# Foulsham

Foulsham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
Foulsham is located 7.40 miles (11.91 km) north-east of Dereham and 16 miles (26 km) north-west of Norwich. Foulsham is renowned in the local area for its unspoilt nature and the number of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century buildings.

## History

Foulsham name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for Fugol's homestead or village.
Foulsham has been the site of major Bronze Age discoveries including a golden torc ploughed-up in 1846 and a hoard of 141 copper-socketed axeheads, discovered in 1953 and now in the care of Norwich Castle Museum.
In the Domesday Book, Foulsham is listed as a settlement of 103 households in the hundred of Eynesford. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of King William I. The worth of Foulsham is recorded as two churches, a mill, twelve cattle, four hundred pigs, fifty goats and 13 sesters of honey.
Old Hall Farm was built in the parish in the Sixteenth Century and was at one time the residence of Maj-Gen. Philip Skippon, a Parliamentarian commander at the Battle of Naseby.
In the Seventeenth Century, Foulsham was a thriving market place until a store of gunpowder exploded on the 15 June 1770 which led to a fire that consumed the whole market place.
Foulsham railway station opened in 1882 as a stop on the Great Eastern Railway line between Aylsham South and County School. The station closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts, with Foulsham's closest railway station today being Sheringham for Bittern Line services to Cromer and Norwich.
RAF Foulsham opened in 1942 as an air-base for various squadrons of No. 3 Group and No. 100 Group RAF throughout the Second World War. On 28 July 1943, RAF Foulsham was the site of a forced landing by a B-17 Flying Fortress piloted by Lt-Col. John C. Morgan after a strategic bombing raid of Hanover. For his actions, Morgan was awarded the Medal of Honor. The airbase was retired in 1945 and the Ministry of Defence eventually sold the land in the 1980s.

## Geography

According to the 2021 census, Foulsham has a population of 1,028 people which shows an increase from the 1,021 people recorded in the 2011 census.

## Church of the Holy Innocents

Foulsham's parish church is dedicated to the Holy Innocents and dates from the Fourteenth Century. The church is located within the village on Hindolveston Road and has been Grade I listed since 1961. The Church of the Holy Innocents is still holds services on Sundays and remains open during the week.
The church was severely damaged by an explosion and fire in 1770 but was heavily restored in the Victorian era. Inside the church is a Sixteenth Century font and some fragments of Fifteenth Century stained-glass.

## Amenities

Foulsham still has a public house, known as the Queen's Head, which has operated on its current site since the mid-Nineteenth Century.
The majority of local children attend Foulsham Primary School, which was rated as 'Good' by Ofsted in 2020.

## Puritan emigration

The village gave its name to a family of Puritan dissidents, who fled England for the town of Hingham, Massachusetts (and later Exeter, New Hampshire) and whose spelling of the name was slightly changed to Folsom. Today, these American descendants of Foulsham have given rise to Folsom, California, Folsom Street in San Francisco, Folsom Prison (all named for California pioneer and New Hampshire native Joseph Libbey Folsom), as well as General Nathaniel Folsom, who represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress.

## Notable Residents

* Maj-Gen. Philip Skippon- (1600–1660) Parliamentarian officer, lived in Foulsham.
* Reverend John Astley- (1735–1803) clergyman and Rector of Foulsham from 1771 to 1803.

## Governance

Foulsham is part of the electoral ward of Eynesford for local elections and is part of the district of Broadland.
The village's national constituency is Broadland and Fakenham which has been represented by the Conservative Party's Jerome Mayhew MP since 2019.

