# Frettenham

Frettenham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
Frettenham is located 3.2 miles (5.1 km) west of Wroxham, and 5.7 miles (9.2 km) north of Norwich.

## History

Frettenham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for Fraeta's homestead or village.
In the Domesday Book, Frettenham is listed as a settlement of 34 households hundred of Taverham. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of Roger the Poitevin.
Frettenham Windmill dates from the late-Nineteenth Century and is currently a private residence with its sails and fantail removed. The windmill is a Grade II listed building.
During the First World War, a Royal Flying Corps airfield was built in the parish though it soon returned to agricultural use.

## Geography

According to the 2021 census, Frettenham has a population of 844 people which shows an increase from the 740 people recorded in the 2011 census.
Hillside Animal Sanctuary is located within the parish.

## St. Swithin's Church

Frettenham's parish church is dedicated to Saint Swithin and dates from the Fourteenth Century. St. Swithin's is located outside of the village on Church Lane and has been Grade II listed since 1961. Unfortunately since the COVID-19 pandemic, the church has not been open for Sunday worship.
St. Swithin's was restored in the Victorian era by Richard Phipson and holds a monumental brass memorial to Alice Thorndon (d.1420) with further stone memorials to Rev. Richard Woodes (d.1620) and Thomas Drake (d.1810) who was a treasurer aboard HMS Centaur and later a prisoner of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

## Governance

Frettenham is part of the electoral ward of Buxton 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

Frettenham's war memorial takes the form of a stone obelisk above a trapezoid plinth and is located in St. Swithun's Cemetery. The memorial was unveiled in January 1921 by John Cator, High Sheriff of Norfolk and John Willink, Dean of Norwich and lists the following names for the First World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial/Commemoration |
| Sgt. | Thomas C. Buck DCM | 2nd Bn., Coldstream Guards | 9 May 1915 | Rue-des-Berceaux Cem. |
| LCpl. | Louis P. Money | 1/7th Bn., Lancashire Fusiliers | 25 Mar. 1918 | Arras Memorial |
| LCpl. | Albert Rivett MM | 9th Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 15 Apr. 1918 | Tyne Cot |
| Dvr. | Walter J. Forster | 27th Bde., Royal Field Artillery | 29 Sep. 1918 | Lebucquière Cemetery |
| Gnr. | Frederick J. Stoladay | 46th Bde., R.F.A. | 11 Dec. 1918 | Niederzwehren Cemetery |
| Pte. | Charles A. Buck | 1st Bn., Essex Regiment | 17 Apr. 1917 | Duisans Cemetery |
| Pte. | Cecil F. Muskett | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 9 Oct. 1917 | Hooge Crater Cemetery |
| Pte. | Frederick H. Bloom | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 17 Jul. 1915 | Pont-de-Nieppe Cemetery |
| Pte. | William F. Norgate | 1/5th Bn., Northumberland Fusiliers | 26 Oct. 1917 | Tyne Cot |
| Rfn. | Robert C. Garrett | 9th (Victoria's Rf) Bn., London Regt. | 22 Nov. 1917 | Cambrai Memorial |
The following names were added after the Second World War:
| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of Death | Burial/Commemoration |
| Pte. | Sydney G. Wymer | 1/4th Bn., Essex Regiment | 5 Oct. 1944 | Coriano Ridge Cemetery |
| Pte. | Cecil G. Cannell | 6th Bn., Royal Norfolk Regiment | 29 Nov. 1943 | Chungkai War Cemetery |