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Moving House to Dereham with Hamiltons Removals
Dereham is known as the ‘Heart of Norfolk’ because it’s located at the exact centre of the county. It’s also typical of many of the county’s market towns and is one of the most convenient and desirable places to live. Here Hamiltons Removals, who can help if you are considering moving house to Dereham, look at the history of the town and what it has to offer.
The History and Heritage
Its name means ‘enclosure for deer’, which is what the area was until about the 7th century AD. Dereham has also been known as East Dereham to avoid confusion with the village of West Dereham, which is located about 25 miles away.
However, there is evidence of a settlement in the area long before. Flints and axe heads from the Neolithic Bronze Age area were discovered in fields surrounding the town in 1986. Other ancient artefacts (notably Roman coins) have also been discovered in the years since.
The town was the site of a monastery, founded by St Withburga in the 7th century. Sadly, the only part that still remains is the holy well, which lies at the western end of the town’s parish church, St Nicholas.
The economic driver for the town was the market, which is still held in the Market Place twice a week (on Tuesdays and Fridays). A variety of industries have been based in Dereham over the years, including haulage, clocks, furniture, tools (for model kits), and the town has a mix of independent and High Street chains (the Tesco car park is alleged to be the exact centre of Norfolk). Most of the big chains are now based in a new development, Wright’s Walk.
The Transport Connections
Dereham used to have a mainline rail station, which went on through Wymondham and up to the coast at Wells-next-the-Sea. However this, like so many others, was closed in the 1960s. The line to Wymondham remained, however, and the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust operates a heritage line (pictured above) between the two towns and Dereham has a ticket office and a museum (as well as a free car park). Check out their website to find out when trains are running. There have also been moves made to restore Dereham as a mainline station although nothing has come of this yet.
The A47 road from London to Birmingham ran straight through the town until 1978 when the route was altered so it bypassed the town. The A1075 connects the town to Watton and Thetford to the south, while the B1146 is the main route north, to Fakenham.
There are regular bus services from the town to Norwich, and less frequent ones to nearby villages. Dereham doesn’t have a dedicated bus station, but most services stop in the Market Place.
The Main Attractions
Aside from the church, there are a number of other historic buildings in the town which are well worth a look. Bishop Bonner’s Cottage, a thatched cottage which is named after Bishop Edmund Bonner, who became the Bishop of London in the mid-16th century, houses a museum and is the oldest building in the town. There’s also a fully restored Grade II listed windmill, and the town’s Corn Exchange houses one of the smallest cinemas in the county.
The House Prices
Property website Rightmove says that, on average, properties in Dereham have sold for just over £280,000 in the last 12 months. Detached houses are the most expensive, selling for an average of around £385,000. However, there are plenty of other options such as flats and terraced houses, which help to bring the average figure down somewhat.
Moving House to Dereham with Hamiltons Removals
If you are interested in removals to Dereham, then Hamiltons Removals, as a leading Norfolk removals company, can help get you there.
We can offer a fully comprehensive package, which includes doing all the packing and unpacking for you. If you’d rather do this yourself, then we have a shop at our Harleston base that stocks high-quality packing materials, which you can also order online by clicking here.
Whether you are looking to move to Dereham, elsewhere in Norfolk or further afield, you can start the process at Hamiltons with either an online quotation or a video survey. Alternatively, you can also call directly us on 01379 855203.
Image: GEOGRAPH.ORG.UK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Removals to Wymondham with Hamiltons Removals
Picture: ADRIAN S PYE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Pronounced ‘Windham’, this mid-Norfolk market town was one of the top dozen places to live in the East of England as recently as 2018, according to the Sunday Times. Here Hamiltons Removals, who can help if you are considering moving house to Wymondham, look at the history of the town, its facilities and its house prices.
The History and Heritage
Although there is evidence of a settlement before then (Bronze and Iron Age artefacts were discovered around 30 years ago) the town first really began to expand thanks to the establishment of a priory in the early 12th century, and a market which received its Royal Charter around 100 years after that.
The abbey was dissolved in 1538, and the remaining buildings form part of the parish church; however, the market survives, and there’s one held in the town centre every Friday. Wymondham was also the first town in the county to hold a regular farmers’ market. These started in 2000 and are held on the third Saturday of every month.
As well as agriculture, Wymondham owes its development and growth to the woodturning and brush-making industries; although these factories have now closed down and many of the town’s residents commute to Norwich or Cambridge to work. Major local employers include Norfolk Constabulary (the force’s operations and communications centre is located in the town) and the Lotus factory at nearby Hethel.
The Transport Connections
The town’s railway station is part of the largely rural Breckland Line, which runs services to Norwich in the east and Cambridge and Stansted airport to the west. The Wymondham Abbey station is part of the Mid Norfolk heritage line, which runs occasional passenger services to Dereham (where the line’s museum is located).
However, the A11 is probably of greater importance; the road used to run directly through the town (causing lots of delays and traffic jams). Although the Wymondham bypass was completed in 1996, the A11 is still a vital artery for drivers heading north or south from the town.
And First Norfolk and Suffolk run bus services to Attleborough, Hethersett and Norwich, while Konect Bus also operate services to the city and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
The Facilities
The Market Cross in the Market Place dates from around 1617, and it replaces the building which was destroyed in the town’s Great Fire two years earlier. The blaze, which saw four people hanged for arson, also destroyed the vicarage, the Town Hall, the schoolhouse and around a quarter of the town’s homes. The modern-day Market Cross, which is a listed building, now houses the town’s Tourist Information Centre.
There’s plenty of other buildings to interest the keen historian – apart from the Market Cross and the remains of the abbey, the town’s former jail now houses a Heritage Museum; previously it was a law court and a police station. The railway station and its signal box are both Grade II listed buildings and both were recently restored.
The town has three primary schools, one secondary (Wymondham High Academy) and Wymondham College, one of 36 state boarding schools across the country. Despite its name, it is located just outside the town’s boundary in nearby Morley.
The House Prices
In the 10 years from 2001 to 2011, Wymondham’s population grew by 15% from 12,539 to 14,405 – and it has increased considerably since, and it is now thought to stand at around 17,000. Much of this is down to the large housing developments which have been built in the south and east of the town. And more are planned – over the next 15 years another 2,600 homes have been earmarked for the town by local planners.
However there has been widespread praise for the way in which the town has evolved, while retaining its historic centre and facilities such as Toll’s Meadow, a town nature reserve which the River Tiffey (a tributary of the Yare) runs through.
This means Wymondham is an extremely attractive place to live – property website Rightmove says the average house price is now just over £320,000. This represents a 10% rise on the previous year.
Moving House to Wymondham with Hamiltons Removals
If you are interested in high-end domestic (or commercial) removals to Wymondham, then Norfolk removals company Hamiltons Removals will be able to get you there. We are based in the south of the county, with sites at Harleston and Aldeby.
How you want to start the whole process is up to you – we offer video surveys, online quotations or personal visits; we can also pack and unpack your items; or provide some high-quality packing materials and let you do the packing yourself. Our packing materials shop is based at Harleston, where we also offer secure self-storage rooms; larger items can be kept in one of our storage containers at Aldeby.
If you have any questions about any of our services, just call us on 01379 855203.