East Rudham's name is of
Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the
Old English for '''Rudda's''' homestead or village. Several
Iron Age and
Roman artefacts have been found close to East Rudham, and there is further evidence to suggest a small Roman settlement was based on the modern village. In the
Domesday Book, East and West Rudham are recorded together as a settlement of 67 households in the
hundred of Brothercross. In 1086, the village was divided between the
East Anglian estates of
Alan of Brittany,
William de Warenne and
Peter de Valognes.
East Rudham Railway Station opened in 1880 as a stop on the
Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway between
South Lynn and
Melton Constable. The station closed in 1959. During the
Second World War, a
starfish site was created on nearby Coxford Heath designed to draw
Luftwaffe bombers away from
King's Lynn. ==Geography==