Editing South Walsham (section)

== History ==
The villages name means 'W(e)alh's homestead/village' or 'Britons' homestead/village'.
[[File:South Walsham.jpg|thumb|South Walsham village sign]]
South Walsham is recorded in the [[Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici]] as Súðwalshám<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kemble|first=John Mitchell|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/codex-diplomaticus-aevi-saxonici/0BC3730C3FB625A73963BB17DFB64DE9|title=Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, Volume 6|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1848|isbn=978-1-108-03590-3|pages=338}}</ref> in a document produced during the reign of [[Edward the Confessor]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kemble|first=John Mitchell|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/codex-diplomaticus-aevi-saxonici/3E8C661C8348AC4406DA63DC73350BE1|title=Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, Volume 4|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1846|isbn=978-1-108-03588-0}}</ref> Early documents suggest that land in the present parish was owned by a freeman named under Guert, the brother of [[Harold Godwinson]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walsham Hundred: South-Walsham {{!}} British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol11/pp138-143|access-date=2020-06-16|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> at the time of the [[Norman conquest of England]], before passing under the stewardship of [[Godric the Steward]]. Its entry in the [[Domesday Book]] shows land ownership divided between [[William the Conqueror]], [[William de Beaufeu|William, Bishop of Thetford]], Godric the Steward and St Benet's Abbey<ref>{{Cite web|title=[South] Walsham {{!}} Domesday Book|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TG3613/south-walsham/|access-date=2020-06-16|website=opendomesday.org}}</ref> - in total, there were around 124 villagers excluding women and children.<ref name=":1" /> During the Middle Ages, much of the land in the parish was used to produce [[peat]] for fuel, and records of [[turbary]] show that around two hundred thousand turves were sold per annum, yielding an average income of around seven pounds per annum.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Lambert|first=J. M.|title=The Making of the Broads: A reconsideration of their origin in the light of new evidence|last2=Jennings|first2=J. N.|last3=Smith|first3=C. T.|last4=Green|first4=Charles|last5=Hutchinson|first5=J. N.|publisher=Royal Geographical Society|year=1960|location=London}}</ref> These revenues dropped rapidly, from over eight pounds (and 250 000 units) in 1268–69 to around two pounds (and 56 700 units) in 1290–91,<ref name=":2" /> as the former peat cuttings began to flood and [[The Broads]] were formed. There are references to flooded land (or ''Broddinge'') as early as 1315.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

After the [[English Reformation]], the abbey at St Benet's remained in use for some time, but had fallen into decay by the early stages of the reign of [[Elizabeth I]].

In the twentieth century, war memorials list 14 deaths from within the parish during [[World War I]].<ref name=":1" /> The tower of St Lawrence's church, damaged by a fire on the 30 May 1827,<ref name=":1" /> collapsed on the 18 March 1971, with little damage to the church itself.
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