| Diss | |
|---|---|
 The Saracen's Head pub | |
 Coat of arms of Diss Town Council | |
  Diss Location withinNorfolk | |
| Area | 5.32 km2 (2.05 sq mi) |
| Population | 10,714 (2021 census) |
| • Density | 2,014/km2 (5,220/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TM1180 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DISS |
| Postcode district | IP22 |
| Dialling code | 01379 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 52°22′52″N1°06′28″E / 52.3812°N 1.1079°E /52.3812; 1.1079 | |
Diss is amarket town,civil parish andelectoral ward inSouth Norfolk, England; it is near to the boundary withSuffolk. It had population of 7,572 in 2011.[1] It lies in the valley of theRiver Waveney, round amere covering 6 acres (2.4 ha) and up to 18 feet (5.5 m) deep, although there is another 51 feet (16 m) of mud.[2]
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The town's name originates fromdic, anAnglo-Saxon word meaning'ditch, embankment'.[3]
Diss has several historic buildings, including an early 14th-centuryparish church and an 1850sCorn Hall, which is still in use.[4] UnderEdward the Confessor, Diss was part of theHartismere hundred of Suffolk, It was recorded as such in theDomesday Book of 1086. It is recorded as being in the king's possession asdemesne (direct ownership) of the Crown, there being at that time a church and aglebe of 24 acres (9.7 ha).
This was thought to be worth £15per annum, which had doubled by the time ofWilliam the Conqueror to £30, with the benefit of the whole hundred and half belonging to it. It was then found to be aleague long, around 3 miles (5 km) and half that distance wide, and paid 4d. inDanegeld. From this it appears that it was still relatively small, but it soon grew, when it subsumed Watlingsete Manor, a neighbouring area as large as Diss, and seemingly more populated according to the geld or tax that it paid. The town includes part of Heywode, as appears from its joining to Burston, into which the manor extended.[5]
Diss was granted by KingHenry I toRichard de Lucy, some time before 1135. TheTesta de Neville finds it not known whether Diss was rendered to Richard de Lucy as an inheritance or for his service, but adds it was doubtless for the latter. Richard de Lucy becomeChief Justiciar toKing Stephen andHenry II.
In 1152, Richard de Lucy received the right to hold a market in Diss, and before 1161 he gave a third of a hundred of Diss (Heywood or Hewode) together with the market in frank marriage with his daughter Dionisia to Sir Robert de Mountenay. After Richard de Lucy's death in 1179, the inheritance of the other two parts of Diss hundred passed to his daughter Maud, who married Walter FitzRobert.[6]
The whole estate later fell to the Lordship of the FitzWalters, who were raised toBaron FitzWalter in 1295. In 1299, the then Lord FitzWalter obtained a charter of confirmation for a fair every year at his manor of Diss, to be held around the feast day of Saint Simon and Jude (28 October) and several days after. A grant made in 1298 to William Partekyn of Prilleston (nowBillingford) presented for homage and half a mark of silver two homesteads in Diss, with liberty of washing his wool and cloths in Diss Meer. This came on the express condition that the gross dye be washed off first. It seems that Diss church was built by the same Lord, as his arms appear in the stone of the south porch of the church several times.[5]
Soon after theBattle of Agincourt in 1415,Edward Plantagenet, Duke of York and Earl of Rutland, came to hold Diss manor, hundred and market, together with Hemenhale, and the title of Lord FitzWalter became attached to the estate. It was part of a larger estate that included Hemenhale and Diss manors, with the hundred of Diss in Norfolk, the manors ofShimpling and Thorne in Suffolk, of Wodeham-Walter (nowWoodham Walter),Henham, Leiden (now part ofLeaden Roding), Vitring, Dunmow Parva (nowLittle Dunmow), Burnham (possibly the modern village ofBurnham-on-Crouch),Winbush, and Shering (nowSheering) in Essex. Shortly afterwards, the estate was acquired by the Ratcliffe family, which inherited the title of Baron FitzWalter. The family owned the land until at least 1732, styling themselves Viscounts FitzWalter.[5]
John Skelton, tutor and court poet toHenry VIII, was appointedrector at St. Mary's Church in Diss in about 1503. He retained thebenefice until his death. Events there formed the subject of some of his poems, such as the humorous invective "Ware the Hauke", in which another priest goesfalconing in St Mary's, barring the doors against him and causing chaos in the church.[7]
Opposite the 14th-century parish Church of St Mary the Virgin stands a 16th-century building known as the Dolphin House. This was one of the town's major buildings, as its impressive dressed-oak beams denote. It may have been a wool merchant's house. Formerly a pub, theDolphin, from the 1800s to the 1960s, the building now houses some small businesses.[8]
