of brick andflint completewith presentvillage; the reasonsfor the moveswere bathroomsand underfloorcentral heating; this probablydue to floodingand moving to slightly villa might havebeen a sheepfarm or merelya higherground. retirementhome. ARoman sword and evidence Many place of a mosaicfloor havebeen found near the Hythe. current namesoriginated with the - -ford, -wold, Romancoins have been found in Anglo-Saxons: ham, -ing, -ton, Methwoldand -well, Brookville. all indicatedan Anglo-Saxon settlement. Methwold, Raidsby Anglesand Saxonsstarted about 350 previously Medelwolde, Methelwalde, AD at a time whenthe RomanEmpire began to Methelwolda,denotes a settlement in decline.Roman Britain graduallydisintegrated; themiddle of thewolds. Hythe means,landing place'; the Fen drainagesystem collapsed as Romans MethwoldHythe was a port on the edge of were recalledhome, the lastfioops departing in the waterwaysof the fens; Hilgay and 430AD. Southerywere islandsin the fens. Severals meansa collectionof small settlements. Angles and Saxonsarrived in increasing @rookvilledid notget its nameuntil the 1900's.) numbers,to conquer and settle, apparently EastAnglia leavingtheir homelandsdeserted. Their savage prosperedfrom600ADwith its wool industry, policy of genocideand slaveryof the locals tradingwith Wessex,via the Icknield Way,and across the North Seawith Europe. Danish raids from around835 AD devastated the acreagecould be greaterif thequality of the EastAnglia: towns and ports were looted, land was poor. Methwoldwas part of the Europeantrade was severed, and a punitivetax,