Latest Site Updates – with links

New in March 2024

There is a new “Village Voices” recording giving advice on what you need to know, should you wish to hire a reindeer. Find it near the bottom of the Bothway family page, under the People menu button.

A brand new page: “About us” has been added to provide many more details about us!!

A new page has been added to describe the Carrier services for moving goods / parcels to & from Norwich in this area from the late 1700s and onwards. The page is under the People menu – in the sub-menu for Traders.

Information has been added about the travelling knife and scissor man – on a visit to Toprow in the 1950s. A photograph and details have been included under Shops and Buses near the bottom of the page.

New in February 2024

A map showing what we believe to be the extent of Wreningham’s Old Commons has been added to the top of The Old Commons page.

A further map has been added to the Maps – early 1800s page to show the c1839 tithe map but, in this case, colour coded by identified land-owners.

Spratts Shop and bus business was nearly sold in 1961. The information has been added to the Shops and Buses page – and the complete page has been rearranged.

A new page has been added: Maps – early 1800s under the Places menu button. It provides an Ordnance Survey map of the village from 1818 and a modernised Tithe map from c1839. The latter includes a link to a transcription of the Tithe Table – listing all the landowners and their tennants from that time.

New in January 2024

A transcription of the (very long!) Wreningham “Inclosure” Act from 1777 is provided from a link part-way down the The Old Commons page, under the “Places” menu button. It describes who was allocated which Common lands – and where each piece of land was located.

A transcription of the (9 page) July 1805 farm lease agreement between Charles Harrison (land owner) and Wreningham farm tenant: William Burton, has been added as a link near the top of the Burton / Poplar Farm page. The text provides a facinating insight into the typical obligations and responsibilities of tenant farmers at this time.

A new page, Wreningham Raceway – under the “Events” menu button, tells the story of Wreningham’s Trotting Track where horses and their jockeys regularly raced around a grass track lined with white railings at Poplars Farm.

A story about a Fish & Chip van which caught fire in Penny’s Green in the 1970s has been added to the bottom of the Shops and Buses page.

Archived images from the Wymondham Town Archive have been added. These include an Auction Map of Fir Grove from 1912 and an extract from an Auction Document from The Mill dated 1887 – which can each be found on those respective pages.

A NEW FEATURE has been enabled on the website which permits most images to be enlarged on the screen. Simply click on the image (or tap when using a touch-sensitive screen) and the selected image will display with increased dimensions and on a white background. To return to the full page, click (or tap) for a second time. Note: this feature has mixed success on small screen devices such as mobile phones – where rotating the phone can also help.

New in December 2023

A Wreningham School group photograph from about 1984 has been added to the Wreningham School page. This photograph was published in a set of laser discs by the BBC, in 1986, as part of their Domesday 900th anniversary project.

A high quality Aerial Reconnaissance photograph from 1944 taken by the US Army Air Force has been added to The Airfield page – courtesy of Historic England. Scroll down to the middle of the page. It is possble to zoom into / roam around the photograph. A link is also included to many similar images from the same period. The Airfield page has been re-arranged and provides additional information about the aircraft.

A translated extract from the Will (proved in 1377) of the “Little Wreningham” Church Rector, Henry Fithel has been added in a grey features box on the Wreningham Church page.

A postcard image of Toprow has been added near the top of the Toprow 1918 Auction page. This photograph would have been taken in much the same period as the auction.

A new photograph of the Methodist Chapel has been added. This is believed to be from about the time of its opening. See here – near the bottom of the page.

A higher quality photograph of the Windmill has come to light which shows much greater detail of the mill’s wooden structure. The photograph has replaced the original at very the top of the Windmill page. Further down the same page is an impressive photograph of a single F C Aldridge lorry has been added.

A new features box has been added near the bottom of the Wreningham School page describing the July 1973 retirement of teacher Irene Gray.

A photograph from a coach trip to Felixstowe (probably in 1955) has been added to the Shops and Buses page (under People / Traders) – part-way down in a grey features box,

The Post Offices page has been re-arranged and now includes a higher quality postcard image of the Post Office in Ashwellthorpe Road, a photograph of the original Wreningham Post Office and details about the 1965 auction of the cottage containing the Toprow Post Office.

New in November 2023

A new page, here, has been added with links to listings of Wreningham participants in World War 1 – 1914 to 1919, not only those who gave their lives. The information also includes a listing of those who were not resident in Wreningham but had family connections in the village. A listing is also included of those who were eligible to vote in the General Election at the end of the war but who were absent as a result of their postings. This new page is in addition to the existing Commemoration page which gives details of the fallen.

