Framingham Earl Parish Council

About

Thank you for visiting the Framingham Earl Parish Council website. 

Framingham Earl Parish Council was formed, by consent of Norfolk County Council, at a General Parish Meeting held at the schoolroom on March 8th 1937, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1933, which allowed the setting up of a parish council in a parish having a population of less than 200.  Framingham Earl’s population was recorded as 180 in the 1931 census.

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Five Councillors were elected to serve on the first Parish Council and the first matters considered by these Councillors were the traffic hazard at the 5-Ways junction (now replaced by a roundabout), nuisance at the gravel pit (now known as The Dell) and drainage problems. These subjects still crop up regularly on current Parish Council Agendas (in 2012 the Council dealt with visibility for pedestrians and the addition of advertising boards on the roundabout, fly tipping and maintenance work in The Dell, and drainage issues connected with building developments)  so little has changed in 75 years!

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With a higher population the number of Councillors was increased to 7 with effect from the council elections held in May 1976.  As far as can be ascertained the longest serving Councillor was the late Mr Christopher Alston who retired in 1998 after 50 years service, with 20 of those years as chairman. To commemorate his long service to the village the Parish council placed a seat on the footpath from Yelverton Road to Gull Lane, a route walked regularly by Mr Alston.

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The large triangular shaped grassed area adjacent to the Framingham Earl Post Office car park is privately owned by Mr and Mrs R Gooderham.  In 1977 the Parish Council requested that they might have permission to plant a Horse Chestnut tree on it to celebrate the Jubilee and Mr and Mrs Gooderham gave permission on the understanding that the Parish Council maintained the grass area for as long as the tree stood. The Parish Council also maintains the strip of land, owned by the Highways Authority, adjacent to the Norwich Road with beds of roses and where the village sign is erected. These two areas are known locally as The Village Green and the Parish Council is grateful to Mr and Mrs Gooderham for this facility for the public to enjoy.

The village sign erected on the green was unveiled on the 28th February 1976 by the Right Reverend Eric Cordingly, MBE, Bishop of Thetford. The sign designed and painted by the late Mrs Sheelah Michalski, a councillor for 14 years, has a Norman arch for the church, shield with crossed arms for Saint Andrew, the knight on the top for the Earl of Norfolk (to whom the lands of Framingham Earl and Pigot were granted after the Norman conquest) and the tree is a cedar of Lebanon to commemorate the many cedars, pines and other trees planted by Dr Rigby who lived in Old Hall from 1779 to the early 1800s and did much for the village and Norwich.

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Framingham Earl Parish Council own and maintain The Dell between Long Road and Pigot Lane which used to be an old gravel pit and provided much of the raw material needed for local house and road building. When the gravel was all extracted it became the village playground – an excellent site for sledging in winter. In 1993 the pit was reduced in size to provide a roundabout and safer road junction and in 1995 the Parish Council, with the assistance of the Norwich Fringe Project, Norfolk Rural Community Council and South Norfolk Council, started a scheme to convert the pit into a nature area. Landscaping and planting was carried out, pathways were cleared and made for better access, bird boxes were installed and the area was re-named The Dell.  This facility is well used and is kept maintained by the Parish Council with very welcome help by local residents.

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