Costessey

Coordinates: 52°39′37″N 1°12′58″E / 52.66023°N 1.21614°E / 52.66023; 1.21614

Costessey
Beehive Lodge
Costessey  Costessey shown within Norfolk
Area	12.39 km2 (4.78 sq mi)
Population	9,822 (2001)
- Density	793 /km2 (2,050 /sq mi)
OS grid reference	TG176118
Parish	Costessey
District	South Norfolk
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	NORWICH
Postcode district	NR8
Dialling code	01603
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	South Norfolk
	Norwich South
List of places: UK • England • Norfolk

Costessey ( /ˈkɒsi/ cossy) is a civil parish situated 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Norwich in Norfolk, England. The parish comprises two settlements: the long-established village of Costessey (now commonly Old Costessey) (2005 population 4,611), and New Costessey (population 5,211), which developed during the first half of the 20th century and has become a suburb of Norwich. The two settlements are separated by the River Tud and by arable land. Costessey's northern boundary with Taverham, Drayton and Hellesdon follows the course of the River Wensum.

Costessey parish has an area of 12.39 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 9,822 in 4,255 households.^[2] It constitutes the most northern reaches of the predominantly rural South Norfolk District; Costessey is the second largest population centre within the district, after Wymondham.

History

Costessey lies in the valleys of the Rivers Wensum and Tud. Archaeological records indicate that there was a strong farming community on this site during the late Bronze Age and Roman times. Anglo-Saxon settlers established a community at some point after 600 AD, and it is generally believed that the name Costessey, translated as Kost's Island, dates from this time. Furthermore, records from 1648 recount that Oliver Cromwell referred to the village and estate as Cossey, indicating that the current pronunciation of the name has long existed. There is also evidence to suggest that the spelling was changed from Cossey to Costessey in the 19th century.

Costessey features in the legend of St Walstan, the little-known patron saint of farm labourers, who is remembered in villages across Norfolk and north Suffolk. According to legend, Walstan was born into nobility at neighbouring Bawburgh (then part of Costessey estate) circa 970, but he relinquished his privileges, choosing instead to spend most of his life working as a farm labourer in Taverham. His initial route by foot from Bawburgh to Taverham took Walstan through Costessey Park, where it is said he donated his noble garments to two passing peasants. Following his death and the return of his body by cart to Bawburgh, springs of holy water are said to have arisen at three sites in Taverham, Costessey and Bawburgh.

Costessey Hall & Manor

The village sign depicting the now derelict Costessey Hall

In Domesday records, the village of Costesela appears, with mention of a mill, and of a manor with over 80 square miles (210 km²) of estate across Norfolk, including the only listed hunting park in Norfolk. This formerly belonged to one Earl Guert but was awarded by William the Conqueror to the Count of Brittany, a commander at the Battle of Hastings. Here began a 500-year period in which ownership of the manor passed through a variety of families, regularly being reverted to the Crown and reallocated.

In 1546, Henry VIII granted the manor to Anne of Cleves, although evidence suggests that she never actually occupied Costessey Hall. A surviving early Tudor building sited in what remains of Costessey Park is thought by some to be the hall granted by Henry. In 1555, Queen Mary granted Costessey Manor to Sir Henry Jernegan, heralding a long period of occupancy by the Jernegans, Jerninghams and Stafford Jerninghams. Sir Henry commissioned the building of a new Tudor Hall on Costessey Park, beginning his residency there in 1565.

In 1827, Sir George William Jerningham, 8th Baron Stafford, commissioned large-scale grand and elaborate expansions of Sir Henry's Hall, with many towers and mock-Tudor windows. The project was ongoing over several decades, continued by the 9th Baron Stafford from 1851, and although many features of the new design were realised, completion was ultimately prevented by dwindling funds. The 10th Baron Stafford, who inherited the title in 1884, was certified as a lunatic; during his ownership, the estate was held by the Lunacy Commission. The generous and reclusive Sir FitzOsbert Stafford Jerningham, 11th Baron Stafford, resided at Costessey Hall until his death in 1913, upon which the Hall's contents were auctioned at a high-profile sale.

Costessey since 1913

The final owner of the empty but intact building was the War Office, who commandeered the Hall from 1914-18 for the training of infantry, cavalry and artillery troops to serve in World War I. Soon after war ended, Costessey Park was divided into small plots sold cheaply to working-class residents of Norwich, who erected makeshift wooden houses or brought disused railway carriages as their dwellings. The well-trodden paths amongst these plots became the basis of a street network, and the ramshackle homes gave way to brick buildings during the 1930s - 1950s, to become New Costessey. The street names of Jerningham Road and Stafford Avenue honour the local associations with the aristocratic family.

