Swaffham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Swaffham |
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 The Buttercross Swaffham market place |
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 Swaffham
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| Area | 29.6 km2 (11.4 sq mi) |
| Population | 8,434 (2021) |
| • Density | 285/km2 (740/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TF815095 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SWAFFHAM |
| Postcode district | PE37 |
| Dialling code | 01760 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament |
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| Website | Town council |
Swaffham is a lively market town and civil parish located in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It sits about 12 miles east of King's Lynn and 31 miles west of Norwich.
The town covers an area of about 11.42 square miles. In 2001, its population was 6,935 people living in 3,130 homes. By 2011, the population grew to 7,258 people in 3,258 homes. Swaffham is part of the Breckland district for local government.
Contents
History of Swaffham
The name Swaffham comes from an old English phrase, Swǣfa hām. This means "the homestead of the Swabians." The Swabians were a group of people who likely came to England with the Angles and Saxons long ago.
Wool Trade and Market Place
By the 1300s and 1400s, Swaffham became important for its sheep and wool industry. This made the town quite wealthy. Because of this success, Swaffham has a very large market place.
The market cross you see there was given to the town in 1783. It was built by George Walpole, the 3rd Earl of Orford. On top of the cross is a statue of Ceres. She was the Roman goddess of the harvest. The old Corn Hall, designed by Mathias Goggs, was finished in 1858.
Nearby Historical Sites
About 8 kilometers north of Swaffham, you can find the old ruins of Castle Acre Priory and Castle Acre Castle. These were once very important places.
Hamond's Grammar School and Famous Carters
On the west side of Swaffham Market Place are several old buildings. For many years, these buildings were home to the historic Hamond's Grammar School. A plaque on the wall tells this story.
Harry Carter was an art teacher at the grammar school in the 1960s. He created many of the carved village signs you can see in towns and villages across Norfolk. This includes Swaffham's own sign, which tells the story of the famous Pedlar of Swaffham. This sign is in the market place, across from the old school gates. Harry Carter was also related to the famous archaeologist Howard Carter. Howard Carter spent much of his childhood in Swaffham.
Swaffham Museum: A Journey Through Time
The Swaffham Museum is a small, independent museum. It tells the story of Swaffham and the nearby villages in Norfolk. You can learn about history from the Stone Age all the way to today.
The museum has five galleries. They show local history and the geology of the area. There is also a special Egyptology room. This room is all about Howard Carter and the Ancient Egyptians. It celebrates 100 years since Howard Carter discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.
Tornado in Swaffham
On November 23, 1981, a tornado hit Swaffham. It was measured as an F1 on the Fujita scale. This happened during a time when many tornadoes struck the United Kingdom.
Folklore and Legends
Swaffham is famous for a folk tale called The Man Who Became Rich through a Dream. This story is about a pedlar from the town. He dreamed for several nights that if he waited on London Bridge, he would hear good news.
So, he traveled to London and waited on the bridge for days. Finally, a shopkeeper asked him why he was waiting. The pedlar told him about his dream. The shopkeeper laughed and said he often dreamed that if he dug in a certain orchard in Swaffham, he would find buried treasure. The pedlar went back to Swaffham, dug in the orchard, and found the treasure!
The Black Shuck Legend
In old stories from the Middle Ages, people talked about a black, hairy dog called the Black Shuck. It was said to wander around Swaffham, Castle Acre, and Great Cressingham. This dog was rumored to ambush merchants who were going to sell their goods in big towns. Today, some people still talk about a large, black, puma-like cat that might be roaming around Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul
The church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Swaffham is very special. It is one of only a few churches that have angels carved from wood instead of stone. These angels are found around the top of the church walls.
The building you see today dates back to 1454. It was built on the foundations of an even older church. Inside, you can also find a wood carving of the "Pedlar of Swaffham," linking the church to the town's famous legend.
Transport in Swaffham
If you want to travel by train, the closest railway stations to Swaffham are in King's Lynn and Downham Market. These stations are on the Fen line. From there, you can catch regular trains to Ely, Cambridge, and London King's Cross. These services are run by Great Northern.
Past Railway Connections
Until 1968, Swaffham had its own railway station. It was part of the Great Eastern Railway line from King's Lynn. Just after Swaffham, the line split into two. One part went south to Thetford, and the other went east towards Dereham. All these lines were closed as part of the Beeching cuts, which removed many railway lines across the UK. Sometimes, people talk about the idea of rebuilding a direct train link from Norwich to King's Lynn, passing through Swaffham again.
Roads and Bus Services
The A47 road, which goes from Birmingham to Great Yarmouth, now goes around the north of Swaffham. This bypass was opened in 1981. The A1065 road, which travels from Mildenhall to Fakenham, still goes through the center of Swaffham. It crosses the A47 at a special junction north of the town.
First Eastern Counties runs the Excel bus routes through Swaffham. These buses provide regular public transport between Dereham and King's Lynn. Many of these services also continue east to Norwich and west to Peterborough.
Media and Local News
For local news and television shows, people in Swaffham can watch BBC East and ITV Anglia. TV signals come from either the Tacolneston or Sandy Heath TV transmitters.
