Foulsham

Foulsham is a village in Norfolk, England. It was briefly famous in the 1990s for its show of Christmas lights, which attracted national attention before the road chaos this created caused the lights to be removed. The village's name derives from 'sham,' or home, and 'foul,' from the bird. The population is around 800 people, and the village is located in the district of Broadland.

This English village gave its name to a family of Puritan dissidents who fled England for the town of Hingham, Massachusetts, (and later Exeter, New Hampshire) and whose spelling of the name was slightly changed to Folsom. [The Folsoms who eventually settled in Exeter, New Hampshire, continued to hold land near Foulsham in Norfolk for many years after settling in the English colony. Deacon John Folsom, who died in Exeter in 1681 deeded to his son Peter before his death (April 10, 1673) "forty or fifty acres of land in Hingham in ye county of Norfolk (England) near Norrald Comon and formerly held by ye name of Ffulsham at ye Boxbushes."] Today these American descendants of Foulsham have given rise to Folsom, California, Folsom Street in San Francisco, Folsom Prison -- all named for California pioneer and New Hampshire native Joseph Folsom -- as well as Nathaniel Folsom, who represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=9jNHy0PBqlUC&pg=PA1856&lpg=PA1856&dq=foulsham+sham+fowl&source=web&ots=GELHVfcYe8&sig=YqXMtVgOaWeb_0hlDprMMbQcnRM&hl=en Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, 1908] ]

In World War 2 RAF Foulsham played host to No. 100 Group RAF, a special operations unit who flew bombers including the Handley Page Halifax and De Havilland Mosquito in electronic warfare missions.

It once had its own Foulsham railway station on the line between Dereham and Wroxham.

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