The Sign (taken from local press coverage at the time)

The sign for Shadingfield and Willingham St Mary was presented on Sunday, July 22, 2018 following a sustained period of fundraising overseen by local people. The sign was made by Signs of the Times.

The sign includes the church of St John the Baptist, an important part of any community, and the only elm tree left standing in the villages after the Dutch elm disease decimated them in the 1970s.

The plough and the wheat and rapeseed fields represent farming, while the fox represents some of the oldest buildings in the villages including Fox Farm House, Fox Cottages and of course The Fox Inn.

With the assistance of reverends past and present from St John the Baptist Church in Shadingfield, villagers gathered for the symbolic unveiling before enjoying entertainment at the Shadingfield Fox Inn.

“Many of our locals helped with the project, including with clearing of the site, building the plinth and baking cakes to make our unveiling a very special event,” said Robbie London, one of those to have a hand in the planning process.

“We invited Revd. Paul Nelson - former vicar of St. John the Baptist church - to perform the unveiling and our current vicar Revd. Phillip Miller to perform a blessing".

Plans to construct a sign were originally intended to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2016, while there was also a desire to celebrate the Queen’s sapphire jubilee last year.

As those leading the charge set to work with fundraising events, the parish council for they kindly agreed to pay for half the costs and locals began submitting their ideas for the design.

A newly-formed committee came together to discuss how the sign could reflect life in the villages and decided its primary function should be to depict the rich farming heritage and community spirit of the two villages.

The Name and Population
Shadingfield could mean "Open land by the boundary valley", and Willingham means "Village of the followers of Willa", both from Old English. The combined population of Shadingfield and Willingham was 330 at the 2011 census. Shadingfield was called Scadenefella in 1086 and Schadenesfeld in 1190. Willingham was called Willingaham or Wellingaham in 1086 and Willingeham in 1188.

Other Points of Interest
The church of Willingham St Mary has now disappeared but was mentioned in the Domesday book and Suckling in 1846 commented that a few remains were still visible. Shadingfield church is located at the side of the A145 and dedicated to St John the Baptist and has a lovely red-brick south porch.

The parish is famous for the Shadingfield altar cloth given to the church in 1632; it can now be viewed in Strangers' Hall Museum in Norwich.