120-522: Mileham is a village approximately midway between East Dereham and Fakenham in Mid Norfolk with a population of 563 people in 2011. The village sits astride the B1145 Kings Lynn to Mundesley road that dissects Mid Norfolk west to east. It is the old coaching road from Kings Lynn to Norwich and then on to Great Yarmouth . The name Mileham comes from the presence of a mill ;
240-683: A London-based doctor and scientist from Ulster . During the course of his lifetime, and particularly after he married the widow of a wealthy Jamaican planter, Sloane gathered a large collection of curiosities , and not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II , for the nation, for a sum of £20,000. At that time, Sloane's collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Sudan , Egypt , Greece , Rome ,
360-453: A buildings committee was set up to plan for expansion of the museum, and further highlighted by the donation in 1822 of the King's Library , personal library of King George III's, comprising 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets , maps, charts and topographical drawings . The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke , was asked to draw up plans for an eastern extension to the museum "... for
480-559: A display of objects from the South Seas brought back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain James Cook and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of a collection of books, engraved gems , coins, prints and drawings by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode in 1800 did much to raise the museum's reputation; but Montagu House became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it
600-735: A document ( Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network ) calling for the restoration of services on a variety of former branch lines, including the Dereham branch. This £30m proposal would see regular services restored between Dereham and Norwich, operated subject to agreement with the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust. In 2020, the railway announced that they had, in association with partner organisations including Greater Anglia , Norfolk County Council , Breckland District Council and
720-453: A location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The trustees rejected Buckingham House, which was later converted into the present day Buckingham Palace , on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location. With the acquisition of Montagu House, the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. At this time,
840-610: A major part of Sir John Evans 's coin collection, which was later sold to the museum by his son J. P. Morgan Jr. in 1915. In 1918, because of the threat of wartime bombing, some objects were evacuated via the London Post Office Railway to Holborn, the National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) and a country house near Malvern . On the return of antiquities from wartime storage in 1919 some objects were found to have deteriorated. A conservation laboratory
960-687: A million books, opened in 1857. Because of continued pressure on space the decision was taken to move natural history to a new building in South Kensington , which would later become the British Museum of Natural History . Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Anthony Panizzi . Under his supervision,
1080-565: A nature reserve) near to the site of the Roman Camp and a church, St John the Baptist , with some rare stained glass windows. The north tower, which functions as a portal was given by the church's patron Lord Fitzalan. The churchyard is typical of the country parish church, showing gravestones surrounding the building. A medieval tomb in the churchyard retains the remnants of a cross. The west window showing St. Catherine (wheel), St. John
1200-566: A number of recently discovered hoards which demonstrated the richness of what had been considered an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. The museum turned increasingly towards private funds for buildings, acquisitions and other purposes. In 2000, the British Museum was awarded National Heritage Museum of the Year . Today the museum no longer houses collections of natural history , and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of
1320-552: A performance area. Funding for the park came from a £15,000 grant from the Pocket Park Fund - part of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and an equal sum from Breckland Council. An area of former railway and industrial land, close to the town's station, now serves as the location for a number of sports and leisure facilities. The Dereham Leisure Centre, built on the old railway locomotive depot, has
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#17327912580841440-523: A period of time when Britain was under Roman rule. The square silver dish was found in 1839. Though it is tempting to assume that it was part of a hoard of silver, there is no record of it being found with any other objects. It is now held by the British Museum . Edward Coke (pronounced Cook) was born at Mileham Hall (now demolished), on 1 February 1552. He became Speaker of The House of Commons in 1593 and Attorney General in 1596. He died on 3 September 1634. Sir Harold Button of Umphington (Shropshire)
1560-668: A place where deer or other animals were kept or grazed. According to local tradition, Saint Wihtburh (aka Withburga), claimed to be the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles , founded a monastery there in the seventh century after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary , although the Venerable Bede does not mention her, or her monastery, in his writings, despite reporting the story of her more famous sister Æthelthryth /Etheldreda of Ely. Apart from reference to it in
1680-489: A possible market place in the northern enclosure and from tolls on travellers. Mileham Tower Windmill, was first recorded in 1860,it was built at the end of a long track to the southwest of the village. The four-storey tarred red brick tower had 21-inch-thick (530 mm) walls, was 38 feet (12 m) high and had a 24-foot-diameter (7.3 m) base. The mill used four double-shuttered sails, each with seven bays of three shutters to power four pairs of stones. The upright shaft
