Bunwell Heritage Group
...writing a village history                             
                          



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The Queen's Head, The Turnpike, Bunwell ca. 1910

  200 years ago a traveller on the turnpike road from Norwich to New Buckenham might well have stopped for refreshment at The Queen's Head, Bunwell, for it was conveniently located at the crossroads, next to St. Michael's church in the centre of the village.

  However,   had our traveller expected to find other facilities nearby, perhaps the services of a farrier or a wheelwright, he would have been disappointed.  Bunwell was not the traditional compact village clustered around the church or the village green. Bunwell was, and largely still is, a collection of some five hamlets scattered over the Parish.

If our traveller had taken time to explore the parish he would have found a self-sufficient agricultural community which included five other public houses , a large brickworks and numerous cottage industries.

  Bunwell's position on a ridge of fertile high ground gently sloping southwards to the river Tas made it, from ancient times, a desirable site for human settlement.  Archaeological finds in the parish point to the presence of Stone Age, Saxon, and Roman settlements.  Vernacular building styles still evident in the village bear evidence to its late medieval history.

   Villages change; trees have grown over the remains of the brickworks and the last pub closed in the 1970s.  Self-sufficiency now has a different meaning.  Whilst Bunwell is still a farming village it is now home to many who commute daily to Norwich, to home workers who communicate by the world wide web  and those who choose the village simply because it is a fine  place to live.  
17th c. Thatched Cottage with Tiled Dormers, Great Green

  Welcome to our web site which provides some glimpses of Bunwell's past, records the Group's research work and invites your comments and contributions.