New in September 2023

A new page has been added which provides information about Wreningham village content in the BBC Domesday Project from the mid 1980s. The new page is under the Events drop-down. A link is here.

Additions have been made to The Mill page adding the story – including photographs, of the Aldridge family haulage business and information about the sale of the Aldridge business to William Ashby and Sons (in a grey features box). Go here and scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page.

New in July 2023

A new page has been added which provides information about John William Bullimore’s 1861 Diary. The new page is under the Stories drop-down. A link is here. The page, itself, also includes a link to a pdf transcription for the diary’s entire year. The page content is based on the talk given at the 30th June 2023 WHG meeting.

New in June 2023

A link to the image of a presentation document given to Mabel Long in 1906 has been added to the Long Family page. Scroll down to the section headed “Mabel Long – organist”.

New in May 2023

Minor additions have been made to the Burton’s / Poplar Farm page (about halfway down the page) to include references to Elm Tree Farm (also known as George’s Farm) which had been owned by Burton family.

Two Cannon Balls have been unearthed in Wreningham. The information with a photograph is provided on the Archaeology page in a grey features box under Stories.

Details have been included about Queen Elizabeth I and her huge entourage passing through on their journey to Norwich in 1578 under A Simple History here (near the top of the page).

New in April 2023

On the Utilities page (scroll down to the final subject) the Telephones section has been extended to provide further detail about the arrival of telephones in the village and lists some of the first Wreningham subscribers.

A number of additions have been made to the Long family page – including further text and new photographs.

A photograph of a (distant) cricket match being played at Fir Grove has been added to the bottom of the Village Sport page under Events.

A photograph of Martha Bullimore’s gravestone has been added to the John Bullimore page together with a number of text/information additions and updates.

A text extract has been added from a Great Eastern Railways’ Act of Parliament, in 1876. It shows the very few words which were required to define the scope of our branch line within (what was) a three page legal document. We have added this short extract near the top of The Railway page.

A photograph has been added of cycle racing in the Gravel Pit at the southern end of Ashwellthorpe Road from the 1950s. It can be found at the bottom of the Highway Rates page, under People.

New in March 2023

Various fixes and modifications have been applied to harmonise the appearance and improve the functionility of the site’s menu and navigation across all devices: desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.

New in February 2023

For mobile phone users of this website: Our presentation of main menu and drop-downs on mobile phones has just been improved to help site navigation. You will first need to hold your phone upright to make the menu visible. Start by tapping the stack of three little lines in the top right of the screen to make the menu appear. Once you have found your selected page, turn your phone on its side to get the best page-viewing experience.

A hand-built tricycle has been added to Local Transport under Stories – and scroll to the bottom of the page.

A new page has been added under People>Traders called Fish! It is the story of Wreningham’s only known fishmonger who was resident in the village during the late 1800s.

Additional information has been added about the Folwell family – including a photograph, at the bottom of the Butchers page. There are also various minor text additions on the Bothway Family page and their 1918 farm map has been relocated to the Burton / Poplar Farm page.

There is a correction and addition regarding the date of a farm auction towards the end of the John Rowe page. On this latter page, there is also an introductory paragraph (and link) to our existing Sick Pony story about John Rowe giving assistance to the Long family at Fir Grove.

Additional information has been added to the Water section of the Utilities page under Stories. A new photograph has been included showing the pump-house which originally provided water from a borehole at Church Farm for the village’s new water-main in 1957. All the new information is contained in the first grey features box.

New in January 2023

An old aerial photograph has come to light, from about 1951. It shows the Toprow end of Mill Lane: in particular, the Mill. A full copy and a cropped copy of this photo have been added to the Violet Peel and The Mill pages respectively, where it usefully contributes to both stories.

The Old Census page has been moved under a new sub-munu header: Parish Records – itself under “People“. Under this same Parish Records sub-menu is the completely new page of Highway Rates. This single page includes links to 13 multi-page transcriptions from annual records of Wreningham properties. These recently re-discovered details cover the years 1880 to 1894. The records list how much money everyone paid for the maintenance of the roads; more exciting than that, they names all the village tenants / occupiers and (from 1885/6) provide the names of each property owner, too. When combined with our other records, these could become a key set of documents in piecing together the Wreningham village story during the late 1800s.

A new feature has been added to all of the website’s pages. After starting to scroll down any page, a blue disc with an orange “up” arrow will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. One click or tap on this blue disc will cause the page to zoom straight back to the top.

Scroll to Top