Lenwade

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Village in Norfolk, England

title: "Lenwade" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-norfolk", "great-witchingham"] description: "Village in Norfolk, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-norfolk" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenwade" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Norfolk, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Lenwade
country	England
region	East of England
shire_district	Broadland
shire_county	Norfolk
civil_parish	Great Witchingham
static_image	Lenwade1.JPG
static_image_width	250px
static_image_caption	St Faith's church
population	464
population_ref	(2001)
os_grid_reference	TG1002718303
coordinates
post_town	Norwich
postcode_area	NR
postcode_district	NR9
dial_code	01603
constituency_westminster	Mid Norfolk
london_distance	123 mi
::

Etymology

The name may mean 'ford of the slowly moving river'. The first element possibly means lane in the Scottish dialect sense of 'scarcely moving river'. The second element of the name is the Old English gewæd (ford).

Industry and the local economy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Lenwade6.JPG" caption="Concrete products"] ::

Much of the surrounding land is used for agriculture. However, due to its geographical location Lenwade became the centre of the sand and gravel extraction and the manufacturing of concrete products in the Wensum valley during the middle to late 20th century. The legacy of this activity can be seen in the many flooded gravel pits in the area. Today, these now mature lakes are popular with anglers, naturalists and bird watchers.

Industry today is concentrated to the southeast of Lenwade between the A1067 road and the former railway line. Concrete products, metal recycling, joinery and double glazing items are produced in the area.

Local tourist attractions include Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure theme park and the Lenwade country house hotel features in its grounds the only licensed zoological garden in the UK.

The Church of St Faith

Located on the busy A1067 Fakenham Road, the building started life as a Victorian mission church originally dedicated to All Saints. Despite its central location the church was little used and became redundant. Today, the church is fenced off and planned to become a residential development (July 2008).

Amenities

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Lenwade2.JPG" caption="The post office"] ::

Amenities in the village include a village hall, primary school, doctor's surgery, general stores, garage, tea-rooms, butchers, bakers and a fish and chip shop.

Located close to A1067 and the River Wensum is the late 18th century Bridge Inn public house. The pub garden adjoins The Bridge Lakes (former gravel pits) and a section of the river where angling is possible. Matthew Brettingham's c.1741 triple arched brick bridge is depicted on the pub's sign. The bridge was demolished in 1993 and replaced by today's steel bridge.

Lenwade mill

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Lenwade5.JPG" caption="The mill"] ::

There has been a watermill on the river at Lenwade for many centuries. The present building, dating from the late 19th century, has been converted to homes.

Railway history

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Lenwade.JPG" caption="The former Lenwade railway station"] ::

Lenwade railway station was built in 1882 with direct trains to Norwich and King's Lynn. Passenger traffic ceased in 1959, but due to Lenwade's important Anglian cement and concrete works, the freight line was kept open to 1985. The former station today is a private residence and the track bed forms part of the Marriott's Way long-distance footpath.

References

[http://www.ruraldeprivation.norfolk.gov.uk/Settlement%20Profiles/Lenwade.doc 2001 census]{{dead link. (December 2017)
[https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/lenwade-broadland Lenwade, Broadland – area information, map, walks and more]. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
"Lenwade (Norfolk, East of England, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information".
Rye. J. ''Popular Guide to Norfolk Place Names'' (1991) {{ISBN. 0-948400-15-3
[http://www.lenwadecountryhousehotel.co.uk/index.html Lenwade country house hotel] {{Webarchive. link. (24 July 2008 . Retrieved 10 November 2008)
[http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/lenwade/lenwade.htm St Faith church]. Retrieved 3 November 2008
[[Nikolaus Pevsner. Pevsner.N.]] & Wilson. B. ''[[The Buildings of England]] Norfolk3: North-West and South'' p25 (1999) [[Penguin books]] {{ISBN. 0-14-071060-4. Retrieved 11 November 2008
[http://www.lenwadebridgeinn.co.uk/ The Bridge Inn]{{dead link. (December 2017)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080112014809/http://www.norwichchurches.co.uk/monuments/Matthew%20Brettingham/Matthew%20Brettingham.html Matthew Brettingham]. Retrieved 7 November 2008
[http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/lenwade.html Lenwade Mill]
[http://www.peterboggis.co.uk/Marriotts_Way.htm Railway history]. Retrieved 4 November 2008

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::