Wendling Parish Council

The Village of Wendling

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Wendling is a village and civic parish.  It covers an area of 2.03 sq. miles and had a population of 313 people over 18 years old in about 129 households at the 2011 census.  It falls within the district of Breckland.  The pioneer photographer Robert Howlett is buried in the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul church.   The village has a very long history, at least 700 years and is part of the cultural fabric of the area and Norfolk as a whole.  The village derives its name from a stream which runs through the town (as it was titled) called 'Wandle and ing'.  It means meadow so 'Wandle-Meadow' shortened means Wendling 'the winding stream by the meadows'.  Before 1267 it was known as Wendlyng.  In the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) Wendlyng was in the Manor of the Abbot of Bury and at the time of the survey which was held by the Abbot by Richard 1 (1189-1199) it consisted of a carucate of land, 2 villains, 6 borders, 6 acres of meadow and 1 carucate in demean, 1 carucate and 1/2 amongst the tenants.  Peonage  for 100 swine and 1 stockman had 12 acres.  For many years Wendling had its own raiway station with a line that connected to Dereham and Kings Lynn.  The railway and station was heavily used during the Second World War. Ammunition was brought by train, then loaded into lorries to be taken to the American air force base nearby.  During the 1940's and 1950's the line was heavily used during the sugar beet season.  Outside of this time little freight used the line.  Most passengers went either to Swaffham or to Dereham.  Schoolchildren used the train in order to get to Grammar Schools that were based in either of those towns,  Unfortunately the line and station were closed in 1968. 

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St. Peter and St. Paul Church

In modern day Wendling there are currently three places of worship, of which the church dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul is the oldest building and is used by Church of England worshippers.  We also have a Methodist Chapel and our Village Hall is used by a Christadelphian congregation.  Year ago Wendling also had an Abbey belonging to the Premonstratensian Order of Canons (known as the white canons because of their attire), who were associated with Langley Abbey and followed the Rule of Augustine.  The Abbey was founded about 1256 and lasted until it was suppressed in 1536.  There are no visible ruins left.

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St. Peter and St. Paul Church is a beautiful hidden gem of a Norfolk Church which lies down a secluded wooded lane to the north of the village.  Park your car under the trees and walk down the shingled path to the Church, passing established hollies and yew.  Although the A47 road is nearby, as you step on the path, the sounds of the cars fade, birdsong takes over and it becomes easy to reflect on the many hundreds of years of Christian worship centred around this building.

The Church is a mix of styles from different centuries, as many English  Churches are.  This one retains a West Tower, complete with gargoyles, which dates to the 14th century, a 15th century South Transept and a Nave mostly built with brown flints.  There is a shallow south porch between the two Nave windows, inside which is a carved stone head above the door, which is thought to date to Norman times.  Look out for the carved stone beard and decide for yourself if there is a moustache too.  Think back to Norman times and marvel at the years this stone face has watched people come and go inside this village Church.

Of particular note is the font, which is one of the Seven Sacrament fonts, a speciality of East Anglia.  Only 49 of these fonts remain, 25 of which are in Norfolk.  An excellent leaflet compiled for Church  Tours in 2009 by 'Lyn Stilgoe' is well worth picking up from inside the Church before you look around.

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The traditional graveyard contains the recently rededicated grave of the renowned Victorian photographer Robert Howlett, one of the first professional photographers in Britain.  There are informative booklets about Robert, researched and written by Rose Teanby, available in the Church, and she has a website page about his grave restoration project, https://roseto.uk/howlett-grave-restoration-project.  A DOCUMENT outlining the life of Robert

Howlett 1831 - 1858 can be viewed on the DOCUMENTS PAGE of this website. 

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Our current incumbent is the Reverend Julia Hemp.  She can be contacted by emailing reverendjulia@gmail.com or by telephone on 01362 861380.  Julia took over from Reverend Robert Marsden in 2016 when the new benefice of Launditch and Upper Nar was formed.  She came from a parish of 20,000 in Norwich with 3 Churches and a high level of poverty and deprivation.  She has very much enjoyed the move to rural ministry and living and working in such a beautiful part of Norfolk.

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St. Peter and St. Paul, Wendling is part of the Launditch and Upper Nar Benefice which consists of 19 Churches and 17 Parishes.  Our Benefice is part of the Deanery of Dereham in Mitford, which is in turn part of the Archdeaconry of Lynn, looked after by The Bishop of Lynn, the Right Reverend Jonathan Meyrick.

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Our exquisite county Cathedral is in Norwich, https://www.cathedral.org.uk  There is also a useful link to the website of the Church of England across Norfolk & Waveney, 

https://www.dioceseofnorwich.org/about/community.

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Wendling Church became a Festival Church in April 2018 when attendance at the monthly service reached critically low levels and there ceased to be a functioning P.C.C.  However, the Church remains open and can be viewed by borrowing the key from Church Farm, just next door,  The Church is open for baptisms, weddings and funerals and occasional services and it is hoped in time that there will be a demand for the monthly services to be reinstated.  The building and the Churchyard continue to be well maintained for the benefit of the Parish.  If you are interested in attending a service regularly, please do contact Reverend Julia and let her know.

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