1800-670: A section of dual carriageway approaching Dereham from the east, and to the west a single carriageway built on the disused railway line to King's Lynn, by-passing the villages of Wendling and Scarning . Three other significant roads intersect at Dereham; the B1146 connects the town northwards to Fakenham, the A1075 connects it to Watton and Thetford to the south-west, and the B1135 runs south-east to Wymondham. National Cycle Route 13 runs through Dereham, joining with National Cycle Route 1 north of
1920-519: A shrewd management purchase of the "old traditional" parts of the firm, Hobbies rose again, limiting itself to the role of specialist model-makers shop. After nearly 40 years of its new lease of life, Hobbies moved out of Dereham to new premises elsewhere in Norfolk at Raveningham , where it still trades today. Cranes of Dereham, and its successor the Fruehauf trailer company, was a major employer in
2040-486: A smock mill at Bittering. The windmill continued to use wind power until 1922 when it was converted to use engine power. The facility closed in 1937. It was restored and reopened as an exhibition centre in 2013. In June 1859, a public meeting was held at the Corn Exchange for the formation of a Dereham Rifle Volunteer Corps. The Reverend Armstrong made a short speech urging people to join; around thirty men did,
2160-428: A surprisingly imposing monument consisting of a motte built up around the fragments of a stone keep, two baileys and a further banked rectangular enclosure to the north of the road, which now contains Burwood Hall (built in 1793) and farm buildings. A large wooded deer park was once attached to the south of the castle. The positioning of the castle astride the road is thought to have been connected with raising revenue from
2280-531: A swimming pool, gym, dance and sports facilities. Open air tennis courts, children's play equipment and a skate park are provided on the nearby Dereham recreation ground. Strikes also operate a ten-pin bowling alley on the site. Dereham has a non-League football club, Dereham Town , who play at Aldiss Park. As of the 2024–25 season, the team plays in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division . Dereham Town FC run
2400-547: Is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke , with 44 columns in the Ionic order 45 ft (14 m) high, closely based on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor . The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The Progress of Civilisation , consisting of fifteen allegorical figures, installed in 1852. The construction commenced around
2520-517: Is a current resident (2020). He invented the Well Drain. He is also an ornithologist capable of identifying over 400 birds based on their calls alone. The village has a post office/general store, and a village hall. Also it had a primary school founded in 1677,but it was closed in 2015. The Royal Oak public house stood in the village centre up until 1983, but has since been converted into a private residence. The Castle public house closed in 1920 and
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#17327912580842640-587: Is a town and civil parish in the Breckland District of the English county of Norfolk . It is situated on the A47 road , about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city of Norwich and 25 miles (40 km) east of King's Lynn . The civil parish has an area of 8.31 sq mi (21.5 km ) and, in the 2001 census , had a population of 15,659 in 6,941 households; it increased to 18,609 by
2760-511: Is an eleventh-century addition to the Chronicle. Nonetheless, there is evidence for an early ecclesiastical site at Dereham. The Domesday Book of 1086 states that in the eleventh century, "St Etheldreda held Dereham that was already an important market centre with three mills". The report adds that the growing community was centred around St. Nicholas Church, from the Norman era; the structure
2880-560: Is based at the Assembly Rooms on Rüthen Place in the town centre. The district council also has its headquarters in Dereham, at Elizabeth House on Walpole Loke on the outskirts of the town. East Dereham was an ancient parish . Until 1877 it was governed by its vestry in the same way as most rural areas. In 1877 the parish was made a local government district , governed by a local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. East Dereham Urban District
3000-461: Is left dangling from a railway bridge after a flight on a barrage balloon . Dereham railway station was also a filming location for the opening scene of the BBC 's 2018 series Bodyguard . The A47 trunk road from Lowestoft to Birmingham once ran through the centre of the town, east to west. The A47 was re-routed in 1978 to form a seven mile (11.3 km) £5 million East Dereham by-pass, consisting of
3120-562: Is now Castle Cottages, and the Unicorn Inn closed in 1963 and is also a private residence. The location of The Three Horse Shoes is unknown. Nearby is the source (hence High Norfolk) of the rivers Nar and Wensum . The Nar Valley Way footpath passes through the village. The remains of the medieval village of Grenstein were discovered in the 1960s under agricultural land north of Back Lane. East Dereham Dereham ( / ˈ d ɪər əm / ), also known historically as East Dereham ,
3240-560: Is presently no regular service between Dereham and Norwich, but the section of railway between Wymondham, Dereham and County School , described earlier in the History section, has been preserved and is now operated between Wymondham and Worthing as a tourist line by the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust . This charitable company is gradually reopening the line through North Elmham and supports
3360-580: Is told in the documentary, The Shooting of Jean DeNarde . Jean de Narde's link with Dereham is commemorated by a road named for him just off the B1146 as one approaches the town from the north. One of the windmills built during this era, the Grade II Listed East Dereham Windmill (built in 1836) was known as the Norwich Road Mill or Fendick's Mill; it was constructed by James Hardy for Michael Hardy who owned
3480-484: The 2011 census . Dereham falls within, and is the centre of administration for, Breckland District Council . The town should not be confused with the Norfolk village of West Dereham , which lies about 25 miles (40 km) away. Since 1983, Dereham has been twinned with the town of Rüthen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is also twinned with Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf , France. In spite of
