Wymondham

Wymondham (pronounced Windham), a market town in the mid-parliamentary division of Norfolk, England, 10 m. S.W. of Norwich by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (rigor) 4764. The church of St Mary the Virgin rises on an eminence on the outskirts of the town. It was attached to a Benedictine priory, founded about the beginning of the 12th century as a cell of St Albans abbey by William de Albini. In 1448 this foundation became an abbey. The nave is of ornate Norman work, with a massive triforium, surmounted by a Perpendicular clerestory and a beautiful wooden roof. The broad N. aisle is Perpendicular, and has also a very fine rood screen. At the W. end there is a lofty and graceful Perpendicular tower. The choir, which was used as the conventual church, has left only slight traces, and one arch is standing of a large chapel which adjoined it on the S. In the centre of the town is a picturesque half-timbered market cross (16x6), with an octagonal upper chamber raised on massive pillars of wood. A chapel, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury, is used as a grammar school. At Wymondham on the 7th of July a festival was formerly held in honour of the saint. It was at this festival in 1549 that the rebellion of Robert Ket or Kett came to a head.