Fakenham

Located on the Wensum River, Fakenham is a small town and civil parish in Norfolk County, England.  It is not far from the county seat of Norwich and the popular seaside town of Cromer, and it has a population of around 7,357 people.  The name of the town is Saxon, which possibly translates to ‘fair place’.  In 1086 the town only had 150 citizens in it.  Nearby Hempton was located across the Wensum River and had its own abbey, making it the larger town.  The abbey was destroyed by King Henry VIII when he split from the church and Fakenham suddenly became the trading centre in the area.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, Fakenham was well known for its print works, but most of the major facilities closed in the 1970’s, leaving only a few presses still in operation around the town.
Everything in Fakenham closes early on Wednesday causing it to be dubbed, in a national guide, as the ‘most boring place on Earth’ in the late 1990’s.  The town has been attempting to shake off this misnomer ever since, doing everything in its power to show the world that it is anything but boring.  The entire town centre has been renovated and motor vehicles are no longer allowed in much of the central area.  The Farmer’s Market has found renewed interest and is always crowded on the morning of the 4th Saturday each month.
There were two railway stations in Fakenham, Fakenham West and East.  The West station was on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway which closed in 1959.  The Fakenham east station was on the Great Eastern Railway and closed in the 1960’s to passenger service.  Freight service discontinued on the line in the 1980’s.  There are plans to restore rail services to Fakenham via the Mid-Norfolk Railway line which would connect the town to East Dereham, Wymondham, and Norwich.