3600-763: The Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas . On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his royal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum Act 1753 also added two other libraries to the Sloane collection, namely the Cottonian Library , assembled by Sir Robert Cotton , dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian Library , the collection of
3720-510: The Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from Mildenhall , Suffolk (1946). The immediate post-war years were taken up with the return of the collections from protection and the restoration of the museum after the Blitz . Work also began on restoring the damaged Duveen Gallery. In 1953, the museum celebrated its bicentenary . Many changes followed:
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3840-589: The Coins and Medals office suite, completely destroyed during the war, was rebuilt and re-opened, attention turned towards the gallery work with new tastes in design leading to the remodelling of Robert Smirke's Classical and Near Eastern galleries. In 1962 the Duveen Gallery was finally restored and the Parthenon Sculptures were moved back into it, once again at the heart of the museum. By
3960-532: The Duke of Blacas 's wide-ranging and valuable collection of antiquities. Overseas excavations continued and John Turtle Wood discovered the remains of the 4th century BC Temple of Artemis at Ephesos , another Wonder of the Ancient World . The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum of Natural History in 1887, nowadays
4080-709: The Earls of Oxford . They were joined in 1757 by the "Old Royal Library", now the Royal manuscripts , assembled by various British monarchs . Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf . The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to
4200-551: The East Norfolk Militia . On 6 October 1799, a French officer, Jean de Narde, managed to escape from the tower and, being unable to escape from the church yard due to guards being present, hid in a tree. The Frenchman was spotted and shot when he refused to come down and surrender. Jean is buried in the churchyard and his grave is marked by a memorial stone erected in 1858, which includes the following statement: "Once our foes but now our allies and brethren." This story
4320-526: The Metamec clock factory. Hobbies of Dereham produced plans, kits and tools—including their famous treadle fretwork saws—for making wooden models and toys, which were popular in the days before moulded plastic. At one point, Hobbies owned ten shops in prestige locations all over the UK. In the early 1960s the firm was taken over by Great Universal Stores , who sold the shops and closed the business. However, due to
4440-538: The Natural History Museum in South Kensington . With the departure and the completion of the new White Wing (fronting Montague Street) in 1884, more space was available for antiquities and ethnography and the library could further expand. This was a time of innovation as electric lighting was introduced in the Reading Room and exhibition galleries. The William Burges collection of armoury
4560-624: The Natural History Museum in 1881. Some of its best-known acquisitions, such as the Greek Elgin Marbles and the Egyptian Rosetta Stone , are subject to long-term disputes and repatriation claims. In 1973, the British Library Act 1972 detached the library department from the British Museum, but it continued to host the now separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as
4680-706: The Oxus Treasure . In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the Waddesdon Bequest , the glittering contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor . This consisted of almost 300 pieces of objets d'art et de vertu which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica , among them the Holy Thorn Reliquary , probably created in the 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry . The collection
4800-672: The Scots Fusilier Guards , was commanding the Dereham Corps in 1861. Dereham became the headquarters of 1st Administrative Battalion, Norfolk Rifle Volunteers in 1866. The Quebec Street drill hall opened that year, and the Right Hon. Lord Suffield was appointed Honorary Colonel on 18 May 1866. At the outbreak of war, the 5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment , kept their HQ in Quebec Street but were based in
4920-678: The Speaker of the House of Commons . The board was formed on the museum's inception to hold its collections in trust for the nation without actually owning them themselves, and now fulfil a mainly advisory role. Trustee appointments are governed by the regulatory framework set out in the code of practice on public appointments issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street
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5040-568: The 1970s, the museum was again expanding. More services for the public were introduced; visitor numbers soared, with the temporary exhibition "Treasures of Tutankhamun " in 1972, attracting 1,694,117 visitors, the most successful in British history. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing the British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from
5160-483: The 1980s. In March 2015, Crisp Maltings announced that they intended to restore the maltings complex beside the station to operational condition, producing malt for craft beer , as part of a planning application for a major housing development. The restoration was expected to cost £1 million. In 2017, the plan to restore the Maltings was dropped, although the housing development was allowed to continue. As of 2020
5280-474: The American architect John Russell Pope , it was completed in 1938. The appearance of the exhibition galleries began to change as dark Victorian reds gave way to modern pastel shades. Following the retirement of George Francis Hill as Director and Principal Librarian in 1936, he was succeeded by John Forsdyke . As tensions with Nazi Germany developed and it appeared that war may be imminent Forsdyke came to
5400-416: The Baptist (lamb) and St. Margaret (spearing dragon) is a rare extant example of stained glass of the decorated style. The window was also added by Lord Fitzalan. Colours of green, gold, olive, amber, as well as red and blue distinguish the complex canopies and figures. In the lower half of the window fragments of 15th-century glass include images of an unidentified female saint and St. Margaret. The site of
