Cawston is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
Cawston is located three miles south-west of Aylsham and nine miles north of Norwich.
Cawston's name is of combined Anglo-Saxon and Viking origin and derives from the Old English for a Viking named Kalfr's settlement.
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Cawston was recorded as being a settlement of 26 households in the hundred of South Erpingham. In 1086, the village was divided between the estates of King William I and William de Warenne.
Cawston was the scene of Norfolk's last duel, which occurred illegally in August 1698 between Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling Hall and Oliver Le Neve of Great Witchingham. The duel was fought with swords and ended with the fatal wounding of Hobart, resulting in Le Neve fleeing to the Netherlands. Today, a memorial stone to the duel is maintained by the National Trust.
During the Second World War, part of Cawston Parish fell within the grounds of RAF Oulton, a satellite airfield of RAF Horsham St Faith. After the war, most of the airfield was returned to agricultural use with most of the runways being broken-up to be used for the construction of the A140.
According to the 2021 census, Cawston has a population of 1,613 people which shows a slight decrease from the 1,640 people recorded in the 2011 census.
Cawston is located at the junction between the B1145, between King's Lynn and Mundesley, and the B1149, between Holt and Norwich.
Cawston Railway Station opened in 1880 as part of the Great Eastern Railway and closed in 1952 due to declining passenger numbers. The station building is now a private residence.
Cawston's parish church is dedicated to Saint Agnes and dates from the Fifteenth Century, being built at the request of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the Lord of the Manor. St. Agnes' is located on Church Lane and has been Grade I listed since 1961.
St. Agnes' boasts a painted rood screen, depicting twenty figures in all, which has been called one of the best in Norfolk as well as good examples of Medieval stained-glass windows and a hammerbeam roof, embellished with life-size carved wooden angels.
Local children attend Cawston Church of England Primary School which moved into its current building in 1953. The school was awarded a 'Good' rating by Ofsted in 2016.
Cawston is part of the electoral ward of Eynesford for local elections and is part of the district of Broadland.
The village's national constituency is Mid Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative George Freeman MP since 2010.
Cawston's war memorial is located in Cawston Cemetery and is a Medieval-style cross. The memorial was first erected in 1920 and was funded by the Parish Council and the local branch of the Royal British Legion. Curiously, the memorial was rebuilt in 2001 after being struck by lightning in 1999. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War:
And: Harold Hampson-Jones, Arthur F. C. Rump and Ralph V. Shreeve. As well as the following for the Second World War: