Harleston, Norfolk

Not to be confused with Harlestone, Northamptonshire.

Harleston
Harleston is located in Norfolk
Harleston
Harleston
Location within Norfolk
Area1.45 km2 (0.56 sq mi)
Population5,067 (2018 estimate)
• Density3,494/km2 (9,050/sq mi)
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townHARLESTON
Postcode districtIP20
Dialling code01379
UK Parliament
Websitehttp://www.harleston-norfolk.org.uk/home
List of places
UK
England
Norfolk
52°24′09″N 1°17′59″E / 52.402384°N 1.2995895°E / 52.402384; 1.2995895

Harleston is a town in the civil parish of Redenhall with Harleston, in the South Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. It is 16 miles (26 km) from Norwich. In 2018, it had an estimated population of 5,067.[1] Harleston is on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, close to the River Waveney.[2] Harleston has two markets every Wednesday.[3]

Harleston is an electoral ward comprising the civil parishes of Needham, Redenhall with Harleston, and Wortwell. At the last election, in May 2019, two Conservative councillors were elected to South Norfolk Council.

History

The name "Harleston" possibly means "Heoruwulf"[4] or "Harolds Stone".[5] Harleston was recorded in the Domesday Book as Heroluestuna.[6] Harleston was a chapelry in Reddenhall parish.[7]

The right to hold an eight-day fair during the period of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist was granted to Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk by Henry III in 1259.[8]

Many Georgian residences and much earlier building, with Georgian frontages, line the streets of Harleston. Although there is no record of a royal charter, Harleston has been a market town since at least 1369 and still holds a Wednesday market.[9][10]

One of the plots to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I was to be launched on Midsummer Day 1570 at the Harleston Fair by proclamations and the sound of trumpets and drums.[11] The Elizabethan play Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay features this in one of its scenes.[12]

Amenities

Harleston has a state-funded all-through school called Harleston Sancroft Academy,[13] a football club called Harleston Town which plays at Wilderness Lane,[14] a library on Swan Lane,[15] a museum called Harleston Museum,[16] a police station[17] at 12 Swan Lane[18] and a church called St John the Baptist.[19] The Corn Exchange, completed in 1849, has been partitioned to create a series of shop units.[20]

Harleston railway station closed in 1953.[21] The nearest station is now Diss, which is ten miles to the west.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Harleston". City Population De. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Harleston overview". Harleston. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Discover Harleston". South Norfolk District Council. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. ^ Eilert Ekwall (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names. Clarendon Press, 1960. p. 402. ISBN 0198691033. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Harleston" (PDF). South Norfolk Council. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Norfolk H-L". The Domesday Book Online. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  7. ^ "History of Harleston in South Norfolk". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  8. ^ Blomefield, Francis (1806). An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 5. p. 356.
  9. ^ "Gazetteer Of Markets And Fairs In England And Wales To 1516". University of London Centre for Metropolitan History. 18 June 2003. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Visit Harleston". Archived from the original on 17 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. ^ Turner, Sharon (1835). The History of the Reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth, Volume 2. p. 243. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ^ Sarah Knight (2012). "Robert Green's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay". In Thomas Betteridge, Greg Walker (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Tudor Drama. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199566471.
  13. ^ https://www.sancroft.stbenets.org/ [bare URL]
  14. ^ "Contact". Harleston Town Football Club. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  15. ^ "Harleston Library". Norfolk County Council. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  16. ^ "Harleston Museum". Harleston Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Harleston". Norfolk Constabulary. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Emergency services". Denton. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  19. ^ "St John the Baptist, Harleston". Norfolk Churches. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  20. ^ Historic England. "Corn Exchange (1303219)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Harleston Settlement Policy" (PDF). South Norfolk District Council. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  22. ^ "Transport". Harleston. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
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