5520-709: The British Library to a new site at St Pancras, finally achieved in 1998, provided the space needed for the books. It also created the opportunity to redevelop the vacant space in Robert Smirke's 19th-century central quadrangle into the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court – the largest covered square in Europe – which opened in 2000. The ethnography collections, which had been housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind at 6 Burlington Gardens from 1970, were returned to new purpose-built galleries in
5640-567: The British Museum . The British Museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through a three-year funding agreement. Its head is the Director of the British Museum . The British Museum was run from its inception by a 'principal librarian' (when the book collections were still part of the museum), a role that was renamed 'director and principal librarian' in 1898, and 'director' in 1973 (on
5760-532: The British Museum Library (now part of the British Library ) quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library, the largest library in the world after the National Library of Paris . The quadrangle at the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's brother, Sydney Smirke. Until
5880-433: The British Museum. This left the museum with antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; prints and drawings; and ethnography . A pressing problem was finding space for additions to the library which now required an extra 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (2.0 km) of shelving each year. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997. The departure of
6000-602: The Corn Exchange, and used the Masonic Hall on Norwich Road as a store, with the Assembly Rooms being used for medical inspections. Dereham suffered damage during a Zeppelin air raid during the night of 8 September 1915. Damaged buildings included the headquarters of the 5th Norfolk Regiment at their premises on the corner of Church Street and Quebec Street. The raid also hit The White Lion public house on Church Street, seriously injuring two customers. The roof
6120-596: The Dereham Education and Soccer Academy (DESA), a partnership between Northgate High School Sixth Form College and the football club. The programme allows students to follow a Level 3 BTEC in Sport, alongside A levels and/or GCSE Maths and English retakes while also being part of a football academy. Graduates of DESA include Colchester United midfielder Luke Hannant and Swindon Town left-back Frazer Blake-Tracy . Dereham Rugby Club, based on Moorgate Road, play in
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#17327912580846240-471: The High Street were the traditional shopping areas but in 2005 a new shopping area was created called Wright's Walk which is mainly occupied by national chains. A second phase of development at Wright's Walk was envisaged but this has never been started. Instead, the land earmarked for this development has been used to create a pocket park offering a tranquil public meeting space, a community garden and
6360-435: The Maltings buildings have been made weathertight but they remain empty. Companies currently based in Dereham include Flagship Housing and Zip Industries . Dereham is a busy market town serving local residents and a wide rural area. The town has a market on Tuesdays and Fridays selling a range of food and household items. The town's shops are a mixture of local independent businesses and national chains. The Market Place and
6480-429: The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership , bid for funding for a feasibility study into reopening the line for regular commuter services over their route. The plans to restore the line, and potentially extend it to Fakenham in time, have been backed by the George Freeman, MP for Mid-Norfolk . In June 2021, an unsuccessful funding bid was submitted as part of the second round of the Restoring Your Railway fund. A bid
6600-406: The South Wing with its great colonnade, initiated in 1843 and completed in 1847, when the Front Hall and Great Staircase were opened to the public. The museum is faced with Portland stone , but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway . In 1846 Robert Smirke was replaced as
6720-457: The UK. In 1816 these masterpieces of western art were acquired by the British Museum by Act of Parliament and deposited in the museum thereafter. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia , Greece in 1815. The Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from Mary Mackintosh Rich, the widow of Assyriologist Claudius James Rich . In 1802
6840-399: The Woodfordes League. Dereham Cricket Club was formed in 1856. It plays home games at its ground on Norwich Road. Dereham Hockey Club is based nearby on Greenfield Road. British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history , art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in
6960-415: The antiquities displays. After the defeat of the French campaign in the Battle of the Nile , in 1801, the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculptures and in 1802 King George III presented the Rosetta Stone – key to the deciphering of hieroglyphs. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt , British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, laid the foundations of
7080-549: The architect Sydney Smirke , opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras . Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre. With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum empty, the demolition for Lord Foster 's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while undoubtedly improving circulation around
7200-415: The base of the last one can still be seen from the Litcham Road. (There is a possibility that it may be linked to a Saxon water mill.) There is also a "Mill Farm" to the west of the village. Mileham is a linear settlement in 'High Norfolk', and is also a 'Conservation Village', centred on Burwood Hall, The Church, The Castle, Park Farm, Old Hall Farm and Manor Farm. There are ruins of a Norman castle (now
