Long Stratton | |
---|---|
A140 through Long Stratton | |
Location within Norfolk | |
Area | 10.49 km2 (4.05 sq mi) |
Population | 4,424 (2011 Census) |
• Density | 422/km2 (1,090/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | TM1954292745 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | NORWICH |
Postcode district | NR15 |
Dialling code | 01508 |
Police | Norfolk |
Fire | Norfolk |
Ambulance | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Long Stratton is a town [1] and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It historically consisted of two villages; the larger, Stratton St. Mary, is to the south, and the other, Stratton St. Michael, is to the north. It had a population of 4,424 in the 2011 Census. [2] South Norfolk Council are based in the town.
The town is situated halfway between Norwich and Diss; along a Roman built road, now known as the A140 (it was originally known as Pye Road [3] ) – which runs from Cromer (North Norfolk) to Ipswich (Suffolk).
Long Stratton borders five other parishes: Tharston and Hapton, Tasburgh, Morningthorpe and Fritton, Pulham Market, and Wacton.
The name 'Stratton' means 'farm/settlement on a Roman road'. [4]
Stratton St Mary & St Michael is recorded in the Domesday Book with 127 households belonging to nine different landowners. [5] One of the ancient parishes that make up the modern town of Long Stratton was served by St Michael's church, whose rector from 1779 to 1823, Francis Wickham Swanton, was an Oxford contemporary of the celebrated Parson James Woodforde. The Blennerhasett family, later prominent in the Plantation of Ulster, were Lords of the Manor in the sixteenth century.
The church contains a rare example of a Sexton's wheel. [6] The only other example in the country is claimed to be at Yaxley, Suffolk. [7]
Long Stratton has two Church of England churches (St Mary and St Michael), as well as a Methodist church. The church of Long Stratton St Mary (see right) is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.
The town was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. [8]
Between 1330 and 1340 GMT on 14 December 1989 a tornado caused damage along a track of at least 5 km in length by 100 metres in width through the south Norfolk villages of North Moulton, Wacton and Long Stratton. As many as 100 buildings were damaged in Long Stratton by this T4 intensity tornado but only one person was injured. The tornado formed from a fast-moving storm cell which developed behind a slowly-moving occluded front around the time that a secondary low was progressing along the front. The tornado developed at the forward edge of the storm suggesting it was triggered either by shearing instability along the leading edge of the thunderstorm outflow (gust front) or as a consequence of interaction of gust fronts from adjacent storm cells.[ citation needed ]
According to the 2001 United Kingdom Census, Long Stratton CP was home to 3,701 people, who resided in a total of 1,598 dwellings. The statistics further confirm that Long Stratton is used as a commuter town, with the average employed person travelling 17.25 miles to their place of work. [9] The population increased to 4,424 by 2011.
Long Stratton is part of the electoral ward of Stratton. This ward had a population of 5,519 at the 2011 census. [10]
There is a parish council and it was granted town status in 2018. [11] with the first elections to the new 13-member town council on 2 May 2019. [1] The Area Action Plan, a planning document, envisages a town centre to develop together with the planned increase in residents and the completion of a by-pass. [12]
The town has three schools: Long Stratton High School, Manor Field Infant school and St. Mary's church of England junior school.
Shopping facilities are located along the main street which runs through the town as well as in two small shopping centres (South Norfolk Shopping Precinct and The Icehouse Precinct). There are also two public houses (The Queen's Head and The Swan). Long Stratton also has a doctors surgery, as well as a leisure centre operated by South Norfolk Council.
There has been cause for the building of a bypass around Long Stratton for over 60 years. Builders of the new "Churchfields" housing estate to the east of the town proposed to build a bypass as part of the submission for planning permission in the mid-1990s, though this was rejected by the Highways Agency on the grounds that the planned road was not of a sufficiently high standard to redesignate it as part of the main A140 trunk road.
2006 was supposed to bring about the construction of the new bypass by Norfolk County Council, who had assumed responsibility for the A140 from the Highways Agency in 2001. [13]
There was considerable opposition to the bypass on either side of the A140, by residents of the village of Tharston to the west, and those of the hamlet of Wood Green Common to the east. Eventually, it was decided that a bypass to the east would have less environmental impact.
The total cost of the three miles stretch of dual carriageway, with a roundabout at either end, was estimated to be £21.8m (2004) – compared to earlier estimates of £6m to £16m (2002).
Following the May 2005 elections, the planning suffered a one-year delay, when changes to the planning permission laws meant that the application for the permission of the bypass had to be resubmitted.
Subsequent changes to the way in which local road building projects are prioritised and funded have led to a decision to suspend construction of the bypass until 2016 at the earliest, despite Norfolk County Council already having spent over £1m on site preparation and legal fees. This led local resident Jason Bunn to establish an online petition on the Prime Minister's website calling for the funding to be made available immediately. Local MP Richard Bacon also joined in the campaign, lobbying Transport Secretary Alistair Darling and Roads Minister Stephen Ladyman for a change in the decision.
As of 2018 construction has still not begun, but new house building proposals are set to include a single carriageway by-pass road to the east of the town.
Several operators run bus services to Norwich and Diss. [14]
The Great Eastern Main Line passes 1 mi (1.6 km) to the western edge of the town, but there have been no railway stations in the area since Forncett station closed in 1966. Railfuture East Anglia is campaigning for a new station to be opened, which would be five minutes away by car from the town centre. [15]
Beccles is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. The town is shown on the milestone as 109 miles (175 km) from London via the A145 and A12 roads, 98 miles (158 km) north-east of London as the crow flies, 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Norwich and 33 miles (53 km) north-northeast of the county town of Ipswich. Nearby towns include Lowestoft to the east and Great Yarmouth to the north-east. The town lies on the River Waveney on the edge of The Broads National Park.
