Wymondham, Leicestershire

Village in Leicestershire, England

Human settlement in England

Wymondham

Wymondham windmill

Wymondham

Location within Leicestershire

Population| 623 (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid reference| SK850187
District|

* Melton

Shire county|

* Leicestershire

Region|

* East Midlands

Country| England
Sovereign state| United Kingdom
Post town| MELTON MOWBRAY
Postcode district| LE14
Dialling code| 01572
Police| Leicestershire
Fire| Leicestershire
Ambulance| East Midlands
UK Parliament|

* Rutland and Melton

List of places

England
Leicestershire

52°45′36″N 0°44′28″W﻿ / ﻿52.760°N 0.741°W﻿ / 52.760; -0.741

Wymondham (pronounced, phonetically, /ˈwaɪməndˌəm/) is a village in the Borough of Melton in Leicestershire, England. It is part of a civil parish which also covers the nearby hamlet of Edmondthorpe. The parish has a population of 623, increasing to 632 at the 2011 census.[2] It is close to the county boundaries with Lincolnshire and Rutland, nearby places being Garthorpe, Teigh (in Rutland) and South Witham (in Lincolnshire).

## Description

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The village church is St Peter's; the pub is the Berkeley Arms. There is a windmill that has been converted into a visitor attraction with tea room and craft shops. A part-time mobile Post Office visits the village twice a week. Wymondham has a primary school and a pre-school group. There is also a large playing field named after Sir John Sedley.

### Manor

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The manor of Wymondham was held by the Hamelin family in the 1200s. The south transept of the parish church had a chantry chapel founded by William Hamelin in 1290, who gave land in Wymondham, Saxby and Thorp Edmer for a chaplain to celebrate mass in perpetuity on his behalf. By 1553 the chantry was no longer in existence possibly as a result of the Reformation when saying masses for the departed was abolished. In 1297, Sir John Hamelin held half of a knight's fee of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, brother of King Edward Longshanks, in Wymondham, and the other half was held by Sir William de Hamelin, by homage and suit of court.[3] His coat of arms was one of many of the Hamlin/Hamelin family, and was eventually transmitted to the Hamlyn baronets.[4]

In the south transept of the church is a monument in the form of a large effigy of a knight, cross-legged, dating from the late 13th century; this was Sir John Hamelin who was supposedly a crusader on three occasions.[5] Sir John's daughter and heiress, Isabel Hamelin, carried the manor to her husband, Sir Thomas Berkeley, a son of Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley in whose family it remained for centuries.[6] Sir Thomas Berkeley (died 1488) was an English lawyer and politician who represented Leicestershire in Parliament and served as Sheriff for Rutland, Warwickshire, and Leicestershire.

The public house in Wymondham is named The Berkeley Arms.

### St Peter's church

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St Peter's Church

The parish church dates back to the 13th century and was built in the "Early English style on a cruciform plan"; the third storey of the tower and the spire are in the Perpendicular style.[7] The church priest is also responsible for Buckminster and Sewstern (South Framland). The church saw the wedding of footballer Michael Carrick and Lisa Roughead in June 2007.

### Disused railway

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A disused railway line, part of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway branch line between Saxby and Bourne, runs just to the north of the village. The Edmondthorpe and Wymondham railway station closed to passengers in 1959[8] though the line remained open for ironstone freight, and Queen Elizabeth journeyed along it in 1967. The route was also used for holiday trips from Leicester to Skegness. The former goods yard, goods shed, station, Station House and Navvies' Cottage (Grade II Listed) are passed when travelling from the village along Butt Lane towards the windmill.

### Stilton cheese

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Frances Pawlett (or Paulet), a "skilled cheese maker" of Wymondham, has traditionally been credited as the person who set modern Stilton cheese's shape and style characteristics in the 1720s,[9][10] but others have also been named.[11]

## References

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1. ^ "Neighbourhood Statistics". Retrieved 18 September 2013.
2. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
3. ^ History of the Hamlin family with Genealogies of Early Settlers of the name in America, page 27-31
4. ^ History of the Hamlin family with Genealogies of Early Settlers of the name in America, page 37
5. ^ "Wymondham Church St Peters | Leicestershire & Rutland Church Journal". 4 March 2013.
6. ^ The Visitation of Leicestershire 1619 made by William Camden, Clarenceux King of Arms, edited by John Fetherston, F.S.A., London, 1870, p.2.
7. ^ Taylor, Ralph Peniston (1976). St Peter's Church Wymondham. Trevor Hickman for Wymondham Parochial Church Council.
8. ^ "Edmondthorpe - Wymondham Station Photographs". Wymondhamleics.free-online.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
9. ^ Linford, Jenny (20 October 2008). Great British Cheeses. Penguin. pp. 208–. ISBN 9780756651008. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
10. ^ Weinzweig, Ari (14 November 2003). Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating: How to Choose the Best Bread, Cheeses, Olive Oil, Pasta, Chocolate, and Much More. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 286–. ISBN 9780547348117. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
11. ^ McCartney, Stewart (30 April 2012). Popular Errors Explained. Random House. pp. 36–. ISBN 9781409021896. Retrieved 10 March 2013.

Church Lane

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wymondham, Leicestershire.

* Wymondham village website
* Wymondham windmill and tearooms

Authority control databases |

* Yale LUX

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