7320-488: The block on which the museum stands. The architect Sir John James Burnet was petitioned to put forward ambitious long-term plans to extend the building on all three sides. Most of the houses in Montague Place were knocked down a few years after the sale. Of this grand plan only the Edward VII galleries in the centre of the North Front were ever constructed, these were built 1906–14 to the design by J.J. Burnet, and opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1914. They now house
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#17327912580847440-433: The collection occupies room 2a. By the last years of the 19th century, The British Museum's collections had increased to the extent that its building was no longer large enough. In 1895 the trustees purchased the 69 houses surrounding the museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the west, north and east sides of the museum. The first stage was the construction of the northern wing beginning 1906. All
7560-425: The collection of Egyptian Monumental Sculpture. Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection , much of it Roman sculpture, in 1805. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin , ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 removed the large collection of marble sculptures from the Parthenon , on the Acropolis in Athens and transferred them to
7680-413: The county, the Tesco car park being cited as the exact centre. In the spring of 1978, the "Heart" was given the seven-mile £5m part-dual-carriageway A47 bypass. A section of this road, between Scarning and Wendling , was built along the former railway line towards Swaffham and King's Lynn. This section of railway had been used as a location for the filming of Dad's Army , where Captain Mainwaring
7800-419: The courtyard with the East Wing ( The King's Library ) in 1823–1828, followed by the North Wing in 1833–1838, which originally housed among other galleries a reading room, now the Wellcome Gallery. Work was also progressing on the northern half of the West Wing (The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery) 1826–1831, with Montagu House demolished in 1842 to make room for the final part of the West Wing, completed in 1846, and
7920-413: The eldest was an elderly fat banker of 70 years and the youngest a seventeen-year-old. They were kitted out in a grey uniform. The Corps met regularly for drill and exercise. When the Prince and Princess of Wales , and the Queen of Denmark arrived at the town's railway station, the Dereham Rifles attended to form a guard of honour . William Earle G. Lytton Bulwer, formerly a lieutenant and captain in
8040-429: The eleventh-century hagiography of Wihtburh, little is known of her foundation and no evidence survives today. An archaeological report by Norfolk County Council indicates that the first "documentary evidence" of a settlement in this area is a reference in one of the versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the exhumation of the remains of St Wihtburh in AD 798, said to be 55 years after her death. But that reference
8160-427: The few years after its foundation the British Museum received several further gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts and David Garrick 's library of 1,000 printed plays. The predominance of natural history, books and manuscripts began to lessen when in 1772 the museum acquired for £8,410 its first significant antiquities in Sir William Hamilton 's "first" collection of Greek vases . From 1778,
8280-404: The fire include the Church of Saint Nicholas and the nearby Bishop Bonner 's cottage. Dereham was administered by the Abbots , then the Bishops of Ely , until the parish was taken from the church by Queen Elizabeth I . In the late 1700s, Dereham church's bell tower was used as a prison for French prisoners of war being transferred from Great Yarmouth to Norman Cross under the charge of
8400-425: The first full-time in-house designer and publications officer were appointed in 1964, the Friends organisation was set up in 1968, an Education Service established in 1970 and publishing house in 1973. In 1963, a new Act of Parliament introduced administrative reforms. It became easier to lend objects, the constitution of the board of trustees changed and the Natural History Museum became fully independent. By 1959
8520-442: The guildhall and destroyed windows in the church. Four people were killed and six injured during the raid, with the coroner's report stating that the deaths were caused by bombs "unlawfully dropped from a Zeppelin aircraft." Dereham was declared a Nodal Point during the Second World War and was partially fortified to slow down any German invasion of the country. Several defensive structures were built. One surviving pill box , in
8640-414: The independent British Library . The museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over 13 million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library. The Round Reading Room , which was designed by
8760-474: The largest number of Roman coins found in Norfolk was discovered in Dereham, over 1000 from the third century. A dig provided no evidence of Roman occupation, however. Edmund Bonner , later to become the infamous 'burning bishop', was the Rector for Dereham from 1534 to 1538. Many of the town's ancient buildings were destroyed in the serious fires that took place in 1581 and 1659. Notable buildings that survived
8880-422: The largest parts of collection were the library, which took up the majority of the rooms on the ground floor of Montagu House, and the natural history objects, which took up an entire wing on the second state storey of the building. In 1763, the trustees of the British Museum, under the influence of Peter Collinson and William Watson , employed the former student of Carl Linnaeus , Daniel Solander , to reclassify
9000-438: The mid-19th century, the museum's collections were relatively circumscribed but, in 1851, with the appointment to the staff of Augustus Wollaston Franks to curate the collections, the museum began for the first time to collect British and European medieval antiquities, prehistory , branching out into Asia and diversifying its holdings of ethnography . A real coup for the museum was the purchase in 1867, over French objections, of
9120-439: The mill ceased working in 1924 and was dismantled soon after. A photograph of 1934 showed the mill with three broken sails and the fanstage still in situ. Mileham Post Windmill, first recorded in 1775, stood on Mileham or Beeston Common and was actually nearer to Litcham than Mileham. The mill buck stood over a roundhouse and used 2 pairs of French burr stones, a flour mill and a jumper. A horse mill and bake office were also run on
