Mattishall, United Kingdom

Mattishall has been divided in a religious sense for many years, first with the Reformation, then with the growth of Quakerism. The Quakers established a Meeting House in 1687. Almost 100 years later the Old Moor Congregational Chapel was built. Both had their own burial ground. When it became uneconomical to continue at Old Moor, the Congregationalists transferred to their Lecture Room in Welgate built in 1829. It is now the United Reformed Church. Primitive Methodism gained a following in the nineteenth century but it was not until 1900 that a site was found for a permanent meeting place along the main road. The second half of the twentieth century saw the establishment of the Evangelical Church.

During the reign of Edward VI, cleric Matthew Parker married Margaret Harlestone of Mattishall. He became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to be appointed under Elizabeth I. Local tradition has it that the house behind the butcher's shop in Church Plain was the Harlestone family home.

Some of the very old buildings in Mattishall are hidden behind brick and mortar skins and Georgian facades, but others remain to be admired. Of the three nineteenth century mills, the bases of two remain. One has been converted recently into a holiday cottage. By 1783, Mattishall's rector estimated that 22% of the sown land in the parish was under turnips, and 26% was under clover. From March 1785, the body of James Cliffen was gibbeted on Badley Moor on the parish boundary between Yaxham and Mattishall, the site resembling a fair for several weeks after his death, and Parson Woodforde visited the body in April. It remained there for about 25 years, until the enclosure of the parish's common land led to its removal the same year.

The National School (subsequently Mattishall First School and Mattishall Middle School, and since 2005 merged to become simply Mattishall Primary School) was built in 1872. A notable headmistress was Miss Johnson (1884–1919), the daughter of the station master at Hardingham. Miss Mildred Edwards, a pupil-teacher, was still around when the school celebrated its centenary. It was she who planted the conker, which grew into the very large chestnut tree in the garden of Church Cottage near the corner of the school playing field.

The fortunes and well-being of the villagers have fluctuated over the centuries. In 1835 the family of Sir William Edward Parry, the polar explorer, occupied South Green House (now Mattishall Hall) for a few months. On half pay from the navy, he was sent to Norfolk as an Assistant Commissioner for the New Poor Law. His sister-in-law wrote to her mother, "...a large population, immense families, and not work for half, and no resident gentleman near to do anything for them... such a disagreeable neighbourhood...".

There have been many developments since the 1960s: a memorial hall, a sports and social club, new school buildings on a large site and a surgery, pharmacy, hairdressers and local shops.