Earsham

Earsham
All Saints' Church
Earsham Location within Norfolk
Area	4.88 sq mi (12.6 km2)
Population	935 (2021 census)
• Density	192/sq mi (74/km2)
OS grid reference	TM322892
• London	149 kilometres (93 mi)
Civil parish	Earsham
District	South Norfolk
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BUNGAY
Postcode district	NR35
Dialling code	01986
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Waveney Valley
List of places UK England Norfolk 52°27′07″N 1°25′02″E / 52.451825°N 1.417236°E / 52.451825; 1.417236

Earsham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.

Earsham is located 1.1 miles (1.8 km) west of Bungay and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Norwich. The village is located close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk, and the River Waveney.

Earsham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the homestead or settlement of an earl or built around a hill.^[1]

Earsham Mill has stood in some form in the village since the time of the Anglo-Saxons, using the River Waveney to grind wheat into flour. The mill building still exists today.^[2]

In the Domesday Book, Earsham is listed as a settlement of 69 households in its own hundred. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of King William I.^[3]

Earsham Hall was built in the Eighteenth Century by John Buxton and was first inhabited by Lt-Col. William Windham. The hall was remodelled in the Georgian style by Sir John Soane and exists today as a venue for wedding receptions and antiques dealing.^[4]

During the First World War, parts of Earsham parish were used as a landing strip for airplanes of the Royal Flying Corps.^[5] During the Second World War, parts of the abandoned airfield and Earsham Hall were used as bomb storage for the United States Army Air Forces.^[6]

According to the 2021 census, Earsham has a total population of 935 people which demonstrates an increase from the 882 people listed in the 2011 census.^[7]

Earsham is located along the course of the River Waveney and the A143, between Gorleston-on-Sea and Haverhill.

Earsham's parish church is located on Mill Road, dates from the Fourteenth Century and has been Grade I listed since 1959.^[8]

All Saints' is a rarity for an East Anglian church as its tower is topped by a spire. Inside the church, is a Medieval font depicting the seven sacraments and the crucifixion of Jesus as well as stained-glass from Europe and roundels from the workshops of Robert Allen and Samuel Yarrington.^[9]

Earsham's Queen's Head has operated as a coaching inn since the mid-19th century,^[10] the pub remains open to this day.

Earsham railway station opened in 1860 as a stop on the Waveney Valley Line connecting Tivetshall to Beccles. The station was closed in 1953.

• Lt-Col. William Windham (1674–1730)- British Army officer and politician.
• William Windham (1706–1789)- British landowner and politician.

Earsham is part of the electoral ward of Ditchingham & Earsham for local elections and is part of the district of South Norfolk.

The village's national constituency is Waveney Valley which has been represented by the Green Party's Adrian Ramsay MP since 2024.

Earsham's War Memorial is a stone memorial topped with a celtic cross on the village green. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:^[11][12]

And, the following from the Second World War:

Media related to Earsham at Wikimedia Commons