Editing Wymondham (section)

==History==
===Origin of the name===
The uncertain, [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|Anglo-Saxon]] origins of the name probably consist of a personal name such as ''Wigmund'' or ''Wimund'', with ''hām'' meaning village or settlement, or ''hamm'' meaning a river meadow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.wymondhamtowncouncil.org/town-history |title=Town History |website=Wymondham Town Council |language=en |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Wymondham |title=Key to English Place-names |website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk |access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> The place has been referred to as [[Windham (disambiguation)|Windham]] on occasions.

===Early history===
The site where Wymondham stands shows evidence of occupation from the [[Prehistoric Norfolk|earliest period]] of human settlement in Norfolk. [[Pot boiler]]s and burnt flint have been found in nearby fields, as have [[Flint axe|flint axe-heads]], [[Scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]] and many other objects.<ref name=":2"/> Evidence of the [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] appears in a number of [[ring ditch]]es, [[Enclosure (archaeology)|enclosures]] and [[Cropmark|linear crop marks]]. Objects found include an arrowhead, fragments of [[rapier]]s, assorted metal tools and pottery [[sherds]].<ref name=":2"/>

[[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] artefacts were investigated systematically while the A11 bypass was being built in the early 1990s. There are [[posthole]]s, quarries and evidence of iron smelting and bone working.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF25887 |title=MNF25887 – Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> Objects from the period include coins, jewellery and pottery.<ref name=":2"/>

Roman remains include an aisled structure<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF45612 |title=MNF45612 - Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> and a copper-alloy metal-working site. A Roman road from [[Venta Icenorum]] to [[Watton, Norfolk|Watton]] and beyond is visible as cropmarks. Large numbers of [[Roman currency|coins]] and pottery sherds have been found, as have personal items such as brooches, cosmetic tools and a duck figurine.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF33031 |title=MNF33031 – Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref><ref name=":2"/>

Few Saxon buildings survive, although excavations showed a sunken-featured building with Early and Middle Saxon pottery. Remains of a possible Late Saxon church were discovered during excavations at Wymondham Abbey in 2002.<ref name=":2"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.south-norfolk.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Wymondham_Character_Appraisal_2012.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014150955/https://www.south-norfolk.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Wymondham_Character_Appraisal_2012.pdf |archive-date=2019-10-14 |url-status=live |title=Wymondham Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan September 2012 |access-date=14 October 2019}}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
By 1086, Wymondham had 376 households (giving an estimated total population of 1,880), which put it among the top 20 per cent of settlements recorded in [[Domesday Book|Domesday]]. The land was held by two feudal Lords: [[William the Conqueror]] and [[William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey|William de Warenne]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TG1101/wymondham/ |title=Wymondham {{!}} Domesday Book |website=opendomesday.org |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref>
[[File:Abbey from meadow 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Wymondham Abbey]] from the south, viewed across the River Tiffey and Abbey Meadow]]
The Saxon church made way for a new Norman [[Wymondham Abbey#History|priory]] in 1107, its church shared between the monks and the townspeople. This evolved over the centuries into the [[Wymondham Abbey]] seen today.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wymondhamabbey.org.uk/ |title=Wymondham Abbey |website=Wymondham Abbey |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref>

Earthworks at Moot Hill are probably a medieval ring-work dating between 1088 and 1139.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF9438 |title=MNF9438 |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref> It is on the [[Historic England|Historic England's]] [[Heritage at risk|Heritage at Risk]] register.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/29488 |title=Moot Hill, Wymondham – South Norfolk {{!}} Historic England |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en |access-date=2019-10-19}}</ref>

The first market charter came from [[John, King of England|King John]] in 1204, although an earlier market was probably held. The charter was renewed by [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]] in 1440 and a weekly market is still held on Fridays.<ref name=":0"/>

===Early modern period===
[[File:Cmglee Wymondham Market Cross.jpg|thumb|Wymondham Market Cross in September 2017]]
Wymondham Abbey was [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolved]] in 1538 and the domestic buildings and monastic half of the church were gradually demolished. Loye Ferrers, the last Abbot, became Vicar when the post fell vacant, and the remaining church buildings continued in use as the parish church.

