The villages name means 'W(e)alh's homestead/village' or 'Britons' homestead/village'. South Walsham is recorded in the
Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici as Súðwalshám in a document produced during the reign of
Edward the Confessor. Early documents suggest that land in the present parish was owned by a freeman named under Guert, the brother of
Harold Godwinson at the time of the
Norman conquest of England, before passing under the stewardship of
Godric the Steward. Its entry in the
Domesday Book shows land ownership divided between
William the Conqueror,
William, Bishop of Thetford, Godric the Steward and St Benet's Abbey - in total, there were around 124 villagers excluding women and children. These revenues dropped rapidly, from over eight pounds (and 250 000 units) in 1268–69 to around two pounds (and 56 700 units) in 1290–91, as the former peat cuttings began to flood and
The Broads were formed. There are references to flooded land (or
Broddinge) as early as 1315. After the
English Reformation, the abbey at St Benet's remained in use for some time, but had fallen into decay by the early stages of the reign of
Elizabeth I. In the twentieth century, war memorials list 14 deaths from within the parish during
World War I. The tower of St Lawrence's church, damaged by a fire on 30 May 1827, collapsed on 18 March 1971, with little damage to the church itself. == Notes ==