Wymondham & District Through Time

This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which Wymondham & District has changed and developed over time.

Ten miles outside Norwich, on the route to Thetford and the rest of the country, sits the Norfolk market town of Wymondham. Its name was once thought to originate from the Anglo-Saxon for ‘village on the pleasant mount’, and the area has seen human occupation since prehistoric times - a testament to the town’s agreeable location. Over the centuries, Wymondham has played host to rebels and royalty, prospering through agriculture, the wool trade and industries such as weaving, woodturning and brush-making. The second largest parish in Norfolk, its population continues to grow.Wymondham is known for its distinctive Market Cross, built in 1615 after a great fire devastated the town centre, and for its Abbey, originally founded as a Norman priory, the east tower now a picturesque ruin as a result of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. These iconic buildings feature among the selection of old and new images included in this book; residents and visitors alike will enjoy a century of scenes and snippets from Wymondham and its surrounding villages, such as Ashwellthorpe, Ketteringham and Wicklewood.