The structure of Costessey Hall was gradually weathered, plundered by builders, and carefully demolished over a period of several decades. During training for World War II, one of the towers was struck by a fully armed Blenheim Bomber from a nearby airfield, causing the death of the unfortunate pilot but inflicting remarkably little damage upon the tower. Today, all that remains of the building is the belfry tower, now ivy-clad, and a small adjoining block, which stand prominently in what is now Costessey Park Golf Course. Costessey village sign depicts the hall in its former splendour. Plans for the hall to be part of a new complex for an architecture business are only in their early stages.

Costessey today

Services

Costessey today has a range of local shops and services. There are four pubs (The Bush, The Harte, The Crown and The Copper Beech, which was built in 2011 near Longwater Retail Park); a fifth (The Roundwell), was situated on the former perimeter of Costessey Park, until it was demolished in 2010. A new doctors surgery, The Roundwell Medical Centre, was recently built on the site of the old Roundwell Pub, situated near the Dereham Road/Longwater Lane junction, replacing the old surgery at the opposite end of Longwater Lane. In early summer 2010 The Costessey Centre, a new community centre, opened at the Longwater Lane Recreation grounds.

The parish also contains out-of-town superstores and a Park and Ride site, which serve communities to the west of Norwich. The Royal Norfolk Showground is situated on the western parish border with Easton. Marriott's Way footpath follows the route of the dismantled Norwich-to-Reepham railway across the north of the parish. Pockets of old woodland remain at East Hills and Gunton Lane, the latter named after the prominent Gunton family of Costessey.

The Street...Then & Now If you were to walk down The Street in Old Costessey in the middle 19th century you would recognise many of the houses, for most of them are still standing today and some still as they were back then. The Street has changed little over the past 100 years.

Education

There are three schools in Costessey. Costessey Infant School and Costessey Junior School caters for the ages 4 to 11. Old Costessey is served by St Augustine's Roman Catholic Primary School which is also for 4 to 11 year olds.

Costessey High School (1952–2010), became a Specialist Science College in 2003 and had around 1000 pupils from the ages of 11 to 18. It served Easton, Marlingford, East Tuddenham, Bawburgh and the neighbouring suburb of Bowthorpe, as well as Costessey. The school staged premieres of various musicals for schools in Norfolk, performing Les Misérables in 2003, Jekyll & Hyde in 2006, All for one in 2008 and Hot Mikado in 2009. The school has also been attended by young actor Sam Claflin who is making is film debut in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

After much debate, Costessey High School was closed down in September 2010 and replaced by Ormiston Victory Academy. The Academy, which caters for 11 to 19 year olds, opened using the existing buildings and is run by principal Rachel De Souza. The Academy's main sponsor is The Ormiston Trust, a charity which supports children, young people and families in their community. It is also sponsored by Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. The academy continued its predecessors musical performances and put on a production of Disney's Beauty and The Beast in late 2010. Within the next few years, a new complex will be built replacing the old Costessey High School buildings, and will expand to cater for 1250 pupils. The academy has received a £15 million cash injection which will be used to revamp the old site^[1]. The school has a brand new £50,000 dedicated hair and beauty salon on site, the first in the country^{[citation needed]}.

See also

• List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations
• Stafford knot — the family emblem, which is incorporated into the design of the Staffordshire arms.

References

• Gage, Ernest G. (1991). Costessey Hall: A Retrospect of the Jernegans, Jerninghams and Stafford Jerninghams of Costessey Hall, Norfolk. Colin House, Norwich. ISBN 0-9517494-0-4. 
• Gage, Ernest G. (2003). Costessey: A Look Into The Past. Brian Gage, Norwich. ISBN 0-9542113-0-8. 
• Rye, James (2000). A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place-names. Larks Press, Dereham, Norfolk. ISBN 0-948400-15-3. 
• "Costessey". People and events through the centuries (Part I: To mid sixteenth-century). http://sandgroper79.com/. Retrieved 7 July 2005. 
• "British Survey". All About New Costessey. http://www.britishsurvey.org/South_Norfolk/New_Costessey/. Retrieved 7 July 2005. 
• "Norfolk County Council Planning & Transportation". Demographic Information Note. http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/general_resources/ncc028390.pdf. Retrieved 7 July 2005. ^{[dead link]}
• ^ Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes. Retrieved on 2 December 2005.
• "£15m cash injection for Costessey school". Evening News report on Costessey cash injection. http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/15m_boost_for_ormiston_victory_academy_costessey_1_767450. Retrieved 21 Feb 2011. 

1. ^ [1] Evening News Costessey Academy Building Funds

External links

• Map sources for Costessey
• Lost Heritage: Costessey Hall - history and photos of Costessey Hall on the Lost Heritage website
• Costessey — pages containing a wealth of historical information, maintained by an expatriate with local connections.
• Picture Norfolk — database of Norfolk images, including many old photographs of Costessey Hall and village.
• Costessey Books Website
• The Costessey Website
• Costessey Junior School
• Ormiston Victory Academy, Costessey
• St Augustine's RC Primary School
• 27th Norwich Scout Group (New Costessey)
• 16th Norwich Sea Scouts (Old Costessey)