Foulsham
Church of the Holy Innocents, Foulsham
Foulsham Location withinNorfolk
Area	4.85 sq mi (12.6 km2)
Population	1,028 (2021 census)
• Density	212/sq mi (82/km2)
OS grid reference	TG0325
• London	119 miles (192 km)
Civil parish	Foulsham CP
District	Broadland
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DEREHAM
Postcode district	NR20
Dialling code	01362
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Broadland and Fakenham
List of places UK England Norfolk 52°46′50″N1°00′38″E / 52.78055°N 1.01057°E /52.78055; 1.01057

Foulsham is a village andcivil parish in theEnglish county ofNorfolk.

Foulsham is located 7.40 miles (11.91 km) north-east ofDereham and 16 miles (26 km) north-west ofNorwich. Foulsham is renowned in the local area for its unspoilt nature and the number of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century buildings.^{[citation needed]}

Foulsham name is ofAnglo-Saxon origin and derives from theOld English forFugol's homestead or village.^[1]

Foulsham has been the site of majorBronze Age discoveries including agolden torc ploughed-up in 1846^[2] and a hoard of 141 copper-socketed axeheads, discovered in 1953 and now in the care ofNorwich Castle Museum.^[3]

In theDomesday Book, Foulsham is listed as a settlement of 103 households in thehundred of Eynesford. In 1086, the village was part of theEast Anglian estates ofKing William I. The worth of Foulsham is recorded as two churches, a mill, twelve cattle, four hundred pigs, fifty goats and 13 sesters of honey.^[4]

Old Hall Farm was built in the parish in the Sixteenth Century and was at one time the residence ofMaj-Gen. Philip Skippon, aParliamentarian commander at theBattle of Naseby.^[5]

In the Seventeenth Century, Foulsham was a thriving market place until a store of gunpowder exploded on the 15 June 1770 which led to a fire that consumed the whole market place.^[6]

Foulsham railway station opened in 1882 as a stop on theGreat Eastern Railway line betweenAylsham South andCounty School. The station closed in 1964 as part of theBeeching cuts, with Foulsham's closest railway station today beingSheringham forBittern Line services toCromer andNorwich.

RAF Foulsham opened in 1942 as an air-base for various squadrons ofNo. 3 Group andNo. 100 Group RAF throughout theSecond World War. On 28 July 1943, RAF Foulsham was the site of a forced landing by aB-17 Flying Fortress piloted byLt-Col. John C. Morgan after a strategic bombing raid ofHanover. For his actions, Morgan was awarded theMedal of Honor. The airbase was retired in 1945 and theMinistry of Defence eventually sold the land in the 1980s.^[7]

According to the2021 census, Foulsham has a population of 1,028 people which shows an increase from the 1,021 people recorded in the2011 census.^[8]

Foulsham's parish church is dedicated to theHoly Innocents and dates from the Fourteenth Century. The church is located within the village on Hindolveston Road and has been Grade I listed since 1961.^[9] The Church of the Holy Innocents is still holds services on Sundays and remains open during the week.^[10]

The church was severely damaged by an explosion and fire in 1770 but was heavily restored in theVictorian era. Inside the church is a Sixteenth Centuryfont and some fragments of Fifteenth Century stained-glass.^[11]

Foulsham still has apublic house, known as the Queen's Head, which has operated on its current site since the mid-Nineteenth Century.^[12]

The majority of local children attend Foulsham Primary School, which was rated as 'Good' byOfsted in 2020.^[13]

The village gave its name to a family of Puritan dissidents, who fled England for the town ofHingham, Massachusetts (and laterExeter, New Hampshire) and whose spelling of the name was slightly changed to Folsom.^[14] Today, these American descendants of Foulsham have given rise toFolsom, California, Folsom Street in San Francisco,Folsom Prison (all named for California pioneer and New Hampshire nativeJoseph Libbey Folsom), as well as GeneralNathaniel Folsom, who representedNew Hampshire in theContinental Congress.^[15]

• Maj-Gen. Philip Skippon- (1600–1660) Parliamentarian officer, lived in Foulsham.
• Reverend John Astley- (1735–1803) clergyman and Rector of Foulsham from 1771 to 1803.

Foulsham is part of theelectoral ward of Eynesford for local elections and is part of thedistrict ofBroadland.

The village's national constituency isBroadland and Fakenham which has been represented by theConservative Party'sJerome Mayhew MP since 2019.

Foulsham War Memorial is a stone obelisk above an octagonal plinth, located in an island on Foulsham High Street. The memorial was funded by a committee led by Mr. E. Holley and was unveiled in October 1920 byR-Adm. Sir Harry Stileman KBE.^[16] The memorial lists the following names for theFirst World War:^[17]

The following names were added after theSecond World War:

Media related toFoulsham at Wikimedia Commons

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