Santon Downham is a small village on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. There has been some confusion in the past especially when reporting Weather extremes with Santon Downham incorrectly being described as being in Norfolk. The county boundary is marked by the Little Ouse, which is crossed by a small bridge – Santon Downham is definitely on the south side of the river in Suffolk.
The village has it’s origins as part of the now demolished Downham Hall estate and later as a village housing workers for the Forestry Commission. Forest Enterprises still play a big part in the village as the headquarters for the whole of the South East are located here.
Santon Downham often features in the news thanks to it’s record-breaking weather. Dubbed the Topsy-Turvy weather capital of the UK we hold records for hottest, coldest and wetest thanks to out unique location.
Live weather data is now available from our own weather station in the village
Unfortunately the village has no pub, but instead has a large village hall which also has a social club attached called the Breckland Club. Both the village hall and the club host regular events. Like many villages it lost its Post Office some time ago, but a village shop remained for a while but is now closed.
A pretty church stands next to the main village green, and there is a smaller green surrounded by remnants of the old Downham Hall. People visit the area for the River and the Forest and the car park at Santon Downham is the starting point for many walking and cycling activies. The whole area is very sandy and the landcape of the village still shows signs of the 17th century sand flood.
There is plenty of wildlife in the area especially Muntjac deer and the section across the river is well known for sightings of the Lesser Spotted woodpecker.
The Santon Downham village website, has information about this unique village including it’s history and local news and events and a number of photo galleries around the area.
We set up the website as a resource for people who live in or simply love the village. We started to build the site in February 2004, and it has gone through several iterations – the last one in February 2016. You can access the old sites here Pre 2016 Archive and the earlier one from Post 22 Villages. Please be aware these pages are “as found” on the archive – some bits certainly don’t work/display as they should.
The site also contains information from the 22 villages local history millennium project, sponsored by Forest Heath District Council. This project led to a book and a website. The 22 Villages site has now gone but we have republished most of Santon Downham’s content here. In February 2018 the whole of the original 22 Villages website was republished..
Please note that some of the web pages drawn from the original 22 villages site are somewhat out of date as they were written several years ago – though most relate to village history, which of course still applies.