Mulbarton Wanderers FC

Currently riding high in the @ThurlowNunnL

 league are a small village with a big heart:

( @MulbartonFC)  So let's continue our journey around the Eastern Counties and take a closer look, let's #GetTheBadgeIn.

Firstly, they're a relatively new team, only formed properly in 2001. The men's team was spun out of another team, Mulbarton United (now called Mulbarton NotSoUnited?), which merged with the ladies’ team Harford Belles to form the current Wanderers outfit, which fields both men’s and women’s teams.

The badge seems simple enough: a football with two bells over it. I can only assume this is both a reference to the Belles team that came before and a reference to the local parish church, St Mary Magdalen (if I'm wrong, please let me know). This church sits at one edge of the village’s most notable feature — its very large common (green). Previously, this was used by villagers for grazing animals. There is a great history site for the village which has records of locals remembering walking to school through herds of cows kept on the common (being chased by cows was often used as an excuse for being late too...)

This would indicate a long tradition of cattle and dairy farming in the area. There is more evidence for this: The village name itself derives from the Old English for milk (hence the Mul) and homestead/settlement (Barton). Cattle and dairy being the main industry is supported to by the Domesday Book, William the Conqueror's great audit of England, which records the village as having a lot of cattle at the time.

After William's conquest of England, he divided up his new lands amongst his Norman backers. Mulbarton was given to Baron de St Omar, a Frenchman from St Omar (near Calais).

His son, Thomas de St Omar, acting as judge for his lands, had a man accused of sheep rustling hanged. Later, it emerged the man was innocent. Thomas paid for the rebuilding and renovation of the church as a means of penance for his mistake.

Later, the village moved into new hands during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Edwin family bought the estate. The original Sir Edwin Rich sailed with Drake on the 1587 attack on the Spanish port of Cadiz — the so-called "Singeing of the King of Spain's Beard." This attack destroyed many of the transport ships the Spanish planned to use in the Spanish Armada, delaying their invasion of England. For his efforts, Elizabeth gave him a knighthood.

One of his sons is still benefitting the village even today (and appears on the village sign). When Edwin Rich Jr died, he left money for the poor of Mulbarton. This money was used to buy land near the church, which today serves as allotments. And this is the remarkable bit — it still operates as a registered charity today. The rent from the land left by Edwin Rich, 349 years ago, is still used to assist the needy in Mulbarton today. Charity Commission records show it distributed £1,240 in the financial year ending 2024. What a legacy.

For a village of three and a half thousand, Mulbarton has some stories to tell. Diligent dairy farmers, swashbuckling strikes against the Spanish and charitable acts that echo down the centuries. Mulbarton Wanderers build on an incredible legacy.