Illington

Illington
St. Andrew's Church
Illington Location within Norfolk
OS grid reference	TL9489
•  London	92.3 miles (148.5 km)
Civil parish	Wretham
District	Breckland
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	THETFORD
Postcode district	IP24
Dialling code	01953
UK Parliament	Mid Norfolk
List of places UK England Norfolk 52°28′23″N0°52′01″E / 52.47308°N 0.866831°E / 52.47308; 0.866831

Illington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wretham, in the English county of Norfolk.

Illington is located 6.2 miles (10.0 km) north-east of Thetford and 24 miles (39 km) south-west of Norwich.

History

Illington's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for the farmstead of Illa's people. ^[1]

In the Domesday Book, Illington is listed as a settlement of 24 households in the hundred of Shropham. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of William de Warenne. ^[2]

On 1 April 1935, the parish was abolished to form Wretham. ^[3]

Geography

In 1931, the parish had a population of 53, this was the last time separate population statistics were collected for Illington as in 1935 the parish was merged into Wretham. ^[4]

St. Andrew's Church

Illington's church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and dates from the Fifteenth Century. St. Andrew's is located on Illington Road and has been Grade II listed since 1958. ^[5]

St. Andrew's was restored in the Victorian era and is today in the care of the Norfolk Churches Trust. ^[6] The church also holds a memorial cross to the only First World War casualty from Illington, who is listed as Lieutenant William A. Harvey of No. 8 Squadron RFC who died as a transferring prisoner of war on 7 November 1917 and is buried in St. Martin's Churchyard, Vevey. ^[7]

Governance

Illington is part of the electoral ward of Upper Wensum for local elections and is part of the district of Breckland.

The village's national constituency is Mid Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's George Freeman MP since 2010.

References

1. "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
2. "Illington | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
3. "Illington AP/CP through time: Census tables with data for the Parish-level Unit". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
4. "Population statistics Illington AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time . Retrieved 9 September 2022.
5. "CHURCH OF ST ANDREW, Wretham - 1170666 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
6. "Norfolk Churches". www.norfolkchurches.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
7. "Geograph:: Ickburgh to Knapton :: War Memorials in Norfolk". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2025.