9240-584: The museum became a construction site. The King's Library , on the ground floor of the East Wing, was handed over in 1827, and was described as one of the finest rooms in London. Although it was not fully open to the general public until 1857, special openings were arranged during The Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1840, the museum became involved in its first overseas excavations , Charles Fellows 's expedition to Xanthos , in Asia Minor , whence came remains of
9360-492: The museum in 2000. The museum again readjusted its collecting policies as interest in "modern" objects: prints, drawings, medals and the decorative arts reawakened. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea , Madagascar , Romania , Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East , Egypt, Sudan and the UK. The Weston Gallery of Roman Britain, opened in 1997, displayed
9480-458: The museum trustees a loan of £200,000 to purchase from the Duke of Bedford all 69 houses which backed onto the museum building in the five surrounding streets – Great Russell Street, Montague Street, Montague Place, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street. The trustees planned to demolish these houses and to build around the west, north and east sides of the museum new galleries that would completely fill
9600-526: The museum until 1997. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport . Like all UK national museums, it charges no admission fee except for loan exhibitions. Although today principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities , the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the Anglo-Irish physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753),
9720-522: The museum was largely based on the collections of the Anglo-Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane . It opened to the public in 1759, in Montagu House , on the site of the current building. The museum's expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of British colonisation and resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, or independent spin-offs, the first being
9840-710: The museum's architect by his brother Sydney Smirke , whose major addition was the Round Reading Room 1854–1857; at 140 feet (43 m) in diameter it was then the second widest dome in the world, the Pantheon in Rome being slightly wider. The next major addition was the White Wing 1882–1884 added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the architect being Sir John Taylor . In 1895, Parliament gave
9960-667: The museum, dated 31 January 1784, refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an Apollo in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco Progenie, a pupil of Pietro Fabris , who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the Royal Society in London. In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated
10080-671: The museum, was criticised for having a lack of exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many galleries were closed to the public. At the same time the African collections that had been temporarily housed in 6 Burlington Gardens were given a new gallery in the North Wing funded by the Sainsbury family – with the donation valued at £25 million. The museum's online database had nearly 4,500,000 individual object entries in 2,000,000 records at
10200-470: The natural history collection according to the Linnaean system , thereby making the museum a public centre of learning accessible to the full range of European natural historians. In 1823, King George IV gave the King's Library assembled by George III, and Parliament gave the right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the museum's library would expand indefinitely. During
10320-419: The original Saxon village is in the field to the east of the church where the remains of Saxon ponds can be seen. Mileham Castle (also referred to as " Hall Yards" on old maps) is one of the largest motte and bailey castles in Norfolk. It straddles the pre-Conquest road that remained the main east-west route through the county until the 17th century. The castle was constructed in about 1100.and its remains form
10440-469: The proposed Picture Gallery was no longer needed, and the space on the upper floor was given over to the Natural history collections. The first Synopsis of the British Museum was published in 1808. This described the contents of the museum, and the display of objects room by room, and updated editions were published every few years. As Sir Robert Smirke 's grand neo-classical building gradually arose,
10560-481: The public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element, and meant that the British Museum now became both National Museum and library. The body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House , as
10680-581: The railway station yard, is preserved as a memorial by the Royal British Legion ; several others were built but are no longer visible. Additional Air Ministry sidings were laid in the town in 1943. A Cold War -era bunker was built underground near the Guild Hall. The railway arrived in Dereham in 1847, when a single track line to Wymondham opened. A second line was opened, in 1848, to King's Lynn . A line from Dereham to Fakenham
10800-526: The reception of the Royal Library , and a Picture Gallery over it ..." and put forward plans for today's quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823. The extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. However, following the founding of the National Gallery , London in 1824,
10920-707: The restoration of the line to Fakenham . As well as running heritage trains, the MNR also runs special attractions such as the Polar Express Train Ride every winter and operate non-passenger services in support of mainline companies. Although no scheduled services operate between Dereham and the rest of the national network, in June 2009 the Association of Train Operating Companies published
