# East Harling

East Harling is a village in the civil parish of Harling in the Breckland district of the English county of Norfolk.
East Harling is located 8 miles (13 km) east of Thetford and 25 miles (40 km) south-west of Norwich on the banks of the River Thet.

## History

East Harling's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the eastern part of the settlement of 'Herela's' people.
In the Domesday Book, East Harling and West Harling are recorded together as a settlement of 91 households in the hundred of Guiltcross. In 1086, the villages were divided between the estates of King William I, Count Alan of Brittany, St. Edmunds' Abbey, William d'Ecouis and Robert de Verly.
Harling Old Hall was built in 1490 on the site of an existing building called Herling's Hall and was demolished in the Nineteenth Century.
From 1808 to 1814, East Harling hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain connecting the Admiralty in London to the fleet in Great Yarmouth.
In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 900. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with West Harling to form "Harling".
In 1992, a German field gun was found buried during excavations around a residential building. It is likely that the gun was given as a prize to the village after the First World War and was buried in the Second World War.
On 13 December 1943, a B-17 Flying Fortress of the 96th Bomb Group crashed near the village trying to return to RAF Snetterton Heath after a bombing raid on Hamburg. Before crashing, the aircraft dumped its bombload in a field which shattered many windows in the village. Furthermore, during the Second World War, several pillboxes were built to defend against a possible German invasion.

## Geography

According to the 2021 census, East Harling has a population of 2,489 people which shows an increase from the 2,142 people recorded in the 2011 census.
In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 900. This was the last time separate population statistics were collected for the village as the parish was merged with West Harling in 1935.

## Church of St Peter and St Paul

East Harling's parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul and was built in its current glory on the site of an earlier church during the 15th century from the fortune of Anne Harling, an orphan of the Hundred Years War. The church is Grade I listed and has a magnificent hammerbeam roof which rises to a height of 45 feet above the floor. The building contains many other medieval survivals such as the panels of the chancel screen, an older screen surrounding the Lady Chapel with intricate carvings in its spandrels, choir stalls in the chancel, remains of a mural and the octagonal font. There are also a number of interesting tombs. The most noteworthy feature of the church, however, is the magnificent east window which was donated to the church by Lady Anne Herling and her second husband, Sir Robert Wingfield, in around 1460. The glass was removed and hidden in the since demolished East Harling Hall, for fear of destruction by Puritan iconoclasts. The glass was restored in 1736 under the direction of Thomas Wright and has stood in its current position since, excepting during the Second World War.

## Transport

Harling Road railway station opened in 1845 as a stop on the Norwich & Brandon Railway, the station remains open to this day on the Breckland Line between Cambridge and Norwich.

## Governance

East Harling is part of the electoral ward of Harling & Heathlands for local elections and is part of the district of Breckland.
The village's national constituency is South West Norfolk which has been represented by Labour's Terry Jermy MP since 2024.