Next to Dolphin House is the town's market place, the town's geographical and social centre. The market is held every Friday (exceptGood Friday and other holidays, when it is rescheduled to Thursday): a variety of local traders sell fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and cheeses. It was first granted a charter byRichard the Lionheart. The town's post office and main shopping street, Mere Street, are also near the marketplace, andDiss Town Hall is located nearby on Market Hill.[9]
Early in 1871, alterations at a house in Mount Street about 100 yards (100 m) north of the parish church led workmen to remove the brick flooring of a ground-floor room and insert the joists of a boarded floor. They found in the centre, some 18 inches (50 cm) from the surface, a hoard of over 300 coins, all silver but for two gold nobles.[10]
From 1927 until 1982, Cambridge businessman Jack Baldry and his son Derek operated a factory in the town that producedsoda water,lemonade andcola for the pubs ofEast Anglia.[11] Baldry also ownedsoft drinks factories inCambridge andSawston[12][13] The old brewery in Diss that Jack converted into a soda factory is still known locally as Baldry's Yard.[14]
The100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum is located 4.5 mi (7.2 km) east of Diss at the formerRAF Thorpe Abbotts airfield.[15]
In March 2006, Diss became the third UK town to joinCittaslow, an international body promoting a concept of "Slow Towns".[16] However, it has since withdrawn.[17]
A railway journey from London to Diss forms the subject of a poem by SirJohn Betjeman: "A Mind's Journey to Diss". He also made a short documentary film in 1964, entitledSomething about Diss.[18]
| Climate data forScole,[a] (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–1980) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.2 (57.6) | 15.0 (59.0) | 19.1 (66.4) | 22.9 (73.2) | 26.9 (80.4) | 34.3 (93.7) | 32.1 (89.8) | 32.9 (91.2) | 29.0 (84.2) | 23.7 (74.7) | 17.0 (62.6) | 15.8 (60.4) | 34.3 (93.7) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) | 8.0 (46.4) | 10.8 (51.4) | 14.1 (57.4) | 17.6 (63.7) | 20.8 (69.4) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.7 (72.9) | 19.7 (67.5) | 15.0 (59.0) | 10.7 (51.3) | 7.8 (46.0) | 14.8 (58.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.4 (39.9) | 4.8 (40.6) | 6.7 (44.1) | 9.4 (48.9) | 12.7 (54.9) | 15.5 (59.9) | 17.4 (63.3) | 17.4 (63.3) | 14.9 (58.8) | 11.3 (52.3) | 7.4 (45.3) | 5.0 (41.0) | 10.6 (51.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.5 (34.7) | 1.5 (34.7) | 2.6 (36.7) | 4.7 (40.5) | 7.7 (45.9) | 10.2 (50.4) | 11.9 (53.4) | 12.0 (53.6) | 10.0 (50.0) | 7.5 (45.5) | 4.0 (39.2) | 2.2 (36.0) | 6.3 (43.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −13.3 (8.1) | −12.0 (10.4) | −4.3 (24.3) | −4.3 (24.3) | −1.6 (29.1) | 1.7 (35.1) | 3.7 (38.7) | 4.0 (39.2) | 0.8 (33.4) | −1.5 (29.3) | −6.2 (20.8) | −9.7 (14.5) | −13.3 (8.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 52.3 (2.06) | 44.5 (1.75) | 44.6 (1.76) | 37.9 (1.49) | 38.0 (1.50) | 57.1 (2.25) | 45.3 (1.78) | 58.1 (2.29) | 46.1 (1.81) | 66.4 (2.61) | 78.2 (3.08) | 57.8 (2.28) | 626.2 (24.65) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 11.4 | 8.3 | 10.5 | 9.0 | 8.3 | 9.0 | 9.7 | 8.1 | 8.5 | 10.5 | 11.7 | 10.5 | 115.5 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 64.4 | 71.4 | 118.3 | 175.0 | 217.2 | 207.2 | 217.5 | 200.3 | 162.3 | 110.8 | 68.4 | 62.3 | 1,675.3 |
| Source 1:Met Office (precipitation days 1981–2010)[19] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[20] | |||||||||||||
Diss has at least nine places of worship. They include the 13th-centuryAnglican parish church,[21] theCatholic (St Henry Morse), withMethodist,Baptist and community churches.[22]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East andITV Anglia. Television signals are received from theTacolneston TV transmitter.[23]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Norfolk on 95.1 FM,Heart East on 102.4 FM,Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk on 99.9 FM and Park Radio, a community radio station that broadcasts on 107.6 FM.[24]
The town's two local newspapers are theDiss Express and theDiss Mercury.[25][26]
Diss railway station, located east of the town, is a stop on theGreat Eastern Main Line; it is sited betweenNorwich andStowmarket.Greater Anglia operates two trains an hour in each direction to Norwich and toLondon Liverpool Street.[27] It is the only station operated by Greater Anglia, and one of the few in the United Kingdom, to serveinter-city trains exclusively.
Bus services are operated primarily by Konectbus and Simonds; routes connect the town with Norwich,Bury St Edmunds,Beccles andLong Stratton.[28]
TheA1066 runs through the town, with theA140 bypassing it to the east.
The town's sports clubs includeDiss Town Football Club andDiss Rugby Club, based in nearbyRoydon.
The town has a squadron ofRoyal Air Force Air Cadets and one of theArmy Cadet Force.[29][30]
In order of birth:
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