Local radio stations include BBC Radio Norfolk (104.4 FM), Heart East (102.4 FM), and Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk (96.7 FM). There are also Amber Radio, Radio West Norfolk, and KL1 Radio. The local newspaper for the town is the Watton and Swaffham Times.
Sports and Fun Activities
Swaffham has a Non-League football club called Swaffham Town. They play their games at Shoemakers Lane.
You can also find Swaffham Raceway in the town. This used to be a greyhound track. Now, it hosts exciting stock car racing events.
Wind Turbines and the Green Britain Centre
Today, Swaffham is known for its two large Enercon E-66 wind turbines. The first one started working in 1999, and the second in 2003. Together, they can create more than three megawatts of electricity.
The first wind turbine built was an Enercon E66/1500. It could generate 1.5 MW of power. Its main body (nacelle) was 67 meters high, and its blades (rotor) were 66 meters wide. This turbine was special because it had an observation deck just below the nacelle. People could climb up to it during the 2000s and 2010s. It was the only wind turbine in the world with such a public viewing area! Eight more turbines have since been built nearby in the village of North Pickenham.
The Green Britain Centre
These turbines were first connected to the EcoTech Centre, a visitor center that opened in 1999. In 2008, an energy company called Ecotricity took over the site. In 2012, the visitor center was renamed the Green Britain Centre.
The center was a place for school trips and events. It had educational displays about being sustainable with food, energy, and transport. It was most popular in 2016, when 22,000 people visited, and 8,000 climbed the turbine.
In June 2018, the center announced it had closed due to money reasons. Ecotricity planned to give the building back to Breckland District Council (BDC). The council then tried to rent or sell it. They also thought about trading it with Swaffham Town Council for some building land. A plan to turn the building into a leisure center was considered but later dropped. In 2021, the building was sold to a company called Flexion Global to use as their main office. After the sale, Swaffham Town Council gave BDC a piece of land next to the center. BDC plans to build a leisure center there.
Climate in Swaffham
Like the rest of the British Isles and East Anglia, Swaffham has a maritime climate. This means it has cool summers and mild winters. The closest place where official weather data is collected is RAF Marham. This is about 5.5 miles west of Swaffham.
Temperatures in the Swaffham-Marham area have ranged from a high of 34.8°C (94.6°F) in August 1990 to a low of -16.7°C (1.9°F) in February 1956. More recently, the highest temperature in the last ten years was 34.6°C (94.3°F) in August 2003. The lowest was -10.3°C (13.5°F) in January 2010.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) |
7.1 (44.8) |
10.0 (50.0) |
12.2 (54.0) |
16.2 (61.2) |
19.0 (66.2) |
21.7 (71.1) |
21.8 (71.2) |
18.6 (65.5) |
14.3 (57.7) |
9.7 (49.5) |
7.4 (45.3) |
13.8 (56.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.5 (32.9) |
0.6 (33.1) |
2.3 (36.1) |
4.0 (39.2) |
6.9 (44.4) |
9.7 (49.5) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.8 (53.2) |
9.6 (49.3) |
6.6 (43.9) |
3.2 (37.8) |
1.6 (34.9) |
5.7 (42.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 54.7 (2.15) |
38.5 (1.52) |
49.5 (1.95) |
46.8 (1.84) |
48.1 (1.89) |
55.9 (2.20) |
44.1 (1.74) |
50.5 (1.99) |
54.9 (2.16) |
59.8 (2.35) |
63.3 (2.49) |
55.3 (2.18) |
621.3 (24.46) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 53.6 | 73.2 | 101.7 | 150.6 | 204.3 | 191.1 | 202.7 | 192.8 | 139.8 | 109.7 | 69.0 | 48.1 | 1,536.6 |
| Source: Met Office | |||||||||||||
Swaffham on TV: Kingdom
In the summer of 2006, the TV show Kingdom filmed some scenes in Swaffham. The show starred Stephen Fry. In Kingdom, Swaffham is called Market Shipborough.
The pub called the Startled Duck in the TV series is actually the Greyhound Inn in real life. This is where the Earl of Orford started the first coursing club open to the public in 1776. Peter Kingdom's office in the show is Oakleigh House, near the town square. This used to be the home of the Head Master of Hamond's Grammar School. The scenes by the sea in the show were filmed at Wells-next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk coast.
Notable People from Swaffham
- Dominic Byrne, a newsreader on The Chris Moyles Show
- Michael Carroll, a lottery winner
- Howard Carter, the archaeologist who found the tomb of Tutankhamun
- Christopher Dawes, author of Rat Scabies and The Holy Grail
- Stephen Fry, a famous actor and writer
- W. E. Johns, author of the "Biggles" adventure books
- William Methwold (1590–1653), an East India Company merchant, born nearby
- John Dugmore of Swaffham (1793–1871), a draughtsman and traveler
- Hilda Plowright (1890-1973), an actress
- Phyllis Broughton (1860–1926), an actress who grew up here
- Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson (1842–1921), a First Sea Lord
See also
In Spanish: Swaffham para niños
