Dickleburgh


Dickleburgh is a village in South Norfolk situated six miles north of the Suffolk border. It lies on the Pye Road, a Roman road that ran between Colchester and Caistor St. Edmund although a bypass was built in the early 1990s. Dickleburgh has a 15th-century church, primary school, The Dickleburgh Crown pub and hotel, a village shop and Post Office, a children's play area and a village green.
Dickleburgh is part of the parish of Dickleburgh and Rushall in the county of Norfolk and District of South Norfolk.

Present

Groups in the village include FODS, The Village Society, The Luncheon club and Sports, Social Club & Bowls club that plays in 3 local leagues. The village is home to Bob Flowerdew.

History

The village name derives from an Irish monk by the name of Dicul who had a brief settlement in the area in the late 6th century, nothing of which survives today.
Although unconfirmed, this may be the same Dicul monk quoted by the Venerable Bede in his "Ecclesiastical History of the Anglian Nation". He tells the story of the conversion of the South Saxons and mentions the Irish monk, Dicul, who had a small monastery in 'Boshanhamm', which today is Bosham in Chichester, West Sussex.
Dickleburgh was the birthplace of English painter George Cattermole.
Throughout the 20th century, Dickleburgh had two pubs, two butchers — including T Wilbys and Sons, which was in business over 100 years — and briefly a small zoo.
Dickleburgh was dominated by a mill with homes for the workers and their families from 1780 producing herbage seeds and grain.
This became one of the country's first steam mills in 1834.
In the 1920s and 30s the business included the provision of coal, coke, hay and straw and although materials come from all over the world, the mill always ground locally grown wheat, barley and oats.
After the Second World War the company carried on a programme of steady expansion despite needing to generate its own electricity until 1958.
The Mill was extended over a site originally occupied by old farm buildings and the new buildings designed to provide and facilitate bulk delivery, a weighbridge was installed, and storage arranged at Burston Station for direct transfer to rail trucks.
The Mill finally closed in 1988. After disposal of the plant, its machinery and storage buildings the land remained unused until purchased by Wimpey Homes in 1997 for a housing development which was completed within two years and remains today. The history of the land is remembered in the naming of the key cul-de-sac 'Millers Drive'.

Semere

Semere was another village, which, at the time of William the Conqueror was approximately the same size as Dickleburgh. By 1736 it was very much insubordinate, and now only exists in local street names.