## War memorial

East Harling's war memorial takes the form of a stone obelisk featuring a sword of sacrifice upon a Celtic cross at the junction between Cheese Hill, Market Street and White Hart Street. The committee to erect a war memorial was headed by Colonel E. Mornement who had raised £227 by June 1919, the memorial was unveiled in May 1920 by Walter Keppel, 9th Earl of Albemarle and John Bowers, Bishop of Thetford. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial/Commemoration |
| Lt. | P. C. Richards MC | 9th Bn., South African Army | 12 Feb. 1917 | Barkly West Cemetery |
| CSM | Henry R. Pattinson | 1/4th Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 19 Apr. 1917 | Jerusalem Memorial |
| Sgt. | H. J. Smith MM | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 27 Jul. 1916 | Thiepval Memorial |
| LCpl. | Walter E. Endley | 1/4th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 8 Oct. 1915 | Helles Memorial |
| LCpl. | Stephen A. Miller | 1/4th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 16 Aug. 1915 | Helles Memorial |
| Pte. | Herbert Secker | 2nd Bn., Bedfordshire Regiment | 12 Oct. 1916 | Thiepval Memorial |
| Pte. | John Osborne | 7th (British Columbia) Bn., CEF | 10 Nov. 1917 | Menin Gate |
| Pte. | Horace B. Howlett | 8th (Winnipeg Rifles) Bn., CEF | 24 Apr. 1915 | Menin Gate |
| Pte. | Joseph J. Hunt | 10th Bn., East Yorkshire Regiment | 25 Aug. 1918 | St. Omer Cemetery |
| Pte. | Robert Frost | 1st Bn., Essex Regiment | 14 Apr. 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | Ernest W. Germany | 1st Bn., Essex Regt. | 14 Apr. 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | R. J. Richards | 1st Bn., Essex Regt. | 12 Oct. 1916 | Dartmoor Cemetery |
| Pte. | Oliver Bullman | 2nd Bn., Essex Regt. | 10 Oct. 1917 | Cement House Cemetery |
| Pte. | Edgar Bateman | 13th Bn., Essex Regt. | 28 Apr. 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | Harry V. Barnard | 17th Bn., Royal Fusiliers | 9 Jun. 1918 | Doullens Cemetery |
| Pte. | William R. Brown | 2nd Bn., Grenadier Guards | 15 Sep. 1914 | La Ferte Memorial |
| Pte. | Sidney B. Sparkes | 4th Bn., Grenadier Gds. | 9 Oct. 1916 | Etaples Military Cemetery |
| Pte. | Thomas Smith | 2nd Bn., Loyal Regiment | 1 Aug. 1918 | Raperie Cemetery |
| Pte. | Clemence Harbour | Machine Gun Corps | 18 Dec. 1918 | East Harling Cemetery |
| Pte. | H. William Barnard | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 24 Aug. 1914 | La Ferte Memorial |
| Pte. | John T. Bean | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 31 May 1915 | Perth Cemetery |
| Pte. | John Shaw | 2nd Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 22 Apr. 1916 | Basra Memorial |
| Pte. | George Z. Barnard | 1/4th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 19 Apr. 1917 | Jerusalem Memorial |
| Pte. | Fearnley Askey | 8th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 17 Feb. 1917 | Regina Trench Cemetery |
| Pte. | Frederick G. Elvin | 8th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 22 May 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | William I. Pinner | 9th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 15 Sep. 1916 | Thiepval Memorial |
| Pte. | Derek St. C. Everett | 1/5th Bn., Northumberland Fusiliers | 31 Oct. 1916 | Dernancourt Cemetery |
| Pte. | Herbert E. Alderton | 1st Bn., Queen's Own Regiment | 10 May 1918 | Manor Park Cemetery |
| Pte. | John H. Tyler | 8th Bn., Queen's Own Regt. | 21 Mar. 1918 | Pozieres Memorial |
| Pte. | George T. Tyler | 10th Bn., South Wales Borderers | 18 Sep. 1918 | Gouzeaucourt Cemetery |
| Rfn. | Arthur H. Bloomfield | 9th Bn., Royal Irish Rifles | 7 Jun. 1917 | Lone Tree Cemetery |
| Rfn. | Frederick F. Beales | 12th Bn., King's Royal Rifle Corps | 7 Nov. 1918 | Sheerness Cemetery |
| Rfn. | James R. Osborne | 18th (London Irish) Bn., London Regt | 7 Apr. 1918 | Bouzincourt Cemetery |
| Rfn. | Charles H. Glover | 4th (Auckland) Bn., NZEF | 2 Oct. 1916 | Caterpillar Valley Cemetery |
| Rfn. | Harry E. Buck | 4th (Otago) Bn., NZEF | 12 Sep. 1918 | Metz-en-Couture Cemetery |
| Sn. | George B. Bean | SS Cufic | 15 Nov. 1918 | East Harling Cemetery |
And, the following for the Second World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial |
| SLt. | Barry P. Grigson | 825 Sqn., att. HMS Kestrel | 2 Jul. 1940 | Rozenburg Cemetery |
| Sgt. | Cyril W. Kerridge | Royal Air Force Reserve | 16 Apr. 1941 | Runnymede Memorial |
| Cpl. | William G. Osborne | 4th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment | 12 Apr. 1944 | Chungkai War Cemetery |
| LAC | Charles W. Hall | Royal Air Force Reserve | 3 Jan. 1942 | Tower Hamlets Cemetery |
| 2AC | Kenneth E. Frost | No. 2795 Sqn., RAF Regiment | 22 Oct. 1944 | Kranji War Memorial |
| Gnr. | Derek J. Bloomfield | 7th (Heavy) Regt., Royal Artillery | 5 Nov. 1944 | Florence War Cemetery |
| Pte. | Harold A. Walker | 4th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment | 7 Sep. 1939 | East Harling Cemetery |
| Pte. | John Cross | 6th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regt. | 21 Sep. 1944 | Kranji War Memorial |
| Pte. | Russell Barnard | 5th Bn., Sherwood Foresters | 4 Sep. 1944 | Montecchio Cemetery |
And: Walter F. Lake and Edward C. Wix. The memorial also lists John Shingfield of the London Heavy Rescue Service who was killed during The Blitz at Baldwins Gardens on 16 October 1940.