11040-681: The reunification of Germany in 1990, the sign on the A47 at the entrance to Dereham from the Swaffham direction still refers to Rüthen being in West Germany; this sparks periodic comment in the local press. Dereham's name derives from the Old English word "deor" meaning "deer" or "wild animal" with the very common "-ham" ("village", "homestead", or to denote land that is closed in by water or other geographical features), so perhaps it referred to
11160-576: The same site as the monastery and convent she was said to have founded. The church has been a Grade I listed structure since 1951 (Entry #1077067). There are three tiers of local government covering Dereham, at parish (town), district and county level: Dereham Town Council, Breckland District Council and Norfolk County Council . The town council is responsible for matters such as play areas, allotments, cemeteries and markets. Its assets include Dereham Memorial Hall, Neatherd Moor, Bishop Bonners Cottage, two cemeteries and six allotment sites. The town council
11280-730: The separation of the British Library). A board of 25 trustees (with the director as their accounting officer for the purposes of reporting to Government) is responsible for the general management and control of the museum, in accordance with the British Museum Act 1963 and the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 . Prior to the 1963 Act, it was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury , the Lord Chancellor and
11400-537: The site. A sketchmap by Geraldine Neale c.1948, showed the postmill to the north of the western end of the east to west track and the towermill at the north end of the south to north track. Geraldine Neale died in 1970 and was the daughter of John Wilkin who was miller at the time the towermill was dismantled in 1902. Her article The Miller's Daughter was published in the Eastern Daily Press on 21 August 1948. The Mileham Dish dates from 4th century AD from
11520-537: The start of 2023. In 2022–23 there were 27 million visits to the website. This compares with 19.5 millions website visits in 2013. There were 5,820,860 visits to the museum in 2023, a 42% increase on 2022. The museum was the most visited tourist attraction in Britain in 2023. The number of visits, however, has not recovered to the level reached before the Covid pandemic. A number of films have been shot at
11640-572: The tombs of the rulers of ancient Lycia , among them the Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857, Charles Newton was to discover the 4th-century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos , one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . In the 1840s and 1850s the museum supported excavations in Assyria by A.H. Layard and others at sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh . Of particular interest to curators
11760-489: The town for many decades. Cranes built nearly all the giant trailers (100 tons plus) that carried equipment such as transformers at slow speeds across the UK, usually in the livery of Wynns or Pickfords . The launch of a new trailer was treated rather like that of a ship with many people coming out to see the leviathan move through the narrow streets of the town towards the A47. The town also had several large maltings . Almost all this large-scale industry has drifted away since
11880-471: The town. Frequent bus services operate from Dereham to Norwich and Peterborough; less frequent services are provided for several local villages. Dereham does not have a bus station, with most services operating through the marketplace. Dereham is not currently served by National Rail services. The nearest station is Wymondham , which is on the Breckland line between Norwich and Cambridge . There
12000-502: The track between Fakenham and Wells was lifted soon after. The line from Dereham to Wymondham was returned to single track in 1965, with a passing loop at Hardingham . The line to King's Lynn was closed in 1968 and the last passenger train on the Dereham-to-Wymondham line ran in 1969, although the railway remained open for freight until 1989. Dereham labels itself "The Heart of Norfolk" owing to its central location in
12120-510: The view that with the likelihood of far worse air-raids than that experienced in World War I that the museum had to make preparations to remove its most valuable items to secure locations. Following the Munich crisis Forsdyke ordered 3,300 No-Nail Boxes and stored them in the basement of Duveen Gallery. At the same time he began identifying and securing suitable locations. As a result, the museum
12240-615: The while, the collections kept growing. Emil Torday collected in Central Africa, Aurel Stein in Central Asia, D. G. Hogarth , Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence excavated at Carchemish . Around this time, the American collector and philanthropist J. Pierpont Morgan donated a substantial number of objects to the museum, including William Greenwell 's collection of prehistoric artefacts from across Europe which he had purchased for £10,000 in 1908. Morgan had also acquired
12360-551: The world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. Established in 1753, the British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge. In 2023, the museum received 5,820,860 visitors, an increase of 42% from 2022. It was the most popular attraction in the United Kingdom according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). At its beginning,
12480-504: Was a 'graft' shaft of both wood and iron. Two opposite doors were set into the base of the tower on the east and west sides, and another door was on the south side of the meal floor. According to Geraldine Neale, writing in 1948, a sail broke off the mill in a gale in 1904 and a similar occurrence put the mill out of commission for all time. However, it is not clear whether this was the actual case as in May 1973, G. Rye reported to Philip Unwin that
12600-640: Was a room originally intended for manuscripts, between the Front Entrance Hall and the Manuscript Saloon. The books remained here until the British Library moved to St Pancras in 1998. The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke 's 1823 plan, but already adjustments were having to be made to cope with the unforeseen growth of the collections. Infill galleries were constructed for Assyrian sculptures and Sydney Smirke 's Round Reading Room , with space for
12720-523: Was able to quickly commence relocating selected items on 24 August 1939, (a mere day after the Home Secretary advised them to do so), to secure basements, country houses , Aldwych Underground station and the National Library of Wales . Many items were relocated in early 1942 from their initial dispersal locations to a newly developed facility at Westwood Quarry in Wiltshire . The evacuation
