Editing Swaffham (section)

==History==
[[File:Swaffham Town Hall.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Swaffham Town Hall]]]]
The name of the town derives from the [[Old English language|Old English]] ''Swǣfa hām'' = "the homestead of the [[Swabia]]ns"; some of them presumably came with the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] and [[Saxons]].

By the 14th and 15th centuries Swaffham had an emerging sheep and [[wool]] industry.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5ckDwAAQBAJ&q=Swaffham+wool+industry&pg=PT100|title=50 Gems of Norfolk: The History & Heritage of the Most Iconic Places|last=Goodrum|first=Pete|date=2017-05-15|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|isbn=978-1-4456-5728-8|language=en}}</ref> As a result of this prosperity, the town has a large market place. The market cross here was built by George Walpole, 3rd [[Baron Walpole|Earl of Orford]] and presented to the town in 1783.<ref>Ripper, B. (1979) ''Ribbons from the Pedlar's Pack'' p126 {{ISBN|0-9506728-0-7}}</ref> On the top is the statue of [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] goddess of the harvest. The former Corn Hall, which was designed by Mathias Goggs, was completed in 1858.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Former Corn Hall|num= 1269617|access-date=1 July 2023}}</ref>

About [[1 E3 m|8&nbsp;km]] to the north of Swaffham can be found the ruins of the formerly important [[Castle Acre Priory]] and [[Castle Acre Castle]].

On the west side of Swaffham Market Place are several old buildings which for many years housed the historic Hamond's [[Grammar School]], as a plaque on the wall of the main building explains. The Hamond's Grammar School building latterly came to serve as the [[sixth form]] for the [[The Nicholas Hamond Academy|Hamond's High School]], but that use has since ceased. Harry Carter, the grammar school's art teacher of the 1960s, was responsible for a great number of the carved [[village sign]]s that are now found in many of Norfolk's towns and villages, including Swaffham's own sign commemorating the legendary [[Pedlar of Swaffham]],<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/meft/meft21.htm The Pedlar of Swaffham.] ''More English Fairy Tales by [[Joseph Jacobs]] (1894)''. Retrieved on 27 March 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.oldcity.org.uk/norwich/names/pedlar.php The Pedlar of Swaffham.] ''Old City – Names and Legends''. Retrieved on 27 March 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.aniboom.com/video/298688/The%20Pedlar%20of%20Swaffham/?ref=/Scoreboard/aniBoom_Awards_2008 Animation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025103428/http://www.aniboom.com/video/298688/The%20Pedlar%20of%20Swaffham/?ref=%2FScoreboard%2FaniBoom_Awards_2008 |date=25 October 2008 }}</ref> which is in the corner of the market place just opposite the old school's gates.<ref>[http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/swaffham.htm Literary Norfolk] Retrieved 22 July 2011.</ref> Carter was a distant cousin of the [[archaeologist]] and [[egyptologist]] [[Howard Carter]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AyK0_weGa20C&dq=harry+carter+swaffham&pg=PA4 Google books] Retrieved 22 July 2011.</ref> who spent much of his childhood in the town.<ref>[http://www.atlantisring.com/howard_carter.aspx Howard Carter] Retrieved 22 July 2011.</ref>

The [[Swaffham Museum]] is a small, independent social history museum for Swaffham and the surrounding villages in Norfolk from the [[Stone Age]] to the modern. It has five galleries exhibiting local history and local geology as well as an [[Egyptology]] room about [[Howard Carter]] and the [[Ancient Egyptians]], celebrating the centenary year of Howard Carter discovering the [[Tomb of Tutankhamun]] in 1922.<ref>[https://www.swaffhammuseum.co.uk/ Swaffham Museum] Retrieved 22 July 2011.</ref>

Swaffham was struck by a tornado measuring F1 on the [[Fujita scale]] and T2 on the [[TORRO scale]] on 23 November 1981 during the [[1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eswd.eu/cgi-bin/eswd.cgi|title = European Severe Weather Database}}</ref>