[[Robert Kett]] led a [[Kett's Rebellion|rebellion]] in 1549 of peasants and small farmers against enclosure of common land. His force of scarcely armed men held the city of Norwich for six weeks until defeated by the [[Edward VI of England|King's]] forces. He was hanged at [[Norwich Castle]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britainexpress.com/History/tudor/ketts-rebellion.htm |title=Kett's Rebellion, 1549 {{!}} Tudor History |last=Express |first=Britain |website=Britain Express |language=en |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref> and his brother William was hanged from the church west tower. Kett's Oak, ostensibly the rallying point of the rebellion, can be seen on the [[B roads in Zone 1 of the Great Britain numbering scheme|B1172]] road between Wymondham and Hethersett, part of an earlier main road to London.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF9451 |title=Kett's-Oak – Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-13}}</ref>[[File:Cmglee Wymondham Bridewell Street.jpg|thumb|Bridewell Street in September 2017]]
{{anchor|Great Fire}}<!--used by [[1615 Great Fire of Wymondham]]-->
The town suffered a major fire beginning on Sunday, 11 June 1615. Losses included the Market Cross, the vicarage, the old town hall and the schoolhouse. Buildings that survived include the ''Green Dragon'' inn. Thereafter, 327 inhabitants – some 55 per cent of residents at the time – made claims for lost goods and houses.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A fier devised of the divell: the great fire of Wymondham 1615 |last=Wilson, John, 1936 October 20 |others=Wymondham Heritage Society |date=November 2013 |isbn=978-1-901553-10-9 |location=Wymondham, Norfolk |pages=15 |oclc=938789222}}</ref> The register of St Andrew's Church in Norwich records that John Flodder and others were executed for arson on 2 December 1615.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A fier devised of the divell: the great fire of Wymondham 1615 |last=Wilson, John, 1936 October 20 |others=Wymondham Heritage Society |date=November 2013 |isbn=978-1-901553-10-9 |location=Wymondham, Norfolk |pages=4–5 |oclc=938789222}}</ref> Rebuilding varied in pace. A new Market Cross was completed in 1617, but in 1621 there were still some 15 properties to be rebuilt.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A fier devised of the divell: the great fire of Wymondham 1615 |last=Wilson, John, 1936 October 20 |others=Wymondham Heritage Society |date=November 2013 |isbn=978-1-901553-10-9 |location=Wymondham, Norfolk |pages=25–26 |oclc=938789222}}</ref>

In 1695, the Attleborough road was the second British [[Turnpike trusts|turnpike]] built, pre-dated only by the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF12653 |title=MNF12653 – Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref>

===Later Wymondham===
In 1785, a prison was built in line with the ideas of the prison reformer [[John Howard (prison reformer)|John Howard]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF13361|title=MNF13361 – Norfolk Heritage Explorer |website=www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk |access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> The first in England to have separate cells for prisoners, it was widely copied there and in the United States.<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wymondhamheritagemuseum.co.uk/?p=about.wymondham.bridewell |title=About Wymondham Bridewell |website=www.wymondhamheritagemuseum.co.uk |access-date=2019-10-15}}</ref> It now serves as [[Wymondham Bridewell|Wymondham Heritage Museum]].

The collapse of the woollen industry in the mid-19th century led to poverty. In 1836 there were still 600 hand looms, but by 1845 only 60. The town became a backwater in [[Victorian era|Victorian times]], untouched by development elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Wymondham: a century remembered |last=Yaxley, Philip |date=1999 |publisher=Nostalgia |isbn=0-947630-26-0 |location=Toftwood |pages=94 |oclc=43418889}}</ref>

The [[Norwich & Brandon Railway]] opened in 1845 and a branch north to [[Dereham]] and [[Wells-next-the-Sea]] in 1847. Another branch opened in 1881 ran south to the [[Great Eastern Main Line]] at [[Forncett]].

The [[Murders at Stanfield Hall]] occurred on 28 November 1848.

In 1943, a military hospital at Morley was handed to the [[United States Army Air Forces]]. Over 3,000 patients were treated there after [[Normandy landings|D-Day]]. It was later converted for use by [[Wymondham College]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Wymondham: a century remembered |last=Yaxley, Philip |date=1999 |publisher=Nostalgia |isbn=0-947630-26-0 |location=Toftwood |pages=46 |oclc=43418889}}</ref>

For much of the 20th century, there were two brush factories together employing up to 1,000 people. They both closed in the 1980s and the land was turned over to housing.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |title=Wymondham: a century remembered |last=Yaxley, Philip |date=1999 |publisher=Nostalgia |isbn=0-947630-26-0 |location=Toftwood |pages=77–78 |oclc=43418889}}</ref>