Leziate

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Leziate
Leziate and Ashwicken village sign - geograph.org.uk - 6803765.jpg
Leziate & Ashwicken Village Sign
Norfolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Leziate
Location within Norfolk
Area4.39 sq mi (11.4 km2)
Population592 (2021 census)
  Density 135/sq mi (52/km2)
OS grid reference TF6719
  London 106 miles (171 km)
Civil parish
  • Leziate
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town KING'S LYNN
Postcode district PE32
Dialling code 01553
Police Norfolk
Fire Norfolk
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Norfolk
52°44′21″N0°28′48″E / 52.739291°N 0.479997°E / 52.739291; 0.479997

Leziate is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish also includes the smaller village of Ashwicken.

Contents

Leziate is located 5.7 miles (9.2 km) east of King's Lynn and 44 miles (71 km) west of Norwich.

History

Ingoldisthorpe's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for pasture gate. [1]

In the Domesday Book, Leziate is recorded as a settlement of 3 households in the hundred of Freebridge. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of Robert Malet. [2]

After the parish was united with Ashwicken in the late 15th century, Thomas Thursby, the Lord of the Manor, was accused of appropriating most of the common land for himself, by enclosing it, and of evicting tenants from their homes before demolishing them. In 1602 Mr Bramwell, the parson, had removed the lead from the roof of the chancel of the church without authority, causing it to become ruined, but services were still held in the rest of the building until the late 1700s, by which time it was decrepit. It was demolished soon after 1816, so there are now no remains above ground, and the site is a scheduled monument. [3] The remains of the parish church of Bawsey, dedicated to St Michael, are also within the parish, further to the west. This is a grade II* listed site, as much of the 12th century structure remains intact, although the font is now in the garden of Whitehouse Farmhouse. [4]

Between 1846 and 1968, the village was served by Middleton Towers railway station. This was on the Lynn and Dereham Railway, which ran between King's Lynn and Dereham. When the railway opened, the station was known at Middleton, but it was renamed as Middleton Towers on 1 November 1924. Following the publication of Dr Richard Beeching's report in 1963, closure of Norfolk's railways began in earnest, with Middleton Towers becoming an unstaffed halt in 1966, and the final passenger trains running on 7 September 1968. [5] The station building is actually in the adjacent parish of Middleton, although the railway to the east and west of the platforms lies in Leziate. [6]

Soon after the opening of the line, extraction of high grade silica sand began from pits to the north of the railway. It was used for the manufacture of glass. A siding was constructed to the west of the level crossing in 1881, allowing a Mr Bagge to trade in sand and coal. Sand from the pit at Old Carr, around 0.25 miles (0.40 km) to the north, was conveyed to the railway by a separate mineral railway, probably of 2 ft (610 mm) gauge. The operation had ceased by the early 1900s, and Old Carr was used for forestry. However, a new siding to the east of the station was approved on 1 March 1904, for the use of J Boam & Sons, again for sand traffic. Sand was being extracted from an area of 520 acres (210 ha), and a large industrial plant developed to the north of the station, with standard gauge railway sidings and narrow gauge tramways used to transport the sand to the works. A 20-ton weighbridge was installed in 1907, and the railway minutes quote 3,000 wagons of sand per year, but are unclear as to whether this was the projected or actual traffic. After closure of the line to Dereham, the section between Middleton Towers and King's Lynn remained open for the sand traffic and a new run-round loop was constructed to the east of the station buildings. British Industrial Sand took over Boam's siding on 23 March 1981, and shortly afterwards, the railway sidings and tramway were replaced by conveyors. [5] Some of the tramway track had previously been acquired by the East Anglia Transport Museum, and was reused to construct their East Suffolk Light Railway. [7]

The extraction of silica sand has continued, although by 2015 the operation was owned by Sibelco. Around 800,000 tonnes of sand are extracted each year, of which three-quarters is transported away by rail. Trains normally consist of over 30 wagons, into which 1,000 tonnes of sand are loaded from a gantry which straddles the track. Two trains each day take sand to three glass factories, at Barnsley, Doncaster and Goole, although more trains are run when hot weather or major sporting events increase the volume of glass needed. [8]

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Leziate has a population of 616 people which shows an increase from the 592 people listed in the 2011 census. [9]

The deserted village of Holt

During the medieval period there was another settlement within the parish. It was called Holt. The village was demolished when the landlord, the notorious Thomas Thursby, enclosed the land and converted it to pasture for his sheep. Holt was the only Norfolk village recorded in the Commission of Inquiry in 1517 as being totally depopulated in this way. [10]

Governance

Leziate is part of the electoral ward of Gayton & Grimston for local elections and is part of the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild MP since 2010.

War Memorial

Leziate, Bawsey and Ashwicken War Memorial is a granite cross in All Saints' Churchyard [11] which lists the following names for the First World War: [12] [13]

RankNameUnitDate of DeathBurial/Commemoration
Pte.Robert J. Britton6th Bn., Border Regiment 14 Sep. 1916 Ovillers Military Cemetery
Pte.Maurice G. Allison2/1st H. Bty., Royal Garrison Artillery 27 Sep. 1916 Hébuterne Military Cemetery
Pte.Thomas H. Reed1st Bn., Norfolk Regiment 15 Mar. 1916 Doullens Cemetery
Pte.Bertie E. Beales5th Bn., Norfolk Regt.26 Oct. 1918 Hadra War Cemetery
Pte.William Newell5th Bn., Norfolk Regt.19 Apr. 1917 Jerusalem Memorial
Pte.Walter Law7th Bn., Norfolk Regt.18 May 1918 Mailly Wood Cemetery
Pte.Herbert Watson9th Bn., Norfolk Regt.21 Mar. 1918 Arras Memorial
Pte.George Wilkin9th Bn., Norfolk Regt.18 Sep. 1916 Grove Town Cemetery
Rfn.William Watson11th Bn., Rifle Brigade 14 Aug. 1917 Essex Farm Cemetery

The following name was added after the Second World War:

RankNameUnitDate of DeathBurial/Commemoration
ASRaymond C. PowleyHMS Nile (shore establishment)27 Mar. 1941 Chatham Naval Memorial

References

  1. "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  2. "Leziate | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  3. Historic England. "Site of All Saints' Church (1016484)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  4. Historic England. "Ruins of Church of St Michael (1342379)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. 1 2 Kilday 2018.
  6. "A church near you". Church of England. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  7. Butcher 2009, p. 52.
  8. Bishop 2015.
  9. "Leziate (Parish, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  10. "Deserted-medieval-village-of-Holt - Norfolk Heritage Explorer". www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  11. "Ashwicken, Bawsey and Leziate War Memorial, Leziate - 1442314 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  12. "Roll of Honour - Norfolk - Ashwicken, Bawsey and Leziate". roll-of-honour.com. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  13. "Geograph:: Acle to Aylsham :: War Memorials in Norfolk". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2025.

Bibliography