## War Memorial

Foulsham War Memorial is a stone obelisk above an octagonal plinth, located in an island on Foulsham High Street. The memorial was funded by a committee led by Mr. E. Holley and was unveiled in October 1920 by R-Adm. Sir Harry Stileman KBE. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial/Commemoration |
| Sgt. | Edward V. Russell | 14th (Scottish) Bn., London Regt. | 28 Nov. 1917 | Lebucquière Cemetery |
| Cpl. | George L. Laing | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 24 Aug. 1914 | La Ferté Memorial |
| Dvr. | Samuel W. Mitchell | 270th Bde., Royal Field Artillery | 14 Jun. 1916 | Suez War Memorial |
| Gnr. | Alfred Barber | 4 Depot, R.F.A. | 23 Nov. 1914 | Woolwich Cemetery |
| M2C | Harry Mesney | Royal Flying Corps | 8 Dec. 1918 | No grave/commemoration |
| Pte. | Percy L. Arnold | MT Branch, Army Service Corps | 18 Jun. 1918 | St. Omer Cemetery |
| Pte. | Albert Budrey | 2nd Bn., Bedfordshire Regiment | 14 Nov. 1917 | Three Trees Cemetery |
| Pte. | Harry Massingham | 5th Bn., Royal Berkshire Regiment | 25 May 1918 | Mailly Wood |
| Pte. | George F. Hill | 1/6th Bn., Durham Light Infantry | 6 Dec. 1918 | Holy Innocents' Churchyard |
| Pte. | William Hindry | 1st Bn., Essex Regiment | 8 Oct. 1917 | Tyne Cot |
| Pte. | Charles G. Jarvis | 11th Bn., Essex Regt. | 15 Sep. 1916 | Guards' Cemetery |
| Pte. | Horace W. Hipkin | 1st Bn., Royal Fusiliers | 31 Jul. 1917 | Menin Gate |
| Pte. | Albert Brown | 18th Bn., King's Regiment | 31 Jul. 1917 | Menin Gate |
| Pte. | George Lane | 2nd (Hawke) Bn., Royal Naval Div. | 28 Apr. 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | Robin H. Stroulger | 11th Bn., Middlesex Regiment | 5 May 1917 | Arras Memorial |
| Pte. | Benjamin S. Everitt | 2nd Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 24 Oct. 1916 | Amara War Cemetery |
| Pte. | Donald E. Scarfe | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 13 Oct. 1915 | Loos Memorial |
| Pte. | Alfred W. Stroulger | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 8 Jul. 1917 | Monchy Cemetery |
| Pte. | Charles Calver | 9th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 2 Dec. 1917 | Flesquières Hill Cemetery |
| Pte. | George F. Seaman | 7th Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment | 14 Feb. 1916 | Brandhoek Military Cemetery |
| Pte. | John Prior | 2nd Bn., Queen's Royal Regiment | 2 Apr. 1917 | Croisilles Cemetery |
| Pte. | Charles Amiss | 7th Bn., York and Lancaster Regt. | 5 Sep. 1917 | Bard Cottage Cemetery |
| Rfn. | Edgar Hendry | 18th Bn., King's Royal Rifle Corps | 28 Feb. 1917 | Dickebusch New Cemetery |
| By1C | Bertrand C. Fowler | HMS Indefatigable | 31 May 1916 | Portsmouth Naval Memorial |
The following names were added after the Second World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial/Commemoration |
| PO | Ernest G. Farrow | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve | 15 May 1943 | Holy Innocents' Churchyard |
| Sgt. | Ronald S. Allen | No. 214 (Bomber) Squadron RAF | 3 Mar. 1943 | Sage War Cemetery |
| Sgt. | Gordon W. G. Fletcher | No.460 (Bomber) Squadron RAAF | 15 Jun. 1943 | Amsterdam Eastern Cem. |
| Cpl. | Frederick S. Girling | 5th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment | 3 Sep. 1943 | Kanchanaburi Cemetery |
| Cpl. | E Reginald Margetson | 5th Bn., Royal Norfolks | 7 Oct. 1943 | Yokohama War Cemetery |
| LAC | Lawrence A. Blake | No. 13 (Bomber) Squadron RAF | 11 May 1944 | Sangro River Cemetery |
| Pte. | Leonard L. Gray | 4th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment | 6 Sep. 1943 | Thanbyuzayat Cemetery |
| Pte. | Arthur J. Cole | 5th Bn., Royal Norfolks | 19 Jan. 1944 | Chungkai War Cemetery |
| Pte. | Arthur E. Frost | 7th Bn., Royal Norfolks | 5 Jun. 1940 | Dunkirk Memorial |