12840-472: Was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the new Breckland District. A successor parish was established covering the former urban district. The parish was formally renamed from East Dereham to just Dereham with effect from 24 June 1991. Dereham was the home to the "Jentique" furniture factory which made boxes for both instruments and bombs during the Second World War. The town was also the home to
12960-405: Was altered during the 1200s, 1300s and 1400s. Because numerous medieval buildings were destroyed in fires during 1581 and 1679, the town appears to have a Georgian aspect. A Neolithic polished greenstone axe head was found near the town in 1986, with a Neolithic axe head, flint scraper and other tools and worked flints also found in local fields during the 1980s. There is evidence that the area
13080-416: Was apparent that it would be unable to cope with further expansion. The museum's first notable addition towards its collection of antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), British Ambassador to Naples , who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to
13200-683: Was bequeathed to the museum in 1881. In 1882, the museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society) the first British body to carry out research in Egypt. A bequest from Miss Emma Turner in 1892 financed excavations in Cyprus. In 1897 the death of the great collector and curator, A. W. Franks , was followed by an immense bequest of 3,300 finger rings , 153 drinking vessels, 512 pieces of continental porcelain, 1,500 netsuke , 850 inro , over 30,000 bookplates and miscellaneous items of jewellery and plate, among them
13320-523: Was destroyed and The White Lion never reopened as a public house. The old Vicarage was used as a Red Cross hospital. In December 1915, Zeppelin L14 dropped bombs between Bylaugh Park and Dereham. Seventy-five bombs were dropped on Dereham, with several houses destroyed and eight or nine bombs dropped onto the Red Cross hospital established in the vicarage, although these failed to detonate. Another bomb hit
13440-686: Was in the tradition of a Schatzkammer such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe. Baron Ferdinand's will was most specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void, the collection should be placed in a special room to be called the Waddesdon Bequest Room separate and apart from the other contents of the Museum and thenceforth for ever thereafter, keep the same in such room or in some other room to be substituted for it. These terms are still observed, and
13560-463: Was made in 1752 to turn Dereham into a new Buxton or Bath by building a bathhouse over Withburga's Well. It was described at the time as a "hideous building of brick and plaster" and was never popular. The building was extensively modified in 1793 according to a book published in 1856. The local vicar, Reverend Benjamin Armstrong, obtained permission in 1880 to pull the building down. The spring
13680-784: Was occupied during the Bronze Age , with burnt flints from a pot boiler site being found in 1976 and another burnt mound site located in 1987. In 2000, an enamelled bridle bit dating from the Iron Age was discovered, with pottery sherds also being found by field walkers in 1983. The town is believed to be on the Roman Road linking the Brampton with the major east-west Roman Road of the Fen Causeway . Some pottery and furniture remains have been found in local fields. In 2004,
13800-515: Was opened in 1849; this line being extended to the coastal town of Wells-next-the-Sea by 1857. The town's railways became part of the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. Dereham had its own railway depot and a large complex of sidings, serving local industry. The line between Dereham and Wymondham was doubled , in 1882, to allow for the increasing levels of traffic. Passenger services between Dereham and Wells were withdrawn in 1964 and
13920-427: Was re-submitted for the third round The town lies on the site of a monastery said by local tradition to have been founded by Saint Withburga in the seventh century; the saint died in 743AD. A holy well is at the western end of St Nicholas Church yard and the tradition claims this to have begun to flow when her body was stolen from the town by monks from Ely , who took the remains back to their town. An attempt
14040-468: Was set up in May 1920 and became a permanent department in 1931. It is today the oldest in continuous existence. In 1923, the British Museum welcomed over one million visitors. New mezzanine floors were constructed and book stacks rebuilt in an attempt to cope with the flood of books. In 1931, the art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen offered funds to build a gallery for the Parthenon sculptures . Designed by
14160-478: Was the eventual discovery of Ashurbanipal 's great library of cuneiform tablets , which helped to make the museum a focus for Assyrian studies . Sir Thomas Grenville (1755–1846), a trustee of the British Museum from 1830, assembled a library of 20,240 volumes, which he left to the museum in his will. The books arrived in January 1847 in twenty-one horse-drawn vans. The only vacant space for this large library
14280-491: Was then protected by iron railings but fell out of use and became choked with weeds. Since 1950, however, it has been kept clear of weeds, although the railings still prevent access to the waters. In a 2006 report on the church, Simon Knott indicated that by then, the "well" was actually a "sunken spring". Today, the Church of England refers to St Nicholas Church as "Founded by St Withburga AD654", presumably because it may be on
14400-576: Was timely, for in 1940 the Duveen Gallery was severely damaged by bombing. Meanwhile, prior to the war, the Nazis had sent a researcher to the British Museum for several years with the aim of "compiling an anti-Semitic history of Anglo-Jewry". After the war, the museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the most spectacular additions were the 2600 BC Mesopotamian treasure from Ur , discovered during Leonard Woolley 's 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and garnet grave goods from
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