The A12 is a major road in Eastern England. It runs north-east/south-west between London and the coastal town of Lowestoft in the north-eastern corner of Suffolk, following a similar route to the Great Eastern Main Line until Ipswich. A section of the road between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth became part of the A47 in 2017. Between the junctions with the M25 and the A14, the A12 forms part of the unsigned Euroroute E30. Unlike most A roads, this section of the A12, together with the A14 and the A55, has junction numbers as if it were a motorway.
The A47 is a major road in England linking Birmingham to Lowestoft, Suffolk. Most of the section between Birmingham and Nuneaton is now classified as the B4114. From Peterborough eastwards, it is a trunk road.
South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the Horizon Building at Broadland Business Park near Norwich, in the Broadland district area, following a move in early 2023 from the previous headquarters in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census.
The A11 is a major trunk road in England. It originally ran roughly north east from London to Norwich, Norfolk. It now consists of a short section in Inner London and a much longer section in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. The lengthy section between these was renumbered as a result of the opening of the M11 in the 1970s and then the A12 extension in 1999.
Homersfield, also known as St Mary, South Elmham, is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of the market town of Bungay and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east of Harleston. The official name of the civil parish is St Mary, South Elmham otherwise Homersfield. It is one of the parishes around Bungay known as The Saints.
The A17 road is a mostly single carriageway road linking Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, England, to King's Lynn in Norfolk. It stretches for a distance of 62 miles travelling across the flat fen landscapes of southern Lincolnshire and western Norfolk and links the East Midlands with East Anglia. The road is notable for its numerous roundabouts and notoriously dangerous staggered junctions and also for its most famous landmark, the Cross Keys Bridge at Sutton Bridge close to the Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire/Norfolk borders which carries the road over the River Nene.
Wortwell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk and adjoining the county of Suffolk. It is located on both the River Waveney and the A143 road, some 20 km east of Diss and 30 km west of Lowestoft. The city of Norwich lies approximately 30 km to the north.
Great Ponton is an English village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, 3 miles (5 km) south of Grantham on the A1 trunk road, which bisects the village. The tower of the parish church is a roadside landmark. The 2001 census recorded a population of 333, of whom all were of white ethnic origin and 87 per cent described themselves as Christian. The average age was 40. The population of the civil parish had risen to 379 at the 2011 census. It was estimated at 369 in 2019.
Tasburgh is a civil parish and a village in the south of Norfolk, England, located approximately 8 miles south of Norwich. It lies on the A140 road, north of Long Stratton and south of Newton Flotman. The River Tas flows nearby and Tasburgh Hall lies to the west of the village. The local church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. The village is made up of Upper Tasburgh and Lower Tasburgh. The majority of Lower Tasburgh contains buildings from the early days of the village whilst Upper Tasburgh is made up of more modern housing.
The civil parish of Tharston and Hapton lies in the south of the county of Norfolk, England. It encompasses the two villages of Tharston and Hapton, covering a total area of 9.26 km2 (3.58 sq mi). The parish had a population of 599 in 231 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 791 at the 2011 census.
Newton Flotman, a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, lies about 8 miles south of Norwich on the A140 road between Tasburgh and Swainsthorpe. The River Tas flows through. The area of 4.87 km2 (1.88 sq mi) had 1,197 inhabitants in 497 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,489 at the 2011 census. For local government it lies in the district of South Norfolk. The name means "new farm/settlement". The de Ferers family held land there in the 13th century.
Wacton is a village in the English county of Norfolk. It is located about one mile south-west of Long Stratton and 13 miles (21 km) south west of Norwich. It covers an area of 4.54 km2 (1.75 sq mi) and has a population of 302 people as of the last census in 2011
Swainsthorpe is a village in the English County of Norfolk in England. It lies on the A140 road, approximately 5 miles south of Norwich, and just north of Newton Flotman. It covers an area of 3.38 km2 (1.31 sq mi) and had a population of 374 in 159 households at the 2001 census, the population reducing to 360 at the 2011 Census. The village had two Churches, St.Peter's and St. Mary's, the latter is now in ruins.
Farnham is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Saxmundham in the English county of Suffolk on the A12 road. Farnham is located west of Friday Street, south of Benhall Low Street and north-east of Stratford St Andrew.
The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entirety of its route. It is approximately 56 miles (90 km) in length.
The A146 is an A road that connects Norwich in Norfolk and Lowestoft in Suffolk, two of East Anglia's largest population centres. It is around 27 miles (43 km) in length and has primary classification along its entire route. It is mainly single carriageway throughout its route, with the exception of a section of dual carriageway on the southern edge of Norwich.
Scole is a village on the Norfolk–Suffolk border in England. It is 19 miles south of Norwich and lay on the old Roman road to Venta Icenorum, which was the main road until it was bypassed with a dual carriageway. It covers an area of 14.31 km2 (5.53 sq mi) and had a population of 1,339 in 563 households at the 2001 census; the population had increased to 1,367 at the 2011 Census.
Horsham St Faith and Newton St Faith is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, consisting of the former parishes of Horsham St Faith and Newton St Faith. Collectively they are known as St Faiths. It covers an area of 7.33 km2 (2.83 sq mi) and had a population of 1,624 in 770 households at the 2001 census, increasing to a population of 1,724 in 797 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Broadland.
Robert I de Vaux, also known as Robert de Vallibus, Lord of Pentney, was a prominent 11th-century noble. A Norman knight, Robert participated in William, Duke of Normandy's invasion of England in 1066, with his brother Aitard. He obtained lands of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in England from Roger Bigod as tenant in chief. Robert was succeeded by his son Robert.